Dwarfism...or just a small kit?

[Vyxxin]

I was wondering how one tells a dwarf chinchilla...when they're still kits? The reason I ask, I have a mosaic kit born to a large mosaic mother (780g) and an average standard father (670g)...the kit is now nearing 3weeks of age and hasn't grow much to speak of. I do not know her birth weight, as if kits seem to be healthy at birth I do not weigh them. However, I figured I'd get weights the other night on all of my kits. SO, I knew she hadn't grow much...but at nearly 3 weeks she weighs a whopping 58g! No kidding! And she wasn't born tiny, she seemed pretty average at birth...probably 45g or so. NOW, she did have a head injury, no idea how...I just found a large scab one day. It's healed to the extent that the scabs are gone...now new fur just needs to grow in. That all said, she'll be here a bit anyhow...but I do not intend to keep her for my breeding herd SO was planning on selling her at 200g and/or 9weeks...but judging by her weight last night? I don't know what to make of it! This is truly a first for me as she's perfectly healthy (now) and the head wound seemingly appeared from nowhere...could've been a rough birth or bickering with mom though there was no blood there at birth and her mom is a pretty good mom...very caring...any thoughts?

 

[Riven]

Weight is not the main thing that makes a dwarf, it's the traits they have.

They have wide hips, a hobble like gait, a flat and wide forehead and not always but often a tight pig tail ( curled up ). They also tend to have small ears. I've seen chins with dwarf characteristics that are nearly full sized, and normal chins that are about 400 grams.

If you can post a pic that would help, try to get a good front view and a good side view if you can.

 

[Vyxxin]

Nicole, I'm no newbie to the biology front LOL! I knew that size was just ONE characteristic...that was the point of the thread! To hear what someone experienced with dwarfs looked for in kits to determine their "status"! I'll try and get some pics but judging by your description I think she's just...tiny? Single kit litter, large mother/average father, failure to thrive maybe? IDK, maybe I'll know more when I post pics!

 

[mishalaa]

This kit was from a litter of two to a first time mom. The sibling died the first day so he was raised singly. He was 40g at birth. Mom did not gain much weight during the pregnancy. At 8 weeks old, he was only 108g so I left him with mom another two weeks. At 10 weeks old, he was 112g. I went ahead and weaned him, but he passed three weeks after that at 120g. He hobbled rather than hopped.

Mom has now had a second litter, a single kit born at 52g and at almost 8 weeks now is well over 200g and seems perfectly normal. The mom did not gain much weight with this pregnancy either.

The dwarfish chin - I don't remember how old he was when I first noticed something was off about him. It wasn't right away, but it was well before the 8 week weaning date too, so probably around 4 weeks.

 

[Spoof]

Dwarf chins are like dwarf humans. Various body parts will stay dwarfed compared to other parts on the body. Sometimes it is the head, sometimes the legs/tail/ears, etc.

Mish, your pictures are a good example. The ears are set too high and small, tail is runty and out of proportion to the head. If that chin got wet it wouldn't look right and as it ages some body parts will probably stay very small in size while others will grow.

They do have odd gaits and tend to shuffle or wobble around.

The first one I had was fairly normal in size, just his head and front paws were dwarfed. Very bizarre, didn't know what it was at the time.

The last one was uniformly dwarfed across her entire body - except her fur and eyes. She was like a little mop with big eyes.

 

[Vyxxin]

Okay, so here are some pics taken tonight. Since last night she's put on 3g, and is at 61g tonight. Again, this is a 3 week old kit that suffered a head injury sometime within the first week of life (hence the bluekote) I haven't really noticed anything odd about her mobility at this time. Thoughts?

ETA- the dip in her neck in the second pic is due to missing a large patch of fur on the back of her head

 

[Spoof]

Not at that age. Severe trauma can really stunt growth though.

