Chinchilla missing a digit

[3lovelychinnies]

Hello all. I noticed a few days ago that one of my chins, Bear, seems to be missing a finger. I have been monitoring it since and cleaning and applying neosporin. He is in a cage with my other chin, Buttons - the two have been raised together since they were young. The only thing I can find online is that this happens from fighting, but I really don't think the two fought because Bear is still cuddling up to Buttons and isn't afraid of him at all. The injury doesn't seem to be bothering him too much, just a little bit, but I'm still concerned since I don't know how this happened. There has been no blood and no sign of the missing finger. I think he must have got it caught. I figured there was a possibility that my older chin in a separate cage, Apollo, may have nibbled his foot, but it seems unlikely. What do I do about this? I could really use some advice, I want him to be healthy and safe of course. A photo of what it looks like is attatched.

 

[ChinsForLife]

My chinchilla Chico came to me at 2 months old with 2 missing fingers on his front paw actually. He was an "Only child" from what I understand and I got him from a reputable breeder so my only guess is that his mom either bit it off or it was just a physical deformity. Since I've had him, it hasn't ever bothered him and I feel like my breeder would have mentioned it had he known. (I didn't even realize myself until a month or two after I brought him home when I was doing a photoshoot, lol.) I honestly would just keep doing what you're doing. (cleaning it and keeping an eye on it) If it isn't bothering her and it doesn't look infected then it should heal quickly. As for how it happened, it was most likely one of your other two so I would just watch for any aggression and maybe push the senior's cage away from up against the others' cage if that's how you have it set up just incase it was him. It could have also got caught in something like you said so I would also check and see if you can find anything in his cage that could have caused it. What type of cage do you have? Is the bottom mesh? If so, is it covored with fleece? Do you have a wire hay rack down where they can jump on it? If you wanted to post a picture of your chinchilla cage setup, I might could help you find the culprit if it WAS from the cage. Anything mesh can also cause that, for example a wheel like this one. Hope this helped!

 

[3lovelychinnies]

My chinchilla Chico came to me at 2 months old with 2 missing fingers on his front paw actually. He was an "Only child" from what I understand and I got him from a reputable breeder so my only guess is that his mom either bit it off or it was just a physical deformity. Since I've had him, it hasn't ever bothered him and I feel like my breeder would have mentioned it had he known. (I didn't even realize myself until a month or two after I brought him home when I was doing a photoshoot, lol.) I honestly would just keep doing what you're doing. (cleaning it and keeping an eye on it) If it isn't bothering her and it doesn't look infected then it should heal quickly. As for how it happened, it was most likely one of your other two so I would just watch for any aggression and maybe push the senior's cage away from up against the others' cage if that's how you have it set up just incase it was him. It could have also got caught in something like you said so I would also check and see if you can find anything in his cage that could have caused it. What type of cage do you have? Is the bottom mesh? If so, is it covored with fleece? Do you have a wire hay rack down where they can jump on it? If you wanted to post a picture of your chinchilla cage setup, I might could help you find the culprit if it WAS from the cage. Anything mesh can also cause that, for example a wheel like this one. Hope this helped!

Thank you so much, this is very helpful. I noticed compared to the other two that his fingers are a bit more spread out, and he tends to sleep near the side of the cage. He will stick his feet out the side or dangle them (since he sleeps in the corner where the entrance is to go between the upper and lower level). I will keep making sure the chinchilla he's housed with isn't being aggressive, and will see if I can move my seniors cage some. Oh also during playtime there is an area where it may have got caught and I didn't notice, so I have since covered that. Thanks again

 

[ChinsForLife]

Thank you so much, this is very helpful. I noticed compared to the other two that his fingers are a bit more spread out, and he tends to sleep near the side of the cage. He will stick his feet out the side or dangle them (since he sleeps in the corner where the entrance is to go between the upper and lower level). I will keep making sure the chinchilla he's housed with isn't being aggressive, and will see if I can move my seniors cage some. Oh also during playtime there is an area where it may have got caught and I didn't notice, so I have since covered that. Thanks again

Your welcome, I'm glad I was able to help!