Permanent Tiny-ness?

[Anna]

Well, this may sound like a dumb question. I am sure many of you remember my beige chinchilla Furby's three month epic saga. For those who don't, he was got really sick when he was about 5-6 months old. It started out simple. He came down with a small URI and the Baytril made him stop eating. And then he got Giardia. Of course. And He didn't start eating by himself for about 3 months so I had to handfeed him(whew!) and there were many a night where i would watch him all night as he would be like really really deathly it seemed.

Anyway, he is a funny looking chin, scraggly and skinny. Is this because since he was such a young-un, could it be that the immense amount of weight lost and fragility is due to that long period of sickness? I am trying to think of ways to make him look better. I don't care too much, but I was just curious. He is a fur chewer. That's cool, there isn't a lot I can do about that I have decided he is skinny though. Granted he never was more than like 450 grams. And now he's somewhere in that region. Is he just not going to get any bigger due to his past illness or genetics maybe?

I suppose I think he's healthy because he's active, eats lots of hay and PANR and drinks and so far is not sick again.

I love him very much, his huge ears, long face and skinny self that he is. )
I was just curious, can being sick for that long when they're young have a permanent affect on their fragility or body of whatever? or does he have silly genes. Or both!

(perhaps I wonder because my other chin Ralphy is such a behemoth)

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

His illness probably affected his growth but he could just be a small chin. It takes a lot of time for chins to gain healthy weight so he may continue to gain weight. Be patient.

 

[ChinDaddyFL]

Our Gizmo has never been over 500 grams either, and usually is around ~465ish, and he's turning 6 tomorrow. We had some health issues when he was younger, and it was a small struggle to get some weight on him, but he's very stable/healthy now.

Some chins are just small. Doesn't make them less cute

For an interesting read, take a look at this article, especially describing the costina body type for the lanigera chinchilla.

 

[Anna]

Some chins are just small. Doesn't make them less cute

A truer phrase has never been spoken!!!

Thanks guys, I guess it is just a healing process. I don't mind him being small, he seems healthy he is just so thin and scraggly! haha

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

Mork is a lot like that, he is about half the size, length and weight of Rodya. (although Sonya is also practically half the weight of Rodya as well, because he's such a big fat fattie ). I'm also waiting to see if Mork grows larger with age; I will keep you updated haha. He's a silver-white mosaic, what is your Furby's color? Mork is pretty young, although I don't know his exact age-he did just come around to a certain sexual maturity which I've read about in some boards described as being chinchilla 'teenage years'-so I hope he gains some more weight, just because his fur is so thin all the time and I can always feel his little ribs; with Rodya and Sonya I can't because their fur and fat and other anatomy gets in the way, ya know?

 

[Anna]

what is your Furby's color?

Furby is a hetero beige! Hmm, that would be cool if he gained some weight in his teen years, he is going to be a year old in august. So he's still a wittle guy. ) His brother though, my friend and I bought them together is much bigger and looks way healthier.

 

[Sesame]

Some chins are just naturally small. If anything, you can probably give him a supplement to try and see if he beefs up a bit. Otherwise, if he's eating a healthy diet he should be fine.