Help! I think my chinchilla may be near end of life

[hoppergurl]

I’ve been recovering from a surgery myself for the past couple of weeks so my partner has been watching my chinchilla, I went to see him today as I’m finally able to move around and he was head down at the edge of the cage not moving at all (which is not like him at all) my partner said that he’s been hiding and barely coming out of his huts for the last week or so and that he has slowed down on eating and drinking. I put my hand out to have him come up on it and all he did was put his two little front paws on it so I picked him up and just held him and he didn’t really move. I’ve been sitting with him the last few hours and he’s had a little bit to drink and a couple bites of food and chewed his stick a little bit literally not at all like he normally is. Normally I would just rush him to the vet but it is the middle of the night here. Anyone have any thoughts on what it could be? Is he maybe just dehydrated or something?

 

[Amethyst]

Unfortunately it could be any number of things, ideally he should have see the vet a week ago when he started not acting normal. Chins are very good at hiding illness and injury, so once they reach the point of showing obvious symptoms it means they physically can't hide it anymore so it's generally pretty serious.

How old is he? Chins live about 15-20 years, so if he is getting up near or over 20 his body could simply be failing him similar to a geriatric human in their 80s and older. Is he still peeing and pooing normally? If dehydrated he wont be peeing much and it will be thick, as well as his poops may be small. Small poops or little to no poops can also be a sign of gas or blockage or that the gut is shutting down. Could he have eaten something he wasn't suppose to? Could he have fallen and gotten hurt?

 

[hoppergurl]

Unfortunately it could be any number of things, ideally he should have see the vet a week ago when he started not acting normal. Chins are very good at hiding illness and injury, so once they reach the point of showing obvious symptoms it means they physically can't hide it anymore so it's generally pretty serious.

How old is he? Chins live about 15-20 years, so if he is getting up near or over 20 his body could simply be failing him similar to a geriatric human in their 80s and older. Is he still peeing and pooing normally? If dehydrated he wont be peeing much and it will be thick, as well as his poops may be small. Small poops or little to no poops can also be a sign of gas or blockage or that the gut is shutting down. Could he have eaten something he wasn't suppose to? Could he have fallen and gotten hurt?

He was 13 so he was getting old… I got him to a vet this morning and it turns out he was dealing with heart disease… he had a bad murmur too, and his heart was just shutting down on him finally, she told me that this can happen with chins and they can handle it for years then eventually they just can’t and he had hit that point. I had a long conversation with her about what we could do for him and if it would even help and ultimately what was best for him was to let him pass. I’m so heart broken, but I didn’t want him to suffer especially with no guarantee that he would even make it another week.

 

[Amethyst]

He was 13 so he was getting old… I got him to a vet this morning and it turns out he was dealing with heart disease… he had a bad murmur too, and his heart was just shutting down on him finally, she told me that this can happen with chins and they can handle it for years then eventually they just can’t and he had hit that point. I had a long conversation with her about what we could do for him and if it would even help and ultimately what was best for him was to let him pass. I’m so heart broken, but I didn’t want him to suffer especially with no guarantee that he would even make it another week.

I'm sorry to hear that. I know heart murmurs are not uncommon in chins, and most people never even know unless they take their chins in regularly to wellness checks. I kind of wonder if my current chin's twin brother died from heart failure too, though he just suddenly passed in his sleep one day at around 14.