 

[Riven]

Her face shows some dwarf like features, but I'd wait and see what she looks like when she's a bit older before labeling. Did she appear smaller than a normal kit at birth? Like Tara said trauma can be a big part of it. Is she able to climb and jump normally?

I think it's great that you let her dye her fur though... it's good to let them express themselves!

 

[Vyxxin]

I think she was going for the punked out look As far as climbing goes, yes...as far as jumping, haven't noticed. One of the main concerns is that I have somebody on a wait list...for this kit when she's weaned...and I do not want to unknowingly sell a dwarf. I will keep her the mandatory amount of course and perhaps if she still seems a bit odd let the buyer know in advance. She did seem quite normal at birth and my cages aren't terribly high at all so even a fall should not have hurt anything developmentally...but the scab, which was about pea sized when noticed and dime sized when removed to let the area breath and to clean/disinfect came from seemingly nowhere. IDK, just wanted some input as I've never had a dwarf on the place! A side note as I've not looked into dwarf genetics...I don't believe either of the parents to have dwarf ancestry up close?

 

[Riven]

Dwarfism can be carried or it can just be a genetic fluke that happens. If you're thinking you may want to keep her if she is a dwarf I would not sell her, it may take until 4 months or so to find out for sure. I personally wouldn't sell her in case of failure to thrive with her being so small for her age, I'd just let the person know and tell them you're not comfortable selling her at this time for that reason, but keep in touch and if things change, she hits a growth spurt etc, then you'll keep them updated.

The scab may have been something such as an infection to a bite wound from birthing or a test bite from mom. She may still have infection in her body she's fighting even, never can tell without blood work sometimes.

 

[Spoof]

I've not looked into dwarf genetics...I don't believe either of the parents to have dwarf ancestry up close?

Ronda has the pop up randomly out of lines she's bred for generations and never seen one. Like Riven mentioned, there is also the random ones -those tend to not thrive as much as the ones that are carriers.

I had my first oddball born two weeks ago, 42g litter of two. Now up to 59g, brother dab. He could be a normal baby. Every once in awhile Ronda has one born that looks like a rat and they turn out normal around six months old. When I say rat, I mean this one was too ugly to take photos of at birth.

As my normal camera kicked the bucket at Ronda's so you get terrible phone photos.

His eyes creep me out. They are way too big in comparison to the rest of it's body. And you can tell it just ain't right. It doesn't move like a normal baby, it scurries - fast. It is black mat tipped all the way around with a white shaft. It does not have the white ebony back toe.

Very intriguing, can't wait to see what the little bugger turns into.

 

[Vyxxin]

See, this girl has eyes that appear not right to me...kind of cartoonish LOL! They look worse in person...I'll just have to hold on to her I suppose. See how things turn out. She just doesn't look entirely right and then isn't growing on top of it. It's not a huge issue but it is perplexing AND I've had a slew of misfortunes this month in regards to chins...

 

[kathiva]

I had a baby tan white male that was born normal size but now he is a year old and he is still small, he weighs 404 grams and he is quite small, he belongs to my mom, as he is her pet, never knew if he would be a dwarf or just a small chin, but I will try to get pictures for you, his parents were both normal sized chins.

I also had another baby born small, he was a standard baby born in May of this year, he weighed 37 grams I think at birth, he grew to be 200 grams at 10-11 weeks, so he went to a good home at that time, and then the owner told me that her daughter had allergies, so they returned him to me not so long ago, probably about a month or more I think, but he had lost weight to 164 grams!, so I was kind of upset that the little one had lost weight, so I figure that I would keep him for a while until he recovered his weight, so now he is 4 months old, and he gained weight to 234 grams or so, so he is going to be almost 5 months old and he is still so small, he has grown very slow, but he doesn't have the small ears and small tail, like a dwarf, he has more of a pointy nose, his sibling has grown up beautifully, so he was the runt of the litter I guess, so now I am just keeping him until he continues to gain weight, I am not really in a rush to find him a home, I would just want him to do alright,