Chinchilla heart attack?

[Godofgods]

My male chin Chico and my female chin Sophie, currently live in seperate cages to make sure she doesnt get pregnet again. I jsut recently seperate the last group of kit from her. Their cages are next to each other but have a partition so chico cant see sophie. Other wise he goes nuts seeing her but not being able to get to her.

I also let them out seperatly. All my males at once, and then sophie when their back in the cage. The problem is Chico wants at her badly. And she actuly wants at him a bit to. Shes lonely atm.

Their both in ferret nation cages. But before i got chico he had chewn a fair sized hole in the bottem tray because he didnt have a chew block or anything. So when Sophie is out, she can stretch up and get nose to nose with him through the bars. She can also hop up on the heater board attached to the wall, and get nose to nose with him through the side of the cage as well.

This always sends chico in an uproar. But today he started have some several problems.

Their a bit hard to describe. He was fine one second, then i looked up again and he was havving these problems. He was laying completly down, un able to stand. his front half of his body was up right, and his back half was upside down (as if he were laying on his back) and was kicking to get back up right.

Then he started what looked liek burying himslef in the litter. The way a dog would nose at something to get under neath. And a second later he was on one side. It looked as if one side of his body was completly unresponsive.

And it all happened across 1-2 mintues. I called the vet to see if i could get in real fast. (they closed in 30-45 min). A friend of mine was going to take me up since i dont have my car during the nights. But they said they wernt taking anymore visits that night. And that the vet was in emergency surgery.

When i got off the phone with them (like 2 minutes later) Chico seemed to be ok again. Tho very clam; and understandably so. He started moving around again ok, started eating. And he now appears ok again.

--

Now chico does have a heart murmur problem. I found out about 6 months to a year ago. One day out playing he was sitting their not moving, then was laying on one side completly unresponcive. I was able to take him to the vet that day. He started coming around during the ride to the office, and was looking fine by the time we got their. But the vet said he had a heart murmur. A valve closed off and he wasnt getting any blood to that side of the brain or soemthing. Seeing as he was an adult chin and it was the first time it ever happened, the vet chose not to have any ammediate action, but advised if it happened again then something would have to be done.

And all this time has passed and hes not had a single issue with it. Untill today. I can only assume the same heart problem caused todays problems. He was horny and all worked up very quickly for that moment when they were face to face again. And the problems happened right after that.

Has anyone else had similar medical problems or any idea what happened? (since i cant get in to see the vet tonight)

 

[addictedtochins]

Make a cardboard barrier to keep them away from each other. Cut panels from a box and use duct tape to attach them, if you do it right you will be able to fold it up when it's not being used. I don't know anything about his health, sorry.

 

[Godofgods]

thats what i did to make sure they cant see each other when their in the cage actuly. But unless i covered the entire cage, he'll be able to see her when shes out. Which kinda only leaves the option for right now, to make sure hes not around the play area when shes out. Maybe let him stay in the small animal carrier when shes out.

Edit: I should also mention that sophie loves to her teeth on cardboard peices liek that and either tear them to peices, or tear sheets off and try to eat them :/ Or anything else she can peal off. Like the paint on my walls. Hence the coardboard covering them.

 

[Chintastic!]

Would it be possible to put Sophie in another room- like her whole cage? Could you do playtime with her in a bathroom? Or could you put their cages farther apart.

I would think that they would eventually get over it. How long have they been seperated?

Could you cover the front of his cage when she has playtime so they cant touch noses? This is a tough one.

 

[Dusty Foot Prints]

Why not just temporarily cover the male's cage with a piece of fleece while Sophie is out?

 

[Godofgods]

Unfortionitly no, i cant mover her cage anywhere else. Their is absolutly no room. And i cant let her out in the bathroom. Its to small, and to dangerous. Plus at the time i let them out that bathroom is still very moist air from someone else having taken a shower.

Theyve been seperated for about almost three months id say. She was seperated a week or two before she gave birth to the last two kits. And their almsot 9 weeks old now.

I hadnt though to use fleece to cover the cage. It would have to be a realy big peice to cover a two story ferret nation cage on all sides.

 

[ticklechin]

The symptoms you describe do not scream heart to me, they seem more like a seizure. I have had two who had heart issues, one with congestive heart failure who had a class 5 murmur the other had a actual heart attack confirmed by a necropsy, two others have class 3 murmurs with no symptoms and both are older. The murmur depends on which valve in the heart is involved if it is going to be a issue with health, if the vet is able to clearly hear the murmur the valve involved has a distinct sound.

 

[Chub_Chub]

I would have to agree with Dawn here. It sounds like a seizure. There are a few threads out there with info on the possible causes and treatments people have tried. One of my chins has seized in the past, its a scary thing to deal with. Hope your little guy is better now.

 

[Godofgods]

seasures and/or epalepsy seems to be wnat most ppl iv talked with have said as well. Is their anything that can be done for the chin?

 

[ticklechin]

Seizures can be cause by nutritional or neurological issues, along with low blood suger. The best way to diagnose is video the seizure, take the chin to a chin competent vet and have them look at the chin and the video, may need blood tests depending on the type of seizure.

 

[Chinchies]

My male chin sapphire and topaz were just fine at arnd 9pm.But at like 10pm sapphire started to stand up, and fall backwards.This happened 6 times.After that, he kept biting and scratchig his arm and could not move.He was twitching vigourously.We could not do anything as the chin did not want to eat.Soon after, his twitching slowed but after 3 minutes, he passed away.