I am worried!

[chinny]

I have realized my chin has been staying on the bottom of her cage but this may be due to the fact that I have the ceiling fan on to help cool things off or at least that is what I thought. The last day or so she has been quite calm. I mean she has bounced around once or twice from what I have seen but she is really letting me rub on her and stuff without jumping away. I wish I had brought her outside to play to see what her activity was like yesterday but I didn't.
Tonight, just now, when I went to bring her out she kept trying to get out of my hands, (nothing unusual) but she wanted back in her cage, which is not like her. She usually is ready to go. SO I know this is nothing for sure wrong but the behavior has changed. What do you think? She has pooped and a lot of her food was missing out of her bowl. There was some hay gone but not all but it has been that way and I think that is due to the fact that I bought oat hay instead of alfalfa which she picks out of the mixture I put in there.

By the way the temp has gone up just a tad since it is starting to get hotter but it is like right around 70 so I doubt it is that either. Am I overreacting and she is just in an odd mood?

 

[Laurie]

Most likely this is not an emergency. If she is seating drinking and pooping then most likely she is just in a mood. When you say you take her outside I hope you mean you take her outside of her cage and not actually outside of your house.

70 degrees is not normally too hot for a chin either so I agree with you there. While a ceiling fan helps to circulate the air and if it's cold air then it will circulate, but just a ceiling fan alone is not going to cool off a chin. Chins don't sweat so a fan hitting their air does not cool them as with other animals that do sweat.

 

[GorillaJTA]

You could try putting some chin-safe covering over the TOP of the cage (wood, piece of fleece, sheet metal, etc). Rodents instinctually hide from overheard shadows and the ceiling fan could be making it nervous.

 

[chinny]

I think that it made her nervous because I decided to turn the fan off last night and this morning she was at the top of the cage where she has normally slept though she started out at the bottom. Oh, and yes I meant outside of her actual cage. Not outside in general. I didn't realize how that would sound. I am glad she was just in a mood.

I feel like her stomach is bigger but I can't tell if I am just aware of it now that I am thinking about it and it has always been that way or if I am right. Can anyone tell me the signs of bloat and how I would really know if she had it just as a precaution? Thanks for all the help.

 

[ticklechin]

When I find one who is off I usually will give a dropper full of simethicone every 4 hours for a day. A little gas can make them off but not be full bloat. Signs of bloat are lethargy, sleeping hunched up or stretched out, stretching motions and trying to rub the tummy on the ground, twisting motions, no appetite, not drinking, there can be drool, jumping sloppy, poo can be slimey, can be hollow, can have air bubbles attached to it, or there may be no poo. Tummy will feel round and firm-you can tap on it gently and hear a tone or it can be doughy and squishy feeling. When you put the ear up to the tummy you can hear loud gurgling and popping noises, if it turns to stasis it will be dead silent, noise can somtimes be audible from the cage.

 

[Irishsk8r66]

while reading this i realized that my little guy has been acting almost the exact same way for the past week. he is eating less hay but still eating his pellets, drinking water and pooping like normal. he is not afraid of the fan and it hasnt been on either. we did however just move from a studio apartment where he was in the same room with us all the time to a two bedroom where he is now alone....i am afraid he is depressed because he has gotten better since the first day we were there but he still seems a little off.....any advice???

 

[Dusty Foot Prints]

Someone with more experience can jump in, but I was wondering if it could be the recent time change and even the full moon? Are the chins senstive to that sort of thing?

 

[chinny]

The only thing out of that list for bloat that I even think would be close is the tummy and I am not for sure about that either. Like I said I can't figure out if I just realized her tummy was rounded and it has always been like that or I realized that because it really has changed. The reason I say I am not for sure is because I was already looking for something wrong since she wasn't acting the way she normally does so I might have been overlooking I guess you could say. I think she is good though. This morning she was bouncing around but I will keep an eye out.

 

[mishellyshel]

sometimes i think my chins are like humans..........they go thru moods. some days they eat all their food & hay........others not as much. some days they are junping all around and others they are sleeping in their tube. my first gauge is the eating, drinking, pooping thing and then i monitor them for a few days. if they are back to normal i know they were jst in a "mood'.

 

[Irishsk8r66]

thats what i had planned on doing however it is just over a week now.....