Recovering Chin with Bloat/GI stasis

[angyxpoo]

I've got a few questions about my recovering chinchilla female, Sunny.

I had the worst experience with the vet last week. Around Wednesday night, i noticed Sunny was acting very weird and depressed and not her usual self. I started worrying and called my mom. (sunny used to be my moms until she became too busy for her, so she knows her better). My mom said that sometimes sunny gets PMS and to give her a day and see if her attitude changes.

So i gave her a day. She was still depressed the next night. I took her out of her cage and put her on my bed to see how she would act. She maybe took 5 steps of "exploring" then laid right down on my bed and went to sleep. Then I knew something was definitely wrong because Sunny would never not romp around when she isn't in her cage.

So I took her to an emergency after hours vet (that also "specializes" in chinchillas) and they diagnosed her with GI stasis. They told me in order to find out how she got it, they needed to xray her, etc and would come up with an estimate. Well the estimate was 900-1500 dollars which is something I just don't have! I'm 21 and in college. This $100 vet visit plus the anticipated $100 in medicine I was going to buy was stretching it. After fighting with an extremely insensitive male vet about the fact that he thought I should put her to sleep instead of take her home, he stormed out of the room and I got my sunny back.

So after a $50 trip to walmart and lots of googling here I am 4 days later with a recovering sunny. I have been force feeding her 5mL of yogurt, 5mL of pedialyte water and 1.25mL of mineral oil every 4 hrs while also rubbing her belly in a circular motion every 4 hrs. I also gave her 3 enemas (but they aren't daily) . She pooped for the first time yesterday afternoon. She has pooped since then but they are still malformed and not regular. She has definitely gotten a lot of energy back, she is getting back to herself and will even eat half a raisin willingly and has been eating small amounts of hay on her own (as of today).

What my question is, how long before I see her bloat go down and her poops get regular? I can tell she is beginning to have an appetite again but when she moves I can see her belly is still swollen. I want to her to poop all the time like she used to. Also, because of the force feeding her hair has been getting really matted and shes been pulling it out. She is almost bald on her hands and arms and the area around her mouth. I know once I'm completely done force feeding her I'm going to have to bathe her in water with soap (regular soap?). Is the fact she is pulling out her hair for now detrimental to her health? I know I can get her some chinchilla sized cone thing for her head but then she cant feed herself, so i'm not sure what to do.

Also, when should I stop force feeding her? she is making fast progression but I think its totally because I just started her on yogurt yesterday. Before that I tried applesauce and baby food (prunes) and that yielded no poop. I don't want to stop before her intestines are completely working on their own. I was thinking now since she eats on her own maybe I should only do it once a day instead of 4 hrs? I'm not sure, but she isn't eating or drinking enough yet on her own.

And my last question is, how much should it really cost to get medicine for a chinchilla with bloat/GI stasis?

Thank you guys.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

This thread might help you out:
http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6553

You should be hand feeding her something like critical care or a ground up pellet mixture. I've never heard of enemas for chins. It's awfully easy to perforate an intestine plus don't think it is recommended for chins.

 

[angyxpoo]

This thread might help you out:
http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6553

You should be hand feeding her something like critical care or a ground up pellet mixture. I've never heard of enemas for chins. It's awfully easy to perforate an intestine plus don't think it is recommended for chins.

I read online where some vet recommended to another person who had a chinchilla that wasn't passing any poop to give it an enema...

I bought the enemas from the pharmacy section at walmart for children. It's really small and baby sized.

Where do I buy this critical care or pellet mixture??

Thanks for the link! I will try some of these things as well.

Also, any idea how much a vet normally charges for medication like this? 900-1500 is just ridiculous.

 

[AmandaDi]

I wouldn't do the yogurt. Go to Tractor Supply and get a probotic paste. The vet will have that too if you want to do that instead. Get some critical care off of amazon. The chins usually like the apple banana better than the normal non flavor. Get infant gas drops at walmart. A normal vet can get you Reglan for like $25! I wouldn't do more than 10 ML a day of pedialyte. Try to get her to eat hay. Mix some canned pumpkin with the hay if she wont eat it. She needs fiber to go poo.
Good luck! ANY poo at all is a good sign.

 

[angyxpoo]

I wouldn't do the yogurt. Go to Tractor Supply and get a probotic paste. The vet will have that too if you want to do that instead. Get some critical care off of amazon. The chins usually like the apple banana better than the normal non flavor. Get infant gas drops at walmart. A normal vet can get you Reglan for like $25! I wouldn't do more than 10 ML a day of pedialyte. Try to get her to eat hay. Mix some canned pumpkin with the hay if she wont eat it. She needs fiber to go poo.
Good luck! ANY poo at all is a good sign.

I called a normal vet and scheduled an apt for tomorrow... turns out they only charge around 40 bucks for an apt (versus the 100 i paid somewhere else) and they have critical care there for $10 as well so I will be picking that up tomorrow. This all seems pretty affordable. I have no idea where this estimate came from of $900-$1500. They must have thought I was a fool.

I will try downing her intake of pedialyte as well... she just doesn't drink water at all really. She has been eating a good amount of hay on her own today.
Tomorrow I will try the critical care. My apt is at 4 30 so I will get to feed it to her after that & I will definitely get those infant gas drops. She is still pretty bloated but pooing !!

 

[marymct]

I work at an exotic vet clinic, and we just had a chin with G.I statis there. I will pass along so of things we did there. Unfortunately the poor guy died because it 8 days with symptoms (not eating, horrible bloat, barely drinking) before they brought it in. However, I think your chin has a really good chance. We first did a little bit of I.V fluids (Glucose) for his dehydration. We too gave infant gas drops (try about 8 drops), and then we gave an enema using a anal catheter. We also gave a series of other medications, I can get the names if you wants.

 

[Dreamlite]

I wouldn't trust a pet owner giving an enema. There are too many ways it can go wrong. The gas drops should help a lot with her bloat. No yogurt. Find probiotic capsules, break them open and mix with a small amount of water and syringe feed that to help. Get reglan if you can. It works wonders. If she is eating hay that's a good sign.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I would give more than 8 drops of infant gas drops. Every time you feed her, give her a dropper full, You really can't overdose with them

 

[angyxpoo]

Thanks everyone! Sunny had her vet appt today and the they say she looks healthy! There is poop in her intestines and she pooped a few times during the visit. They said she is a little gassy so they prescribed some pain meds and reglan for motility.

Thanks for the tips guys. The vet said to stop force feeding because she should be able to eat on her own (she has had a good amount of hay today already) so I'm done with my force feeding rituals. Just the medicine every 12 hrs now.

I am so happy that I nursed her through this. Even with the random things I found online... I really thought she was going to die. and now shes ok!

Thanks for the tips everyone

 

[Narcissus]

just a precaution I would get a scale and keep track of her weight. You may not be able to stop hand feeding right away, some chins need to be weaned off of it.

 

[angyxpoo]

just a precaution I would get a scale and keep track of her weight. You may not be able to stop hand feeding right away, some chins need to be weaned off of it.

okay I will make sure to keep track of her weight. Thank you!