Rescue Chinchilla, very dirty from feces

[ArmyWife]

I rescued our new chinchillas "Jade" yesterday from owners who had no idea how to take care of a chinchilla. She was in a cage locked up a bedroom where they never visited her or played with her. The cage was VERY bare with no chew toys or any place for her to hide. She was soaked in her own urine and feces and seemed to not have a dust bath in weeks. Jade still has a lot of discoloration on her underside due to the urine and feces which has caused a sour smell. I gave her a dust bathe but that only does so much for her. Any recommendations on how I should go about cleaning her? Do I just let her do her thing or should I take action?

 

[RDZCRanch]

You can use soap and water on her belly to get the urine out. You just need to make sure to dry her thoroughly afterwards. A good way to dry is to towel dry, then blow dry on low to no heat then let her dust. You also have to keep in mind that she is a new chinchilla that you just got and stressed her with a bath may not be the best thing. Sometimes, the urine smell and everything else will go away in a couple weeks after daily bathing.

For right now, I would just give her daily dust baths and keep her cage spotless. This will probably get rid of the smell just fine and not stress her out.

 

[ArmyWife]

Perfect! That's the exact answer I was looking for, I really appreciate the advice! I'll make sure to give her at least 3 dust baths a week in hopes to get rid of the discoloration and smell. Poor little girl

 

[AZChins]

Dustbaths every other day with a little corn starch seem to help out tremendously. I agree with Tabitha, stay away from the waterbath at least for now. Just having regular dust works wonders with rescue chinnies.

I hope that she realizes how loved she is now.