starleomach
Dawnna's Keeper
Do not palpate your animals...do not listen to Wischin they need to get thier facts straight before spewing advice....
How to tell if Chin is pregnant or has mated
- Thread starter Takuraktty
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AZChins
Pro Cage Cleaner Champion
I'm glad to see that there are other people, who found that post a little disturbing.
I had a breeder tell me once maybe 10 years ago that you know kits are on the way when you find them nursing on their mama. You can't count your chickens before they hatch! I've been fooled before thinking mamas are pregnant. I definitely agree with the wait and see with pregnancies. Tunes said it right...if you have a male and a female together, assume that the female is carrying a litter and watch her closely for any problems. Don't go feeling her abdomen for marbles...that just seemed not so good for an "experienced" breeder to say, didn't it? (I like to get along with everyone and not go off on people...so I will end it with that.)
I had a breeder tell me once maybe 10 years ago that you know kits are on the way when you find them nursing on their mama. You can't count your chickens before they hatch! I've been fooled before thinking mamas are pregnant. I definitely agree with the wait and see with pregnancies. Tunes said it right...if you have a male and a female together, assume that the female is carrying a litter and watch her closely for any problems. Don't go feeling her abdomen for marbles...that just seemed not so good for an "experienced" breeder to say, didn't it? (I like to get along with everyone and not go off on people...so I will end it with that.)
Takuraktty
Well-known member
Okay thanks everyone. When I eventually get to breeding I'll do just that, leave her in baby safe cage, like a run then leave her the heck alone (besides getting out if she's used to that)
Sycamore Chins
Well-known member
Woah woah woah...how did I miss this?
Wischin, If you knew proper anatomy of animals and how to properly palpate them (not even pregnant ones) - You would NOT be able to mistake a kidney or a spleen for a fetus! Do you know where the kidneys and spleen are located? Not in the same place as the ovaries, and definitely not in the same place as a gravid uterus!
Also, the 'stomach' is an organ, the 'abdomen' is the region you are palpating. If you palpate her stomach...you aren't going to find dog crap!
And swabbing is not done to identify a pregnant animal...it's done to help an animal get pregnant.
Geesh...my head can only do so much shaking before it's soon going to fall off...
Wischin, If you knew proper anatomy of animals and how to properly palpate them (not even pregnant ones) - You would NOT be able to mistake a kidney or a spleen for a fetus! Do you know where the kidneys and spleen are located? Not in the same place as the ovaries, and definitely not in the same place as a gravid uterus!
Also, the 'stomach' is an organ, the 'abdomen' is the region you are palpating. If you palpate her stomach...you aren't going to find dog crap!
And swabbing is not done to identify a pregnant animal...it's done to help an animal get pregnant.
Geesh...my head can only do so much shaking before it's soon going to fall off...
Sycamore Chins
Well-known member
Too late to add,
We weigh all of our animals weekly, including the females. We don't have dusters in cages and we can't leave them in the cages while we clean so they have to be transported to the dust cans - we just weigh them on the way. Once they are noticeably pregnant we don't weigh them and minimally handle them to get them out of the cage so we can clean it.
Lately I've been documenting everything to see if I can pinpoint a trend and for us so far, we notice a weight gain around 55 days in.
There are exceptions of course, we had one female lose 20 grams overall and she had twins. There is no foolproof method.
We weigh all of our animals weekly, including the females. We don't have dusters in cages and we can't leave them in the cages while we clean so they have to be transported to the dust cans - we just weigh them on the way. Once they are noticeably pregnant we don't weigh them and minimally handle them to get them out of the cage so we can clean it.
Lately I've been documenting everything to see if I can pinpoint a trend and for us so far, we notice a weight gain around 55 days in.
There are exceptions of course, we had one female lose 20 grams overall and she had twins. There is no foolproof method.
monarch
The Chinchilla Maid...
Am I right to assume a chinchilla's kidney would be in or around that same general area? And I'm surprised Ali is the only one who caught the twin comment -- a male and female can in no way be identical twins, lol. An egg won't split and become two different sexes.
I find wischin's post mind blowing. She seems a little loopy....
Sycamore Chins
Well-known member
Yep, the position of kidneys *usually* doesn't vary much between species. The left kidney is usually lower (more towards to tail end) than the right kidney. Often the right kidney is partially obstructed from palpation by a lobe of the liver.
Some exceptions would be cows, where both kidneys are nearly on the same side because their stomach takes up most of the left side of their abdomen, and pigs whose kidneys are pretty much level with each other.
The kidneys are held up right under the muscles of the back by the peritoneum (connective tissue) there.
