Not sure if I should be concerned or not.

[LilanChilla]

I have a 4 year old female who is very active. I noticed today that she hasnt eaten much over the last 2 days. She is drinking, and pooing. There isnt as much of a "wet spot" in the bottom of her cage, but it was changed two days ago. She is running around acting normal, but her hay and pellets seem untouched. I threw them out and got her fresh 6 hrs. ago or so, but still nothing.

Am I over reacting? I can hear a squashing sound from her belly. Her belly is not hard, same as always. She has lost about 10-15grams. My biggest problem is I am leaving for a week tomorrow. I know my brother will take her to he vet for me if need be, but I am still worried.

Oh, also she just went into heat. There is no possibility that she is pregnant. She is chewing apple sticks as we speak, or type. She did seem to have a little less energy, but not by much. She is one who can only be held when she wants to. I did have to catcher, sorta grabbed her as she was jumping out the cage door before playtime to listen to her tummy. She did bite me for this which makes me think it may not be teeth?

Opinions/advice? Thanks, may not be able to check this thread myself until the evening, but will leave the link open for my brother to check. Thanks.

 

[caiti]

Is she pooing just as much or less? Are they smaller tha usual? If you have a scale, weigh her food and mark a water line on her bottle so you can be sure if she isn't eating or drinking. But if she is pooing and peeing normally, she must be eating something I'd think.

Is it hot in her cage? I would keep an eye (or your brother keep an eye) on her though and if she still doesn't eat or stops pooing/peeing bring her to the vet. If your brother is not very experienced with chins I would probably just bring her to the vet soon in case he can't tell if it gets worse or better. Would he be able to force feed her if he needs to?

In two days a chin should have peed multiple times but I know with mine if it dries before I see it, it's hard to notice because she doens't always pee in the same spot so a "wet spot" doesn't really accumulate.

I don't know anything about behaviour or eating changes when a chin goes into heat, so maybe someone else can chime in tell you if that is relevant or not.

 

[ticklechin]

The noise from the belly is not normal-normal gut noises are soft gurgling. Does her belly feel doughy at all? Not eating could be from gas, to be on the safe side give her a full dropper of simethicone ASAP, and then every 3-4 hours for the rest of the day and re-listen-I would also do some massage a few times a day. I would also start hand feeding small meals to reach 60ml a day until tomorrow. If there is no improvment by tomorrow I would seek a vets advice since we can only do so much being on the net.

 

[LilanChilla]

I just got off the phone with Ted, he said she ate a little bit of hay out of his hand, but no change in pellets. I weighed them before I left(there was only 3tspoons full in there) He said no change on those. I gave her simethicone last night. He said he gave her a dropper full midmorning. Her poops were smaller last night, not sure if they still are. I thought her belly felt a little doughy, she also sprayed him so she must not have a urine problem She ate probably three inches of apple sticks between lastnight and now. I did a massage on her before i left, he didnt have as good of luck, she bit him- hard.

Her room is kept at 65degrees all the time. It has its own thermostat. This is the only one of mine who always pees in the same spot, and she is alone because she attacked her daughter a while back. He said as far as he can tell she is back to normal.

He is fairly experienced with chins, one of my males used to be his. Then he left for college and he joined me. This one female is the only one who does not like him for some reason, or really men it seems. Thanks for the help, I will keep you updated.

 

[ticklechin]

She IMO has bloat on the way to stasis-she needs a vet visit ASAP for motility drugs and a pain med. The noisy gut, doughy gut and excessive chewing and bit of hay eating point directly to that. She is eating the sticks like crazy and trying to eat hay because she is trying to get fiber to keep her gut moving. She may act overly bright also and exibit stretching motions. She needs vet care ASAP, keep up the simethicone-increase it to a full dropper every couple of hours, get her up and running around, massage her even if she bites until you get her to a vet, hand feed small meals and make them on the loose side, she needs to keep her water intake up because she can become dehydrated.

I have been down this road many many times with stasis and bloat chins, you have said the classic symptoms of bloat leading to stasis so please make a vet appointment.

 

[CJR]

I have to agree... please make a vet appointment as soon as you can, because it's best for all involved to just get the bloat over with... otherwise, it can be a huge pain or even worse, it can (and does) kill.

 

[LilanChilla]

Hey, Im Ted, the brother. Dorie had a MASSIVE POOP. I mean like with in 10 minutes there was a hefty pile underneath her. Maybe 25 to 30 or so? She is now eating pellets and running on her wheel, which she wasnt doing before. I have a vet visit set for tomorrow at 10. She drank quite a bit of water. Still giving her the gas drops, ground critical care, and a little lifeline. I didnt really hear anything from her stomach, mostly a heart beat before she bit my ear. Im still *attempting* to massage her stomach every two hours or so. is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[ticklechin]

The simthicone broke up the gas to the point the digestive tract is no longer expanded and it can now start working on getting rid of the stalled poo, this in conjuction with you massaging her, hand feeding her and getting her to run aound most likely go rid of the bloat on her own, it can happen when caught early and the use of the motility drugs may not be needed. I would do what you have been doing all day today, keep up the simethicone, massages, hand feeding and running around. Bloat is painful due to the expansion of the intestines and/or the cecum and stomach so it can day to return to normal. If you see normal poo and lots of it, she resumes eating, she is drinking and returns to normal "operation" the crisis is averted and there may not be much to find at the vet.

 

[LilanChilla]

Ok, overview of the vet visit went pretty good. Vet had an xray done. He said everything looked normal, recommended we keep up with gas drops, massage, CC, and plenty of excersize. She seems back to her old feisty self. Thank you for all the great guidence and support.

 

[ticklechin]

YAY, good news!!!!

 

[jamanalo]

I wish we all had pet sitters like you! Im glad to see that she'll be on her way! Just keep the GasX on hand at all times. throw it into your first aid kit because you never know when it can pop up again. So its good to have just in case.

 

[ticklechin]

You do not want adult GasX, it contains sugar, the baby gas drops do not. Not good to introduce sugar to a bloated chin, will just feed the bacteria and more gas will be made.

 

[AZChins]

I agree...the baby gas drops or phazyme would be what I would want to use since they have less added ingredients that could cause issues. I have always been surprised at what vets will use because it has simethicone in it...mylanta, gas-x, etc. If you can go with something that is as close as possible to just being simethicone, you will have to give less of it, as well.