My chinchilla may be sick

[kvatore]

Both of my chinchillas sneeze every now and then and I'm not entirely sure if that is a sign of an upper respiratory cold. Their poops also look questionable because they seem bigger and somewhat greasy. I may be paranoid since I read about giardia recently and so now I watch out for it. Is it okay if they sneeze occasionally or is that a bad sign? Ah, and teeth chattering. They have started doing that sometimes. Any ideas and suggestions are completely welcome. I just wanna be sure my babies are okay.

 

[kvatore]

It appears that only one is having bowel issues. Her poop is soft and she keeps stepping on it and smearing it everywhere. It also looks like she has some pee stained on her bum now as well. The other chinchilla is fine. I did a complete cleaning of her cage. I have her on timothy hay and water now.

 

[ArmyWife]

You could always bring a stool sample to your vet if you're really nervous. I ended up bringing in a sample and found out that my chins had coccidia due to the stress from the hurricane. Try providing them with shredded wheat to help firm up their stools. Do their stools smell?

 

[Pikaia]

I've only heard my chinchillas sneeze a few times. I am sure that a sneeze every once in a while is normal, as even we humans do it. What kind of pellets are you feeding? You are doing the right thing by removing the pellets for a few days and only feed good quality hay and fresh water. That helps to firm up stools. If this continues, do as Armywife suggested and take a stool sample in to your vet..

Also, what kind of water are you giving your chins? It needs to be filtered to protect against gardia and if you use a water pitcher, only PUR does this. Brita doesn't. I buy reverse osmosis filtered drinking water for my chins.

 

[kvatore]

If the stools continue on the way they are I will take a sample to the vet. I give my chinchillas filtered water and I feed them Grreat Choice chinchilla food (though I may slowly transfer them to mazuri at some point). I know it's alfalfa based so I give them timothy hay cubes and loose hay.

 

[Riven]

I would definitely change foods.

 

[Pikaia]

Yeah, I've never heard of that food. Mazuri is a good food, but it has been known to cause soft poops (I've been using mazuri the whole time I've had chins and never had an issue- I still use it). Oxbow and Tradition are also excellent foods. Depends on what you can get easily in your area.

 

[Stackie]

Great Choice is a low quality Petsmart brand. I definitely recommend switching to something better. Petsmart carries Oxbow.

 

[AZChins]

Stacie...you spelled it wrong. It's Grreat Choice! So grreat it needs two rs.

It's really quite a terrible feed. Chins on it can experience dietary deficiencies within a few months. I've seen a couple that actually end up losing fur when on it. Most of the other problems are with chins ending up with poor coats and being a little underweight. I have told many customers to please not use it...most people use it because it is a cheap pellet without treats added to it. The chins definitely prefer higher quality pellets.

 

[kvatore]

I was not aware of that! Thank you! It looks like their stools are already getting a ton better so I'm thinking it was a combination of bad pellets and them not eating hay as much when it's in the cage. I shall make a stop at Petsmart tonight!