More babies...

[aussiljd]

So the chin kit I rescued before xmas is 7 weeks old today, doing well and all.

Anyway, I took chins in for my coworker back at the end of October. The mom, dad, and two 1 year old babies were all housed together, one male and one female. They have of course been separated and I have been watching the females. I thought I was getting lucky as we were getting so close to the time when I could be sure there were no babies coming. I took a quick look in on the chins at about 8 am this morning, then went in to do daily water and food changes at about 10:30am. What do you know I see little legs sticking out from Polear (the pink white female). The cage was baby-proofed in advance luckily. They are two white babies, one I am pretty sure is male and the other most likely male too, but I didn't do too much investigating.
Anyway, one baby is 42 grams, eyes open, running around. The other is 33 grams, running around, but eyes still closed. I tried to gently wiped the eyelids with cooled boiled water and applied gentle pressure to try to help them open, but they remained shut and I didn't want to make things worse. The top and bottom lids appear to be fused together still.

I do not know what to do here as I never intentionally meant to be raising chin kits, and the only experience I have is with the 7 week old baby that wasn't even born here... What should I do? :hair:

 

[Laurie]

First of all do not try to force the eyes open, they will most likely open on their own. You need to purchase a gram scale and make sure you are weighing the babies daily to make sure they are gaining weight. If they do not gain weight or start dropping weight you will need to hand feed. The best thing you can do is leave the babies alone with mom and let nature take it's course. Read over all the faqs you can in this section on babies and handfeeding. But don't cross that bridge until you have too.

 

[threewingedfury]

Actually, it's best to try to open the eyes to prevent infection. Just use a Q-Tip and warm water and try to work them open.

 

[aussiljd]

I'm pretty sure one baby already has an eye infection in one eye, and they other baby's eyes are still closed. They are both very active and nursing still.
A kit from the mother's oldest litter (the ones that were housed with their parents when I got them) was born with cataracts, and apparently she had a second litter I didn't know about that died. Lucky for her this will be her last litter, we most certainly don't need any more babies!

 

[aussiljd]

Just thought I would add that the kits and mom will be seeing the vet on Monday. The baby that originally had both eyes open keeps developing crusty discharge that seals one eye shut... I worked off the discharge with warm water and when he reopened the eye I flushed it out with sterile eye irrigating solution.

 

[RDZCRanch]

Sounds like you are doing all you can for it at the moment. When you talk to the vet, make sure he does not prescribe any medications with steroids in them. Have you managed to work the other baby's eyes open yet? I agree with Tiff...getting them open is a better course of action then letting them stay closed for days to the point that they get infected or they become blind.