Please help with advice! Second time im posting this.

[Lshaw]

Hi, all. Brand new here and I need some advice! We noticed today, Tilly (she's our year and a half old chin that we love very much!!) is losing hair around her right eye. I do not know if this constitutes an emergency but from what I've read any sign of sickness in a chin needs to be addressed immediately. So far she is not exhibiting any unusual behavior and is playful as always! My question is should I be running to an emergency vet or even making an appointment? I read tinactin in the dust bath was a possible treatment for fungal infections, which I do not know if thats what it is. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Amethyst]

It doesn't look like ringworm (fungal infection), you would notice dry flaky red skin, which I'm not seeing in the pic. It just looks like a watery eye which could be several things, best to just get an appointment to get it checked out, it's not an emergency, but I would get it check out as soon as you can. Off the top of my head possibilities are, could be something in the eye like a hair (don't see anything in the pic though), a tiny scratch on they eye from a piece of hay or something, could be a clogged tear duct, could be the start of an eye infection, or it could even be a sign of a tooth problem.

 

[Lshaw]

Pretty much what the vet told me earlier, not an emergency but should get it looked at. Thank you so much for your reply! I feel much better hearing the same thing from more than one source. We are keeping a close eye on her, looking for any new developments. I think we will try and wait out the weekend and hopefully it will clear up. If any symptoms persist into next week I will be making an appointment! I hope this is reasonable. Once again, thank you!

 

[HeatherLouWho]

It doesn't look like ringworm (fungal infection), you would notice dry flaky red skin, which I'm not seeing in the pic. It just looks like a watery eye which could be several things, best to just get an appointment to get it checked out, it's not an emergency, but I would get it check out as soon as you can. Off the top of my head possibilities are, could be something in the eye like a hair (don't see anything in the pic though), a tiny scratch on they eye from a piece of hay or something, could be a clogged tear duct, could be the start of an eye infection, or it could even be a sign of a tooth problem.

A watery eye was the first sign of malocclusion in our Pipsqueak. I hope it is not that.

 

[Lshaw]

A watery eye was the first sign of malocclusion in our Pipsqueak. I hope it is not that.

Me too. That looks awful. Tilly is still eating normally and she always has hey. She will get a checkup next week

 

[HaXena]

This may not help your chin but this is what helped mine…
My rescued chin had one mattery eye for about a year. Took him to two vets, nether found anything wrong. One gave me eye drops which made no difference other than to traumatize my poor abused boy.
I noticed it always seemed to get a little better after a dust bath.
I built an enclosure (cardboard boxes) with steps (bricks) going down into his dust bath space so I could leave in his Habitate w/out making a massive dusty mess.
his eye problem cleared up right away and is still ok two years later.
I check his dust box daily and take out any poop and clean it if he has peed (which is very rare).
I keep an eye on his eye but the problem has never returned.

 

[Lshaw]

This may not help your chin but this is what helped mine…
My rescued chin had one mattery eye for about a year. Took him to two vets, nether found anything wrong. One gave me eye drops which made no difference other than to traumatize my poor abused boy.
I noticed it always seemed to get a little better after a dust bath.
I built an enclosure (cardboard boxes) with steps (bricks) going down into his dust bath space so I could leave in his Habitate w/out making a massive dusty mess.
his eye problem cleared up right away and is still ok two years later.
I check his dust box daily and take out any poop and clean it if he has peed (which is very rare).
I keep an eye on his eye but the problem has never returned.

Great to know! I will look into this. Thank you very much!!

 

[tunes]

It can be a result of poor circulation in the room. When I spoke to a breeder many years ago about this issue, he said that I needed to improve the circulation in the chin room and to have a fan aimed at the floor to move the air around, even with the air conditioning. I've done it every since and don't have any more problems.

 

[Lshaw]

It can be a result of poor circulation in the room. When I spoke to a breeder many years ago about this issue, he said that I needed to improve the circulation in the chin room and to have a fan aimed at the floor to move the air around, even with the air conditioning. I've done it every since and don't have any more problems.

That is honestly something we've been considering as well. Very greatful for all this information, as we're willing to do anything we can to improve Tilly's well being! We have been leaving her cage door open at night and she runs around and plays in the bedroom while we're sleeping. Sometimes (most times) we will wake up with her burrowing under the covers, usually at our feet! The room is chin proofed so she can't chew any cords or find any other troubles. Do you see any issues with said lifestyle? We just feel horrible locking her up...

 

[Amethyst]

That is honestly something we've been considering as well. Very greatful for all this information, as we're willing to do anything we can to improve Tilly's well being! We have been leaving her cage door open at night and she runs around and plays in the bedroom while we're sleeping. Sometimes (most times) we will wake up with her burrowing under the covers, usually at our feet! The room is chin proofed so she can't chew any cords or find any other troubles. Do you see any issues with said lifestyle? We just feel horrible locking her up...

Allowing your chin to free roam unsupervised is a very bad idea, so much could go wrong and I've read so many stories of bad things happening, even if left for a few minutes. It's nearly impossible to fully 100% chin proof a room to be in unsupervised unless you customize it for the chin. Chins have been known to chew through drywall, so the walls need to be something like stone, or brick. Any wood that is accessible (furniture, baseboards, etc) needs to be safe to chew, so nothing painted, stained, and only made of chin safe wood. Also any fabric accessible needs to be anti-pill fleece only, no other fabric is safe in case the chin decided to chew it. Nothing made of unsafe material, so no paper, plastic, cardboard, unsafe fabric, unsafe wood, unsafe metal, accessible at all in the room. Chins have also been known to chew through box springs and mattresses so no access to those either. Make sure there are no cords at all in the room. The list goes on and on but hopefully you get the idea but I could be wrong your bedroom is setup like that with nothing in it and you sleep on the floor with only fleece blankets and only wear fleece clothes (or sleep naked). Another issue is if the chin crawls in the bed you risk accidentally rolling over and squishing it in your sleep, not to mention you will end up sleeping in chinchilla poop, and possibly pee. You also run the risk of accidentally stepping on the chin if you get up in the night and don't turn on the lights to see where you are stepping.

 

[Lucretia]

As Amethyst says everything need's to be chin proof. My herds habitat is 100% secure, I converted a room for them ensuring even the floors and walls were chin proof, and there's a double door system so there is no possibility of any escape attempts whilst I'm entering/exiting. The only things they have access to are theirs. They are also under 24/7 cctv surveillance lol. I've made the habitat as close to natural as is feasibly possible in a domestic situation (including a rocky outcrop), but as the whole room is their habitat I know they're safe when I'm not with them, but also the area is plenty big enough for me to be with them. They don't risk being stressed out or coming to harm being moved to another room that may not be 100% chin proof for play. If you have the space this may be a consideration for you.

 

[Devynthecatwithsocks]

any updates on how he is?