PlagueStar
Member
Disclaimer: Chin has BEEN TO THE VET!
Last Friday, I noticed Six seemed to be eating less. I gave him a treat, which he ate with relish, so I thought maybe he was just adjusting to the cooler weather or something. But I noticed I didn't seem many poops that looked fresh, so I removed all the poops so I could check.
When I got home from work, he still hadn't eaten much (any?) and…..no poops. So I looked online and in my chin books. I gave him some Petromalt and started massaging his belly every hour or so. Sometime Sunday AM when I was rubbing his belly, he let out a little peep as if I was hurting him. I put him back in the cage, and he peeped a couple times more. I was just starting to think it was time to rush him to the emergency animal hospital, when he produced an ENORMOUS poop! Usually his poop is smaller to larger than a grain of white rice. This one was vitamin-pill sized! I would have peeped too! He started to eat it, then dropped it and I grabbed it. Later, he produce another huge poop, and a few overly large ones. He started eating again, and he has been drinking and peeing normally, but poops come and go.
I took him to the vet Monday, and the vet pronounced him in good health and said he probably had a hairball. He prescribed .05ml Metoclopramide in an apple-flavored suspension, every 8 hours.
So, Six is eating and drinking, seems quite content, but I'm still concerned. Overnight, he doesn't produce many poops, and during the day not as many, they are rather small and irregular. The other day he almost was normal, leaving poops everywhere he perched, this morning there were poops but again small and oddly shaped.
I am asking here in case the vet and I are missing something. I will take him to the vet again if needed, but I'd like to know if there is anything else we should check.
I have cleaned his cage and vacuumed all the dead hair, and tried to groom the dead hair from Six's fur.
Activity is normal, he runs around at playtime as usual, except no trail of poops.
He had a fleece hammock, which he enjoyed sleeping in, but I noticed that after leaving it alone for years, he had chewed on it, so it's possible he ingested a thread.
Nothing has changed in his environment. George, my other chin, is fine
Sometimes Six makes a little cough/hiccup/burp sound when he's eating. I believe this is new.
He seems to be "crumbling" the Mazuri pellets more than usual. Instead of the level of the bowl going down, it turns into crumbles. He is eating the pellets, though, and he eats Animax and hay and rose hips and treats if I give them to him.
I am considering taking Six to another vet up North that may have more experience with exotics if he doesn't show improvement. I am wondering if perhaps he has a sore throat, tooth problem or something that is causing him to eat less than normal; that is that the problem is less food ingested rather than constipation. He has pellets, timothy hay, a timothy/alfalfa cube in his cage at all times now.
Last Friday, I noticed Six seemed to be eating less. I gave him a treat, which he ate with relish, so I thought maybe he was just adjusting to the cooler weather or something. But I noticed I didn't seem many poops that looked fresh, so I removed all the poops so I could check.
When I got home from work, he still hadn't eaten much (any?) and…..no poops. So I looked online and in my chin books. I gave him some Petromalt and started massaging his belly every hour or so. Sometime Sunday AM when I was rubbing his belly, he let out a little peep as if I was hurting him. I put him back in the cage, and he peeped a couple times more. I was just starting to think it was time to rush him to the emergency animal hospital, when he produced an ENORMOUS poop! Usually his poop is smaller to larger than a grain of white rice. This one was vitamin-pill sized! I would have peeped too! He started to eat it, then dropped it and I grabbed it. Later, he produce another huge poop, and a few overly large ones. He started eating again, and he has been drinking and peeing normally, but poops come and go.
I took him to the vet Monday, and the vet pronounced him in good health and said he probably had a hairball. He prescribed .05ml Metoclopramide in an apple-flavored suspension, every 8 hours.
So, Six is eating and drinking, seems quite content, but I'm still concerned. Overnight, he doesn't produce many poops, and during the day not as many, they are rather small and irregular. The other day he almost was normal, leaving poops everywhere he perched, this morning there were poops but again small and oddly shaped.
I am asking here in case the vet and I are missing something. I will take him to the vet again if needed, but I'd like to know if there is anything else we should check.
I have cleaned his cage and vacuumed all the dead hair, and tried to groom the dead hair from Six's fur.
Activity is normal, he runs around at playtime as usual, except no trail of poops.
He had a fleece hammock, which he enjoyed sleeping in, but I noticed that after leaving it alone for years, he had chewed on it, so it's possible he ingested a thread.
Nothing has changed in his environment. George, my other chin, is fine
Sometimes Six makes a little cough/hiccup/burp sound when he's eating. I believe this is new.
He seems to be "crumbling" the Mazuri pellets more than usual. Instead of the level of the bowl going down, it turns into crumbles. He is eating the pellets, though, and he eats Animax and hay and rose hips and treats if I give them to him.
I am considering taking Six to another vet up North that may have more experience with exotics if he doesn't show improvement. I am wondering if perhaps he has a sore throat, tooth problem or something that is causing him to eat less than normal; that is that the problem is less food ingested rather than constipation. He has pellets, timothy hay, a timothy/alfalfa cube in his cage at all times now.
