Leg injury

[Hmarie]

Sunday morning my son and I sadly learned the importance of having ramp covers that will not slide down. Our male chinchilla had his foot caught and leg all twisted in the rungs and he was stuck in an awkward position. We feared his leg was broken. We took him to the nearby university's vet hospital associated with their veterinary school, so I am confident he is getting good care. They recommended a CT to determine if there was a fracture or hip joint injury and also if an area of swelling was just hematoma (bruising basically) or a hernia. Good news is no fracture or hip injury. He however is not using his leg and a clinical exam revealed nerve damage.. it could be due to temporary swelling and pressure or may be more severe nerve damage. Time will tell how that heals. Hoping to hear some good experiences with chinchilla recovery from this type of thing. Right now he isn't using the leg (back).

Bad news was he does have a hernia. His function is normal (eating, drinking, peeing, pooping) so it may be minor. It may be chronic and unrelated to this injury. Or he may have strained it in this injury. Vet told me it can be caused by the neuter surgery (which he had about 9 months ago). I will say the vet we took him to for that was highly recommended on this or another forum (can't remember exactly) but even before this I would not have recommended him. There were some complications at the time. Anyway. Doc recommends watching for continued normal functions. Just as with a person, an animal can live with a minor hernia for years without problems.

Just seeking any insight with either of these problems. And good thoughts for our sweet Manwë. He's my 13 year old son's baby and kind of my little favorite of our family of 3. Plus, take warning. We have a Ferret Nation cage and have always had cloth (fleece) covers for the ramps but one was too loose and had slid down. I mostly thought they should be covered to prevent bumble foot or the stress of running on metal and never realized they could get themselves caught between the rungs like he did
Just so sad.
Thanks for reading!

 

[Devynthecatwithsocks]

My chin cut her leg a while back and thank god their weren't any bone or muscle injuries but she was limping long after the inuring healed. We found she had just lost her confidence and was favoring the leg. Give it time and do some physical therapy to get the muscles working again. Hold him and move his leg up and down for a few minutes just to get the blood flowing and muscles working. Encourgae treats when he is putting any sort of weight on it. Over time he should heal and use it again. If he doesn't, its not that big of a worry. I would do a check up on the leg but as long as he's mobile enough to get to his food, water, hay etc. He should be fine. Many chins completely break their legs and come back using it again. So long as theirs nothing else wrong with it he should be fine. Ask ur vet for some pain killers maybe and just work it

 

[Hmarie]

Thank you! That is encouraging to hear. Since I posted this, we had additional problems in that he chewed his leg. My theory is it happened when feeling was returning. Healing nerves can tingle weirdly, itch, or just hurt. It's been quite an ordeal. I should have put a collar on him but the vet discredited the idea. So we have had wound care. We started using medical grade honey and he is healing, although slowly. I made him a collar out of Craft foam paper. It works really well and is comfortable around the neck. One of the vets we took him to in this process admired it! He has been on anti inflammatory and gabapentin for the pain. He is so patient and sweet. We are hoping for a good recovery.