Chinchilla not walking in a straight line

[Kate anne]

Hi, I've had my two chinchillas for 2 months now and they are 5 months old. Before I start I will be taking my chinchilla to the vets tomorrow I just want some advice in the mean time or to know if any of you have experienced this so I'm a prepared for what might happen tomorrow and if I might lose my chin. She is a female and recently when I let her out of the cage after a while she will fall on to her side and is unable to walk properly she panicked and rushed to her sand bath but stumbles about everywhere and falls to her left side continually while trying to walk, when I pick her up to put her in her bed she is limp and does squirm which she usually does as she prefers to just be running around. After about 15 minutes she is back running around again, this has happened about 6 times now. Is it a mini stroke? Or just something as a simple as a sprain? Thank you for any replies I get and like I said I will be taking her to the vets tomorrow I just want to know if I should be prepared for the worst. Thanks

 

[tunes]

You say she is back to normal - you mean she isn't falling on her side at all? What you are describing sounds as though she might be having seizures. A stroke you don't usually have repeatedly with recovery in between, and then another one hitting.

How long is she out when she starts to fall over? If she has prolonged out of cage time, it can happen because of a drop in blood sugar or because they are overheating.

 

[Kate anne]

Hello, thank you so much for your reply, it was very helpful! Yes by normal I mean she's running back round again which makes sense after your mentioning of it either being sugar levels or overheating as she probably recovers from that in that time period. She is out for around 20-30 minutes before this starts happening, I use to let them out every night but since this has started occurring I do not let them out as frequently but I feel bad as they love their time out, would you suggest shorter times out? I'm more puzzled as her brother is completely fine and hasn't shown any of the same signs and he is a lot more active than her when out. Thank you so much again!

 

[Amethyst]

Chins under 6 months should have very restricted play time, 5-10 minutes a day, if at all. Young chins can't always control their sugar levels as well as adult chins can, and don't always know when to stop. Some are fine, which is why the male doesn't seem affected, but the risk is always there and you don't know which chins will be affected until there is a problem.

In case it is over heating keep in mind that under 24C (75F) recommendation for chin's living area is assuming the chins are not doing anything, and the humidity is below 50%. If the chin is running around and/or it's humid, a lower temp is better.