oye-when it rains it pours

[Anna]

Well, i discovered Furby was all beat up today. I have no idea how this could have happened, he doesn't have anything sharp in his cage and he's not connected to any of the other chins. I'm taking him in tomorrow (I'll get bloodwork done too as per a previous post) He's dropped so much weight that I'm handfeeding him about 20 cc a session 2x a day. I don't think this is an emergent thing, but if you all disagree I will take him sooner. I have in the mail coming a large order of chin supplies including Blu-Kote and all I know is that i has shipped a couple days ago. Good timing on my part there. Anyway, ack. I've moved him to a smaller cage with just water, pellets and hay, while I gut his cage looking for what did this to him. Whyy did this happen, gah.

 

[andreya]

Poor baby. =(

 

[cindyv3737]

Poor Furb. Give him extra loving from me.

 

[Jenn]

Did he do that all today to himself? That is so bizarre! No blood anywhere in the cage to indicate what area he might have injured himself on? Poor guy. Lots of love and extra treats tonight.

 

[Anna]

Did he do that all today to himself? That is so bizarre! No blood anywhere in the cage to indicate what area he might have injured himself on? Poor guy. Lots of love and extra treats tonight.

Either today (I was gone most of it) or yesterday, he didn't seem to be acting weird so I didn't check him out too closely until today... No, there was nothing on the cage and nothing on his body, I inspected him pretty carefully. I'm seriously so weirded out, I have no idea how this could have happened to my little Furb :'(

 

[meiying]

Is he a fur chewer??

 

[AZChins]

He had no contact with any other chinchillas? That is really strange.

 

[MiniAmazon]

That's so strange. Poor little boy. :-(

 

[obcsed]

It almost looks like he hanged himself. Any place in the cage where he might have gotten his head stuck? Poor little guy.

 

[Anna]

Is he a fur chewer??

Oh yeah. Compulsively. He has been for years.

 

[Anna]

He had no contact with any other chinchillas? That is really strange.

I know, Susan. I have two FNs and they're all separated in half, they aren't allowed out together and I'm the only one who takes care of then (no chin sitters who could have made a mistake). There are no holes in the divider between Furby and Waldo. It's truly bizarre.

 

[Anna]

It almost looks like he hanged himself. Any place in the cage where he might have gotten his head stuck? Poor little guy.

I suppose anything is possible, but going through his cage he has a few hanging toys with no sharp wires hanging out or anything, a fleece tube, a fleece half-pipe thing, fleece liners, a wood house, some apple sticks, a plastic foodbowl, hay and some loofah toys. I couldn't find anything that likely did this.

 

[Anna]

http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31963
I took all these photos yesterday. well I guess now after midnight, the day before yesterday on the 24th. and he was totally fine. Blehhh I'm so confused.

 

[Claire D]

Are your chins housed indoors? Do you have any other animals?

The nose wounds look like bites TBH.

Poor lad, he's going through the mill, isn't he?

 

[javachin]

This may sound silly, but have you ever had a mouse or rat problem? If another chin, or him getting worse with self mutilating isn't the problem, then maybe something other than another chin got him.

 

[Whimsy]

If you post a picture of your cage set up, that may give us an idea of what the issue may be. If your cages are side by side, there may still be reason to believe that one of the other chins got to him from the other side. Those nose bites are what causes me to consider this possibility.

 

[ticklechin]

I was thinking the same thing as Javachin, another rodent did that like a rat?

 

[Anna]

OKay, I'll upload a photo of his cage )
To Claire, I do keep my chins indoors and I have a dog but he doesn't have access to the chin room. He was with me all day too. Java, we have never had a mouse or rat problem. My dog used to kill them like crazy in my old house and he hasn't ever done so here. I did think about that though and I checked all the wall areas for any holes, but I didn't find any. They're housed in the small spare bedroom, there really isn't anything but the cages in there

 

[obcsed]

What about the cat?

 

[Anna]

What about the cat?

Shmoo the Maine coon lives with my parents in another city
I'm away at college, my room mate had a cat but she gave it to someone else over winter break.