Post Surgery Chin

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Hi, I got one of my male chinchillas castrated yesterday as it turns out the other male chinchilla who he is living with is actually a female..and pregnant! We didn't want to split them up as the pair have become really close recently so the only other choice was neutering. We picked Chilli up at 5pm and brought him home, put him back in his cage, watched the pair all night and as there was no fighting or aggression between the two, we decided they could stay together for now. The only problem is that Chilli hasn't really moved since we brought him home, and has barely eaten/drunk anything. As directed by the vets, we gave him his first does of anti-biotics this morning which went down fine and we also decided to feed him some water through the syringe afterwards which was also fine. I didn't expect him to be back to his normal self straight away but I'm worried at his prolonged loss of appetite and immobile state. On a couple of websites it has been suggested that a mixture of pellets, apple/cranberry juice and oats blended together could be fed via a syringe to encourage him to eat, but I just wanted any opinions on if this is a good idea or not, and if I should just wait a little longer to see if the situation improves by itself. We have a vets appointment on saturday anyway for a check up, but just wandering what to do in the meantime.. Thanks!
 
If he is not moving, I would not wait until Saturday for the vet visit.

First, he HAS to eat. The mix you mention sounds okay, but if he's developing gut issues, fruit juice isn't a great idea. If you have to do your own mix, I would just use water, some canned pumpkin (PURE pumpkin), and a very small drip of black strap mollases mixed in with the crushed pellets. Do you have access to Critical Care? If you do, I would start feeding that immediately. If not, I know there is something else available over there, but you would need to contact Claire D on here to get the name of it.

Second, separate him from the female. Regardless of whether they are getting along or not, with him feeling so poorly, all it would take is one good jump on him while she bops around the cage and he could be in bad shape. If he was up and running right now, he would still be fertile and you wouldn't want him with her anyway. Also, you cannot accurately monitor just his food and fluid intake, or his urination and defecation, unless he is by himself.

Third, were you provided analgesia for him? He should have pain meds for several days after having surgery. If he is in pain, he isn't going to eat.

Next, your vet needs to rehydrate him, or you can if you know how to administer subcutaneous fluids. After a surgery like that, especially with him not drinking on his own, he is bound to be dehydrating. A dehydrated chin will not eat. Syringe feeding water isn't going to cut it. It needs to be done subcu to get enough into him.

If it was me, I would be on the phone to the vet.
 
Hmm, I was under the impression that you were to keep a neutered male away from a female for a certain length of time to make sure his sperm count was at a low enough level where he could not impregnate the female. Then again if your female is already pregnant, maybe it's okay to keep them together?

Edit: Never mind, I see there are other reasons to keep them separated.
 
We have had them separated for a few hours now, but no change in appetite..gave him 10ml of the mixture i mentioned before, he seemed to enjoy it, but went to give him the same mixture this evening and he refuses to eat it or drink anything at all. We were only given anti-biotics (Baytril) to give twice a day for the next 5 days. Going to get on the phone to the vet first thing in the morning as they aren't open now..hopefully they can give us some pain killers :S
 
Do not offer the mix to him, you must make him eat it via syringe. If he doesn't eat, he will go into status.

I don't know what the norm for anti-b's is for a neuter but that seems a little high to me.

We did three single doses for my female when she had a spay/c-section and have had no problems.
 
We can get Supreme Science Selective or Oxbow Critical Care here in the UK - both of which are suitable as replacement foods. As others have suggested he needs to be force fed if he is not eating or drinking by himself & extra fluids are a must.
Did the vet give you Metacam for pain relief? If not he will need some of that too. If he's in pain he will not want to move, eat, drink etc.

Whereabouts in the UK are you based?

He needs a small, one level cage so that he cannot jump & hurt himself & you need to be able to monitor his eating, drinking, peeing, pooping.

Please do keep us posted on his progress.
 
Went to the vets today, oddly it turns out he hasn't lost any weight but he does feel limp when I pick him up. Vet gave us some Metacam and injected him with some liquids and 2 other types of pain killers.. we were also given some Supreme Science Selective but so far that hasn't gone so well for 2 reasons, one being that the mix clogs the syringe so either none comes out or it goes flying across the room..and two, Chilli doesn't take it so well and it ends up all down his front..he's still not drinking or eating of his own accord and just sits in his bed or on the corner of his shelf. We have separated him from the female and now he only has one level..im now worried about his sutures getting infected as he's not cleaning himself and seems to have quite a but of urine under his belly :( obviously he's not allowed a bath, I tried using some grooming wipes, but didn't want to get too near to his cut, so he's still stinky! Hopefully the anti-biotics will prevent any infection but so far I see no improvement :( Got another check up on Monday so hope things are better by then..

Im in Exeter at the moment and yep i also posted on ChinFormative if that's what you were wondering :)
 
If you can put him on fleece or something softer and easier to keep clean, that will help with dirt/shavings getting stuck in/around his incision.

Mr. Whiskers had some minor complications after his neuter. He was similar to your boy. It was like he had been hit by a truck. He would just lie there in his cuddle cup looking so pitiful. I ended up having to take him in for subcu fluids several times. His cage mate, Baby, who was also neutered at the time, however, didn't miss a beat. I took their wheel out and took the shelves/perches out so that they couldn't jump around.

Keep an eye on the incision and make sure that he is well hydrated and is getting the proper pain relief. Just like us, he will feel much better if his pain is relieved.

Good luck with your baby.
 
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