Help:(

[Haleyleigh]

Well I'm not exactly new to owning chinchillas, I've had my three for about two years. I currently adopted two. So the chinchillas I'm having trouble with is new to me. I have never had any problems with my chinchillas.
Gizmo- I got him from a lady that didn't have time for him anymore, and she said she hadn't played with him much in the past two months. He is very nervous being held and the first day I got him he wouldn't stop barking at me. He would only sit on top of the hut, not eating or drinking. The next day I took him to the vet and she said he hasn't been eating or drinking right for a while. (with the other owner) so she gave him a couple injections and sent me home with Critical Care. I feed him Critical Care every three hours, and after a couple days he began exploring the cage. I see him chew on treats and eat small amounts of hay. He never would go to the food or water. I switched him from the Oxford pellets to chinchilla Charlie hoping maybe he'd begin to eat more but I don't know if it's helping. Am I going to always syringe feed him?

Trouble- I just got trouble from a neighbor that didn't want her. I don't think she took very good care of Trouble. Her stomach is soaked with pee and yellow. She eats her food like she should, I just don't want to hold her because she that gross. Her fur feels hard underneath wear it has dried in her fur. I've tried leaving the dust bath in over night but she can't get it on her own. I didn't know what I could do to help her and make her beautiful again.

THANKS FOR READING -HALEY

 

[tunes]

First, did the vet check the boy's teeth? If he hasn't been eating or drinking for a while, I doubt it's just because he's nervous. What kind of injections did she give him? I hope not steroids to boost his appetite. That could have done a lot of harm as chins can't take steroids. They develop stomach ulcers from them. Can you find out what he was given and why specifically he was given it? Did she give him subcu fluids? Perhaps he's dehydrated from lack of care. A chin that won't drink, won't eat.

If you mean you switched from Oxbow to Charlie Chinchilla, that is a HUGE mistake. Charlie Chinchilla pellets are complete garbage and should not even be sold. Oxbow is a good quality pellet with the correct nutritional balance for a chin. If he's eating hay right now, then I would pull all pellets and just give him hay for the moment. He can be sustained on just hay for a while. After a week or so of letting him settle in and letting his stomach settle from the switch from good food to bad food, reintroduce the Oxbow.

That doesn't mean you can give up on the hand feeding at this point, but you can try making the Critical Care into crumbly food and let him eat it that way rather than liquidy. Just mix it up like you normally would, daub it into piles on a cookie sheet, and either let it air dry or bake it on a very low temp for a few minutes until it is dried out.

Second, the female. Give her a bath. If she's that bad that she's caked in urine, dust baths alone are probably not going to take care of things. Check with Essentia on here to see what kind of shampoo she uses, I think just a mild baby type shampoo but I'm not sure. She has a boy that has to have weekly baths because of a urinary issue. Give her a bath, then prepare to sit there for a good long time with a blow dryer until she is completely dry. Contrary to popular belief, a chin won't die from a bath. They can, however, catch a cold and develop respiratory issues if you try to dunk them and they ingest the water or if you don't get them dry so that they don't get in a draft, or at this time of year, air conditioning.

Find out exactly what your vet did and why. Find out if she administered fluids. Find out if she anesthetized him and got dental x-rays. Then maybe we can help you out a bit more.

 

[ticklechin]

Chinchilla teeth grow 1-3mm a week or more, syringe feeding is not a long term option without the very real possibility of overgrown teeth both externally and internally. The non-eating issue needs to be diagnosed, whether its psychological or physical but it needs to happen fairly quick, the fastest I have personally seen teeth grow is 6mm a week, chin needed a trim every 2 weeks during a long term bout of hand feeding.

 

[Haleyleigh]

The vet gave him a vitamins shot and a B12. Gave him a syringe of glucose. And e home with critical care. They said he was dehydrated so they injected him with fluids too. No steroids. They checked his teeth and said everything was fine. He was very stressed and wouldn't stop barking but now he's calming down.

Okay I will wash troubles belly. He really needs it. Thank you so much!!

 

[tunes]

Sorry about that, was thinking Trouble was a female. Either way, a bath will help.

Did your vet anesthetize your chin to look for teeth issues? That is truly the only way to know for sure if there are any, and what the extent of the issue is.