The ovaries vary greatly in location but are always caudal (towards the tail end) to the kidneys and are not found in the same peritoneum. They are not lodged up against the back muscles like the kidneys are and hang more into the abdomen by their connective tissue.
A gravid uterus pretty much sits on the abdominal wall of most quadripeds.
Oh and the spleen is usually on the left side along the greater curvature of the stomach. This is typically cranial (towards the head) to the kidneys. The spleen is quite spongy feeling, whereas the kidneys and ovaries are hard feeling.
Some exceptions would be cows, where both kidneys are nearly on the same side because their stomach takes up most of the left side of their abdomen, and pigs whose kidneys are pretty much level with each other.
The kidneys are held up right under the muscles of the back by the peritoneum (connective tissue) there.
The ovaries vary greatly in location but are always caudal (towards the tail end) to the kidneys and are not found in the same peritoneum. They are not lodged up against the back muscles like the kidneys are and hang more into the abdomen by their connective tissue.
A gravid uterus pretty much sits on the abdominal wall of most quadripeds.
Oh and the spleen is usually on the left side along the greater curvature of the stomach. This is typically cranial (towards the head) to the kidneys. The spleen is quite spongy feeling, whereas the kidneys and ovaries are hard feeling.
monarch
The Chinchilla Maid...
Hey! That's really cool info!:grad::thumbsup::read::bus:
Sycamore Chins
Well-known member
No prob! We just had our final exam in anatomy which was mostly on the reproductive tracts (male and female) of dogs, cats, horses, cows, goats, sheep and pigs so this is all very fresh in my mind.
monarch
The Chinchilla Maid...
ooOoOo how helpful!
Is it true that cows have multiple stomachs for digestion?
Is it true that cows have multiple stomachs for digestion?
Christina Noraas
Christina
Yes, haha.
When you see a cow laying down chewing on it's cud, it's the stuff that came back up from the first digestion and they're rechewing to go to the other stomachs.
Sycamore Chins
Well-known member
Yes, haha.
When you see a cow laying down chewing on it's cud, it's the stuff that came back up from the first digestion and they're rechewing to go to the other stomachs.
Sorry, this is not true.
It is a technicality, but cows do not have more than one stomach. They have one 'complex' stomach with 4 chambers: rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum.
The abomasum is very similar to the simple stomachs of most animals we're familiar with.
The food goes into the rumen, the reticulum makes the 'bolus' that is regurgitated for the cows to rechew and it goes back into the rumen. Once the bits are pulverized enough it will continue through the other chambers.
One neato fact we learned: Cows take 30,000 bites a day. No more, no less. If the 30,000 bites are not enough calorie-wise, the cow will starve.
monarch
The Chinchilla Maid...
How is that calculated? That sounds pretty improbable...
Sycamore Chins
Well-known member
The number of bites? Someone counted I guess...we were speechless when the clinician told us that, but it's come from more than one source here at the vet school.
ETA: it has something to do with how much it takes to fill their rumen. But they can run out of bites before they fill their rumen, and they will go hungry.
Now the starving thing, it'd take a while, but they were just trying to stress to us the importance of giving them a properly balanced diet, especially for the milk-producing cows.
ETA: it has something to do with how much it takes to fill their rumen. But they can run out of bites before they fill their rumen, and they will go hungry.
Now the starving thing, it'd take a while, but they were just trying to stress to us the importance of giving them a properly balanced diet, especially for the milk-producing cows.
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Christina Noraas
Christina
They probably had a counter type thing attached to the inside of their cheek or something like the walk step counters (sp?)
Sycamore Chins
Well-known member
That's my best guess. They know a heck of a lot of details about these cows that I had no idea about. Not being a farm girl, I had no idea how high-tech milking parlors are. They monitor EVERYTHING about these cows!
Christina Noraas
Christina
Did you get to see the machines that they use? My step-dad's cousin is a dairy farmer. It's neat to watch it the first couple times but I would never want to live on a dairy farm; beef is so much easier.
Sycamore Chins
Well-known member
Yes, we got a tour of the whole thing, from top to bottom. If I had to choose a farm animal it would be pigs. I never realized how humongous they get, but they're cool. And you don't notice the smell after a while...
Takuraktty
Well-known member
Thats seriously pretty cool!
Side note- haha kinda funny we're talking about cow digestion on a chin forum.
Side note- haha kinda funny we're talking about cow digestion on a chin forum.
Milo10
Well-known member
When I went to The Vet School at MSU, They had one of those cows there that had a plug in its stomach. They had us put long gloves on and feel inside the rumen! It was really weird, but really cool!
