He won't even eat LifeLine...

[Anna]

My chinchilla Furby is having so many problems I can't even keep track. He got diagnosed with Giardia and finished the term of his medication. Now he won't even eat Life Line. He weghs 390 grams. He was 409 the last time I brought him into the vet in early December. How can I make him eat it? This is freaking me out.

 

[Anna]

his poops are really small too.

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

Have you tried adding water to it and feeding with a syringe? You can also mix into some ground up pellets and syringe feed it to him that way. I had to mix it with a little bit of Dyne until Herby started eating on her own after some health issues.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

with his weight being so small, you are going to lose him if he doesn't get some weight on him (that weight is too small) - I would definately hand (force) feed him with CC and the lifeline. It is obivious he is not eating at all or not much.

 

[Rickman]

How are you offering LifeLine to him?
Mixed with water, in a paste form, is how I use it, and haven't had a chin refuse it.
If that won't work, I agree with the forcefeeding.

 

[Claire D]

I am sorry your chin is poorly.

He needs to be eating more than Lifeline anyway - I'd be syringe feeding him with Critical Care if he's not eating on his own. Lifeline is only an adjunct/supplement to syringe feeding.

 

[Parkerspetchins]

Agreed that your chin needs to be hand-fed. He may not like it but you don't really have an alternative. Critical Care would be the best choice for your chin (with Lifeline mixed in it even better IMO) but I have had to grind pellets to get one of my girls to let me hand feed her, but the vet said if that's what it takes short term, then do it. Then I moved onto Critical Care once she got used to the whole hand-feeding process. Especially when there aren't teeth issues you can make the mix like a thick paste, put it in a larger syringe, and your chinnie may not resist quite as much and there will be a whole lot less mess if he/she does. You can also wrap him up in a dish towel or something similarly sized so that he is unable to struggle as much. Of course you need to be gentle all the while as well . I'm sure there are several threads on hand feeding if you need further assistance. Keep good track of his weight, good luck!

 

[Anna]

Thanks guys... I have been feeding him CC, so hopefully that works. I also did give him lifeline in paste form, I don't know why he just didn't like it.

 

[Anna]

Okay, question. What can I give him to make him gain weight fast? I have dyne, I mix it with Lifeline and with CC sometimes. What can I do?

 

[tunes]

You don't want him to gain weight fast. You want him to gain weight slowly and steadily. Fast weight gain is no better for him than it would be for you. As long as he is gaining and not losing, let him do it at his own pace.

 

[Riven]

I agree with Claire's thought.. he needs more than life line. Life line is not a miracle, I mean, many have used it with wonderful results, but nothing will "fix" everything. Getting the CC in him is more important than lifeline, because lifeline is a supplement, not a food replacer ( unless Dawnna has changed something ) right now he needs calories.

Has he been retested for giarida to make sure it's gone? What pellet are you offering? He should be getting hand feed at least 60 grams of CC a day, in through out the day intervals.

I personally would put him in a small cage, no wheels or anything, just a small cage ( obviously not TOO small ) with hay, water, and pellets. Hand feed 4 times a day or so. And maybe try to mix the lifeline with 1 tsp of oatmeal as a treat, ones a day. Otherwise nothing else.

The biggest problem with advice is we don't know what you're doing right now, so we don't know what to suggest to change.

What pellets are you feeding?
How much CC are you getting in a day?
What kind of water are you using?
What do his teeth look like?
Does he have a wheel, really big cage, etc? ( If so he's expending un-needed energy wheeling and jumping, right now he needs to get to a healthy weight )

 

[Anna]

I use Mazuri Pellets
He will eat CC, not as much as I would like though. I syringe-feed him about 3 times a day with it though.
I use filtered water, through a Brita
His teeth are yellow and normal. He isn't salivating, and has a lot to chew him.
He has a wheel, but since he is so skinny i offer it when he's out of the cage only (as was suggested by another member)
His cage is a ferret nation 142. I have moved him to a smaller one though. that looks to be about 36 W, 36 H and 24 D.

I mixed lifeline with CC this morning and he ate that, so hopefully it'll start kicking in.

 

[Riven]

Is he eating any pellets?

Some chins just don't do good on Mazuri, have you tried another pellet?

Is he eating hay?

Have you tried making the CC into the consistency of playdoh and offering it on a spoon? Some chins prefer this and will eat more. I've had some that would just eat the CC out of a little bowl.

Was he recheck for giardia or just given the meds, sometimes if it's severe it can take more than one round. If he still has it, then he's just going in circles.

 

[Anna]

The vet told me to get another fecal sample in a couple of weeks. He doesn't want to eat his pellets really. What do you suggest for a switch? He doesn't seem to want to eat his hay although he was a day or so ago. I'll try the spoon idea, hopefully that works

 

[Riven]

Well, what I'm wondering is if a change of pellets would get him interested in eating pellets...

I'd get a couple other opinions on this, but I would maybe try offering another pellet. I figure anything in is better than nothing in!

When was the last day of treatment? I guess I was assuming that this was a while back that he was treated and still isn't gaining... say a month after ending the treatment.

 

[Rickman]

There's been reports of Mazuri causing soft stools, all by itself, but others haven't had any problems at all - maybe different mills?!?!?
I know when I switched to PANR, all my chins gained weight, and just seemed more energetic!

 

[starleomach]

sometimes a touch of honey in the lifeline can stimulate eating

 

[Anna]

I suppose that makes sense, haha. He's eating a little more today. I fed him 3 full syringes of CC and that seems to be doing him well. He's still drinking water and his poops look much bigger than yesterday.

 

[Anna]

Well, what I'm wondering is if a change of pellets would get him interested in eating pellets...

I'd get a couple other opinions on this, but I would maybe try offering another pellet. I figure anything in is better than nothing in!

When was the last day of treatment? I guess I was assuming that this was a while back that he was treated and still isn't gaining... say a month after ending the treatment.

The Giardia treatment ended several days ago, not a long time ago. However he was on antibiotics starting in early December for a URI and since, things haven't been quite normal. He has been into the vet three times starting with his URI trip. And his weight steadily declined from that point where he started taking antibiotics. There was about a 3 week gap between medications.

 

[Claire D]

I'd increase his probiotic intake as well as what he is getting through the OCC - it might help settle his gut flora which might help stimulate his appetite.

You can try stimulating his appetite by scattering some more/different high fibre, healthy foods around his cage so that he comes across them - chins have a foraging instinct and will often mooch around their cage, hoovering up the goodies left on the floor.
Examples are: a pinch of oats, a broken up mini shredded wheat, little bits of apple twigs, a pinch of alfalfa, a little pile of dried grasses (the Oxbow range is good), a pinch of dried plantain leaves or dandelion leaves, crumbled rosehips, a couple of dried rose buds chopped into small pieces etc etc. No raisins or anything sugary.
Often the act of foraging will start to increase a chin's appetite again.

The other thing to try is leaving a little bowl of the syringe food (with or without a little canned pumpkin) in his cage when you are out - he may well choose to munch straight from the bowl.


There has to be a reason for his lack of appetite and unless you find a trigger then you're groping in the dark for a solution really - initially I'd go with Riven's idea of changing the pellets to something else and see if that helps - as well as the foraging tips above and extra probiotics.

Good luck and please keep us posted.