Recovering Chinchilla

[NillasMom]

Hi all. I am a new chinchilla owner. I have has Nilla, a female, grey chinchilla for about 2 months now. She is a rescue from a local animal shelter. 2 days ago Nilla stopped eating, pooping and was laying on her side and pressing her stomach on the ground. I took her to the vet. He checked her out. No obstruction in her stomach/intestines and her teeth look good. He gave her fluids and prescribed reglan and critical care food. After 1 day of this she has started pooping again. The poop is not 100% back to normal. It is still light in color and a little mushy but is the normal shape. She is no longer laying down and today she started eating her hay and a few pellets. My question is should I continue the critical care food now that she is eating on her own? I do not want her to de depend on hand feeding, plus she hates it! The vet is closed for lunch. I would like to hear opinions from anyone who has found themselves in this situation until I can speak to the vet. Thank you!

 

[peachydays]

I would continue the CC. After only two days of hand feeding, she won't be dependent on it. I had to handfed a chin for about two weeks, and he actually became interested in his pellets again on his own. I only stopped the handfeeding when his poops were 100% normal, 100% of the time, and I could see that he was actively eating on his own. You will probably notice this during the time between the last nighttime feeding and the morning feeding, when they are normally most active.

Just a tip: Before a handfeeding session, you may want to give Nilla some baby gas drops (simethicone, like this: http://www.amazon.com/Equate-Infant...F8&qid=1341952749&sr=8-4&keywords=simethicone) . Sometimes with handfeeding they can end up ingesting a bit of air, and the simethicone will help with any gassiness.

Good luck to Nilla!