Possible Giardia?

[ErinsChins]

So, I just got a text from a customer that I have kept in close contact with for over a year. She said that her chinchilla (Kana) has bad diarrhea, isn't eating or drinking, and that she just sort of shakes when she holds her.

Immediately I called her and told her that she should take away her food and give her plenty of hay and water. I told her to see if Kana would take a rosehip (just to see if she'd react) she said she did. I told her to seperate the other chinchilla (Pepperoni) from her just incase it is something contagious.

So my question is, did I tell her right? I told her to go to the vet tomorrow if it doesn't get any better.

 

[ticklechin]

I personally would have told her to go to the vet ASAP, the shaking indicates pain and giardia does not cause loss of appetite, it usually causes the opposite. The onset of stasis can be preceeded by liquid or mushy poo, which is not actually fecal matter but cecotropes, it is the result of an imbalance of the normal bacterial and fungal flora of the cecum when the digestion process slows.

 

[StevieP]

Hopefully she goes to the vet tomorrow. Giardia may be present in a fecal, however it will not cause the shaking. It may be a bacterial infection. Did she say anything about the chin being in respiratory distress? Either way she needs the vet ASAP.