My Chins Seizures

[Doogals mom]

My 5 Yr old Chin had a seizure today, a pretty bad one. My daughter found him on his side twitching and had no control. I picked him up and he knew I was holding him and nuzzled into my chest. He was in and out of it for about an hour. I took him in to the vet right away and she took blood. She thinks that it my be some sort of worm. She also said that everything else look normal. But we are still waiting for his blood work results. Has anyone every had this happen. Its 7 hours later and he is hopping around, more, not like normal, but he still wont eat or drink. I have to feed him with a baby syringe. What should I feed him? Thank you if you can help.

 

[Stackie]

Feed him Oxbow Critical Care. If a vet is an Oxbow supplier, they will carry it, so ask your vet. If not, there is a dealer located on www.oxbowhay.com ...or, contact Menagerie on here. She could probably overnight you some tomorrow.
Until you get the Critical Care, mash up some of his pellets and mix it with water into a mushy/liquid paste that you can draw up into the syringe.

I have never heard of a "worm" causing seizures in chins. What was he doing when he had the seizure? What pellet do you feed him?

 

[Doogals mom]

He was running around but I keep the house at 65 degrees. I hate heat too. His ears and feet were warm but not hot or red. For play time he was jumping around on the sofa next to me and my daughter. He has 1 to 2 raisons a day and chin pellets and tim hay. Thank you for the food advice.

 

[alpayton]

Hope things get figured out for you soon. In the meantime, I have "upgraded" your acct for full posting privileges - no more waiting for a moderator to approve your posts in case you need to get info quickly.

 

[tunes]

Generally speaking, one to two raisins a day is quite a bit. Most people on this forum don't recommend giving raisins at all, but if you do give them, once a week at the most. However, in the case of a seizing chin, offering half a raisin before playtime can help prevent seizures as many times it's hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) causing the seizure.

How long was his playtime? Even though 65 is a good temperature (I hate heat too) it may be that he overdid play time in length. For now, it would be a good idea to limit his playtime for a bit, maybe 15 minutes to half an hour every 3-4 days to monitor him and make sure he's not going to have another seizure.

If he does have another seizure, rub some Karo syrup into his top or bottom gums and see if that helps bring him out of it. You won't need a ton, since chins are just little guys. I would also seek a second opinion from an experienced chinchilla vet. I can't begin to imagine what worm would cause a chin to have a seizure unless it's embedded in his brain. What kind of testing did he do to arrive at this diagnosis?

 

[CommonYak]

This may be off-topic, but it may not be.

At least in humans, abnormal glucose levels, whether too high or too low, can cause seizures. The problem is most common in individuals with diabetes. I don't know how closely chin physiology matches our own.

Whether or not his seizures are glucose related (as suggested by Tunes), you might want to be reconsider the frequency of raisins or the amount of sugar that he gets. Two raisins a day for five years sounds like a bit much to most chin owners.

Whatever the source of his problem, I hope that it doesn't recur and your fuzzy one feels better soon.

 

[pookie126]

I dealt with a similar situation several months ago with my chinchilla - He was unbalanced and lethargic. He then began convulsing with lips pursed and drooling massively. After a very expensive trip to the emergency vet and lots of test, then the follow up with my regular vet, it was determined that my chinchillas blood sugar was low - 48. Apparently chinchillas blood sugar runs around the same range as a human. After a course of antibiotics to rule out infection, and a recurrence of the lethargic and unbalanced behavior, it was determined that my chinchilla is hypoglycemic. The vet recommends I keep a watchful eye on him and when needed to give him 3 cc's of Karo syrup. 5 minutes later, he is always back to normal....

 

[Chub_Chub]

One of my chins has had 2 seizure episodes in the year that we have had him. The first lasted a short time, but the last time (a couple months ago) lasted 2 hours. :cry3: Poor baby. It's terrible having to watch and feeling helpless to help. Feeding him honey did little that night. My little guy wasn't even playing when it happened, either time.