Chinchilla has pneumonia, HELP!

[falcorismyfluffball]

So Falcor was taken to the vet a week ago because of sneezing, they gave an antibiotic for what they thought was a URI. I found him in his cage yesterday after hearing a weird noise and saw a saliva bubble hanging from his mouth and rushed him to the vet right away. They did X-Rays and I am waiting to get a call from the radiologist about them, but the vet said it's either pneumonia or heart disease. She gave him a stronger antibiotic, and a probiotic. He's been eating lots of hay, and was at his food bowl this morning, but I'm thinking I'll try to feed him some critical care also to help if there's any digestive problems because of the medication.

I just wanted to know if anyone has had any experience with this and any tips on helping him get healthy again, especially from those who have gone through this or are experienced breeders. I really don't want to lose my furrbaby, he is my world.

Thank you so much,

<3 Kayla

 

[tunes]

If you are sure he is eating, let him eat rather than hand feed. It can be stressful to the chin to be hand fed and at times chins become addicted to the hand feeding food and don't want to go back to eating their regular pellets and hay. Monitor his weight and make sure he's not losing.

What antibiotic did the vet give you? The one that really hits the belly hard is Baytril (enrofloxacin). I prefer to give it via subcu injection but if you can't do that, make sure that after you give it orally you immediately follow it with a good tasting chaser. A lot of times the reasons chin go off their feed after Baytril is because it is just so nasty tasting. The other thing you could do is have it compounded at a human pharmacy so that it is cherry flavored. In the past when I had given Baytril I either had it flavored or offered a chaser and had no issues with the chins going off their pellets. Now I think it's just easier to give it by injection instead.

 

[falcorismyfluffball]

It is Baytril. Label says 100mg/ml diluted to 50mg/ml with banana suspension. .1ml twice a day. My girlfriend is not sure he's eaten his pellet food but he's been eating hay all last night and this morning. Before I left for work he was by his bowl but I picked him up to give him his medicine before I left. He ate some oats and a piece of dried papaya. I put the shower on and had it running while holding him in there but I was afraid to be in too long because he suffers from seizures when overheated and low on blood sugar. I'm waiting to get the results from the X-rays read by a doctor to me. I called and they said that his vet has left for the day and no one else can go over them with me. Trying to feed him critical care is proving to be very difficult. He had some licks of his probiotic today too. He just is sneezing a lot and looks exhausted.

 

[NPSquish]

I'm sorry. That really sucks. Our little guy was diagnosed with pneumonia about 5 weeks ago. He stopped eating after starting antibiotics and hasn't started eating on his on again yet. I really hope this doesn't happen in your case as it is very stressful for everyone. I'm sorry I have no advice, but just wanted you to know you aren't alone.