Chinchilla not himself

[channeltool]

Hi, Hershey is a 17 year old chin who was very active up until last Friday the 18th. I notice he was not running around as usual and he was sleeping all day. He ususally come up to the door of his cage (the chins share my den that is divided so both have half) but he just stayed in his hut when I came into the room. I took him to the vet yesterday he had bloodwork that came back fine, x-rays that show some arthritis in his hind legs, and some tiny spots in his bladder but they didn't know what they were until his has an ultrasound. He was put on metacam and gabapentin for pain. This morning his poops were tiny, I don't know if that is from the stress of being at the vet all day yesterday. What can make a chin go from being active to not? any ideas would be extremely appreciated. Thanks

 

[Amethyst]

If his poops are small I would give some gas drops, it's not uncommon when giving meds for them to swallow air which leads to gas bubbles. I really don't have much advise otherwise though, my only real thought is since there was spots in his bladder could they maybe be bladder stones? Is he peeing ok? Maybe he has a stone caught and is in pain? The arthritis could also be causing him to not be active especially with the weather turning colder, even if you keep the room the same temp, the air pressure changes with the weather outside. The pain meds should help though.

 

[channeltool]

We took Hershey back in and he got the complete work up. EKG, Ultra sound, bloodwork all came back good. But he did show some Spondylitis on his spine along with the arthritis in his hind legs. He is on gabapentin twice a day and metacam once a day. Hopefully he will adjust to the gabapentin like my vet said he would after about two weeks. it make him sleepy.

 

[Amethyst]

Well at 17 he is basically in his 80s so it's not really surprising that he would be having age related issues if that is what the issues is. Hopefully the pain meds give him some relief, I know I've heard some (and I think gabapentin is one of them) can take anywhere from a week to a month to get the full effects of it so that is likely how long the body takes to adjusts to it. Metacam should work much faster though.