Help! Please! Is my chinchilla gonna die?!

[Josh_Molina]

My chinchilla was very lethargic and was breathing funny, so i took him to the vet on sunday. We had left him over night and needed to be withheld in an oxygen tank. The vet had tried to give him an x-ray but is was too much stress for the little guy and they did not want to risk it. We went to visit him on monday (the day after) and he was worse he had been open mouth breathing and the vet was asking us if we wanted to euthanize him. It absolutely broke my heart. We decided to leave him another night and see if it would help, i called the vet this morning and she said he was the same as last night. Still open mouth breathing and at this point that was all he was focused on. They had been giving him medicine and were trying to give him food. I am really worried if he'll die and at this point it is obvious he has some type of respiratory infection. Please anyone willing to answer let me know if he can pull through. He is only 3 years old and i feel like he's fighting so hard!

 

[Cinder and Me]

How do you know he has a respiratory infection?

Do the vets have any idea what the issue is?

 

[Dreamlite]

You need to find out why he is having trouble breathing. Does he have any signs of an infection? Is he on any meds? We don't have enough info to help you.

 

[Josh_Molina]

We aren't completely sure because we can't do any x-rays

 

[lauralynne]

Generally they are put under Anesthesia for xrays.

 

[akane]

They may not want to do anesthesia because of the already existing breathing problems. But it shouldn't take xrays to rule out or diagnose a bacterial respiratory infection. Usually it's diagnosed by lung sounds and nasal swabs and xrays are only done when it's severe like pneumonia in humans but aren't necessary for treatment. So if they are trying repeatedly for xrays there's probably something else wrong. It could be his heart instead. I can tell you from having a heart condition and losing a cat and guinea pig both to heart failure that it spikes your breathing and you can even gasp and hyperventilate.

Really though without knowing what tests have been done, what the vet has seen and heard on exam, and what medication they are giving no one can give any suggestions. There are too many things it could be.

 

[Josh_Molina]

They may not want to do anesthesia because of the already existing breathing problems. But it shouldn't take xrays to rule out or diagnose a bacterial respiratory infection. Usually it's diagnosed by lung sounds and nasal swabs and xrays are only done when it's severe like pneumonia in humans but aren't necessary for treatment. So if they are trying repeatedly for xrays there's probably something else wrong. It could be his heart instead. I can tell you from having a heart condition and losing a cat and guinea pig both to heart failure that it spikes your breathing and you can even gasp and hyperventilate.

Really though without knowing what tests have been done, what the vet has seen and heard on exam, and what medication they are giving no one can give any suggestions. There are too many things it could be.

Sadly my little one passed away on the car trip home. It was such a bad experience Me and my family have been crying our eyes out and it is very hard to deal with. He was such a happy chinchilla and now he's gone. His little friend Polly is dealing with it pretty hard but we got him a new friend and named him Harry too to honor our little one who passed. Thanks for the help but it was just not enough. Our vet told us she can perform an autopsy to find the cause of death.

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Our little Harry, 3 yrs old. We miss you so much

 

[mgonya]

I am so sorry for your loss.