Rather strange one here. My chinchilla Shadow had a hind leg amputation about 4 weeks ago and is now pretty much fully recovered and back to her usual self. Though she lost her leg she retained the hip which is fully functional. I have noticed that she leans her head into her body and shakes this hip as if she is using her leg to scratch behind her ears. I mentioned this to the vet, who had performed several chinchilla leg amputations before, and she thought our chin is suffering from phantom limb! So she still 'feels' her leg and think its there to scratch with.
I'm not sure how much it is bothering her. I see her do her little hip shake (as I now call it) fairly regularly. I don't know whether it is becoming a habit or if she just has an itch she can't scratch which is driving her crazy! Can anyone think of any of ideas of something I could add to the cage which she could rub her head against? Anyone ever had a toy that their chins liked to rub against? Anyone else ever experienced this with amputations and did it ever stop? I know this is an odd one so any advice/thoughts/ideas would be great!
I'm not sure how much it is bothering her. I see her do her little hip shake (as I now call it) fairly regularly. I don't know whether it is becoming a habit or if she just has an itch she can't scratch which is driving her crazy! Can anyone think of any of ideas of something I could add to the cage which she could rub her head against? Anyone ever had a toy that their chins liked to rub against? Anyone else ever experienced this with amputations and did it ever stop? I know this is an odd one so any advice/thoughts/ideas would be great!
