Loss of motor control, general disorientation?

Mihai · Nov 17, 2016

Tunes, your hay only idea for a few days is great because he loves hay and he might actually eat the good pellets when we return to actual food, I will try that!
He is now 100% recovered, he is jumping, running, as curious as ever, begging for playtime all night, eating regularly, bathing and actually gained about 15 grams from his regular weight, before this episode when he dropped 12 grams.
I discovered a little swelling at the base of his penis, but I am guessing it is from all the liquid he had lately... after each antibiotic I was giving him some water too to be sure he is drinking... I did not realize that I actually gave him much much more liquids that he usually drinks... I am sure he will be ok as he is so active, present, happy and does not seem to be in pain as he was before!
We stopped with the antibiotics so we are very happy!
I always thought vitakraft was the best, to be honest! My chin loves their menus and sticks tha you hang by the bars and their drops. I even bought him a few years ago that green water they sell for rodents and he loved it. I will stop buying anything from they, I will visit the pet shop tomorrow and sample everything else that is only hay based, with no seeds, fruit or sugars!
I am also keeping my eyes on his swelling and will visit the vet if it does not pull back fast!
Thanks again for all your great advice guys!

Godofgods · Nov 18, 2016

i have no idea how it is over there in your area. But here in the US the 'big name' petstores, many of the items they carry for chins are actually bad for them. The few that are safe are very over priced. Most people over here find online vendors for better and safer deals.

Glad to hear hes doing better!

Mihai · Jul 28, 2017

Hey guys!
It’s been a while, but I am coming back and reporting...
We fully recovered from that episode, everything is kind-of back to normal, still, I took your advice and switched to a more healthy diet. We are eating a lot of hay, we love flowers, I have an old lady at a local market that brings me dryed dandelion flowers and leaves (his favorites), chalmomile (second favorite), linden (I think it is called that in English), marigolds and cornflowers. This old lady is picking them by hand from the forest, is washing them and then dryers them up in the shade, at cool temperatures. He can tell the difference, I did not find her in the market and bought some dandelions from another seller. He smelled them but did not eat them, more then that, by morning all the dandelions were transported in the pee area... that was weird, went back to the market, found his friend and now I know her schedule and I stock up. We also eat alphalpha hay, timothy hay and healthy pellets. The only thing he is still enjoying is one now and then almond. After a few weeks (about 6) of this new diet I had some vitakraft products left and I wanted to give them to the petshop. Still, said he might enjoy a last tasting of his junk food. I could not believe when I actually saw him refusing all his old food. He used to be very agitated if he did not have those sticks with seeds in the cage and now he ignored them, the smelled the drops rewards and turned his head away. To be honest this made me feel much better because I thought he liked all that food and that I was depriving him of it. I realized a have a very smart boy that choose to eat healthy. In March a friend that was visiting told me he got fat. I laughed and said that could not happen, we are on a diet. That evening I weighed him. He now had 670 grams. He actually put on about 30-35 grams and maintaining.
Since the accident/incident we get out to play for a few hours every evening/night. If I work over the night and he is home alone, he is expecting me when I arrive in the morning and he can see me tierd so goes back in the cage after a few minutes of inspecting the house (I had to chinchilla proof the house, no cables in range, no remotes, nothing chewable - so he can have a little privacy and feel free) and some scratching from me (I have to admit that we both bonded a lot after last year). His ce he recovered, he never missed a night out! When I was in vacation, I have a good friend (that he also likes) that came over every evening to play with him, set him free for a while, change his water and food (I did not want to stress him and move him from our home).
A few differences that I have noticed since he recovered:
1. He has an upper house in the cage and one down on the ground. Before, he only slept in the upper one, now he barely goes to it.
2. He seems to be drinking water more often (very small quantities) and he seems to pee more... (of course, that might be because, after peeing all my white dinning room carpet - he moved to the couch... we are now peeing the couch about every 2-3 days at a time).
3. The ******* keeps most of his poo in until he is free in the house, when he’s out, he’s all out...

Guys, again, please know that I really appreciate the help you gave us, and know that my chin would not have had any chance if you were not here to help us. Hey, guess what? My chin thanks you too, he just poped his head from the back of the iPad and started chewing on the case

))

Hope you are all well, wishing you the best, from Romania!

Mihai · Jul 28, 2017

Oh, I forgot to tell you, if I fall asleep and he is free he is coming to me, chews on my ears and then runs to his cage waiting for the fresh food and water... how could you not adore him?