Gummy/mucus on chinchilla poo

[XiaoTsang]

Hey - I just joined this site so I'm sorry if this question is in the wrong place! But I've had my little chin, Waffle, for 4 weeks now, he's incredibly tame, sweet natured and friendly and we've had no problems at all. However - this morning I decided to switch out his hay bedding for some fleece liners instead, I thought they'd be gentler on his little feet and I've read great views on fleece bedding. Within MINUTES Waffle's poos started coming out soft, light chocolate brown colour instead of almost black like they usually are, and when I picked them up to bin them they had a weird gummy coating on??

Could this be stress down to the change in scenery of his home? He didn't seem out of sorts at all, still bouncing around and hopping onto my hands as I was repositioning his food bowls etc, and he took a little dried flower thing from his hay mix out of my hands no problem at all.. so he doesn't SEEM ill... could stress from a change around be this instant?? Or should I be more concerned?

If anybody can give me some advice I'd be ever so grateful!

Many thanks xxx

 

[tunes]

This isn't a change of scenery. When he was living on hay (which is not a good idea) you most likely just couldn't see it. What you are describing sounds a bit like giardia. Do the poos smell bad or off? Soft stools and mucous are a sign of giardia and he would need to have a stool sample taken to the vet to be checked. You need to do it right away thought as things can progress. If it is giardia, he will need some pretty strong medications and you will need to do a seriously thorough cleaning, realizing that once a chin has giardia, any stressful situation can cause it to flare again.

The hay is a bad idea. It isn't much of a smell deterrent and wet hay can get moldy fast. Go with pine shavings or the fleece from here on out.

 

[XiaoTsang]

The poops didn't smell of anything much, I googled the problem at the time as well and checked for any sort of different smell but there was nothing, it was just the colour and texture - Baring in mind MINUTES before, the poos were totally normal. Since posting this they have become dark again and harder, not totally hard like the pellets they were before, but definitely seem to be improving.

They're not soft or sticky enough to stick to his fur (sometimes he walks over them before I have a chance to pick them up) they just have a slight 'shine' to them.. and he's cuddling with me/chirping away like everything is fine.. I've made a vet appointment for tomorrow just in case - thanks for the advice x

P.S. I obviously realised the hay was a bad idea, hence changing over to fleece as I mentioned in my post.