My chinchilla's stool is smelly!!

[dominachan]

Hello everyone

I just bought (more alike rescued) my black velvet boy Ash from a pet store about one month ago. The pet store didn’t treat him nicely. They gave Ash a big place but no hay inside except small amount of old pellet, and the cage seemed never be cleaned for LONG time. After I took him away from that horrible place, I started to feed Ash right way including introduce new food slowly also giving plenty of timothy hay. I didn’t notice in the first place. Later I found out that his stool smell not pleasurably!! I know a health chinchilla’s stool has no smell. However Ash’s stool smell just like human has!! His stool looks in good shape, no watery, formed in solid, only except the scary smelling.

The worker from pet store told me that Ash had been in pet store like 2 months. Ash’s guessable age is around 6 months old now.

Could the major reason causing Ash’s stool from the improper way of feeding by that pet store? How I can help the situation improving? I already give him different kind of Oxbow hays daily to make sure Ash is in good condition. Ash looks healthy and having a lot of energy.

Please help Ash and I!! Thank you so muchJ

 

[Stackie]

I would be concerned that he has a parasite. Sometimes with a parasite, the stool will be mooshy and slimey, but that's not always the case. Chins can exhibit all or no symptoms. One of the symptoms of parasites is smelly poo.

Call a vet near you and see if they can do a stool sample. They may have you bring in a fresh sample of the poo, or they may have you bring the chin in so they can collect a sample.

What type of water are you giving? The pet store may have been giving tap water, which can be known for giving chins parasites. Chins should have filtered water because of this.

 

[mishellyshel]

I am with stacie, see if a local vet can do a stool sample.
Sometimes if you explain that the chin is very skittish and that they trip to the vet may too stressful for him they may do the test without you having to bring him in.
i have had smelly poo in the past without a parsite infection, could be due to the stress and the changes but it is worth testing since you dont know his background.

 

[Brittney]

What food are you giving him or switching to I might say. My chins have had smelly poo before, but it wasn't a parasite. I would still go in and get a stool sample. That would be your best bet, and could rule or rule out any parasites or bacterial problems.

 

[Spoof]

You don't need to take any animal in to do a stool sample, just take the fresh poo in (it must be fresh) and tell them you want an analysis of it. )