Alright, chinchilla with SERIOUS, very sudden fur chewing.
For some background, the chin is 8 years old, never had an issue before (not my chin I am asking on behalf of someone else).
In December the chinchilla began chewing the fur off his tail, he seemed in pain and was chewing so significantly that in only a couple of weeks he had virtually no fur left on his tail and was taking big hunks of flesh out!
The tail is now obviously infected and the chinchilla is now showing significant signs of pain.
He has been to the vet several times and has been prescribed Neotopic-H Lotion to be applied topically to the tail and Deprim solution orally.
The vet could offer no explanation to the sudden onset, and no way to stop it. The vet has not done any xrays for broken/fractured vertebrae or identified the infection. They have recently (August 2012) got a cat so it is possible the cat nicked his tail causing an initial infection, though the cat has shown no interest in the chin.
To try and help the tail heal the owner has been trying to construct a cone for him but he always manages to get it off.
So my questions are:
1) What could be causing this that the vet may not have considered, or are there specific tests we can ask the vet to do?
2) Is there a better way to treat the infection? I was surprised to hear the vet had not prescribed Baytril, given there is an obvious infection.
3) How to stop the poor little guy chewing at his poor mangled tail?! I have suggested a paper cup wrapped around around his middle to stop him bending around, do you think this would be effective?
For some background, the chin is 8 years old, never had an issue before (not my chin I am asking on behalf of someone else).
In December the chinchilla began chewing the fur off his tail, he seemed in pain and was chewing so significantly that in only a couple of weeks he had virtually no fur left on his tail and was taking big hunks of flesh out!
The tail is now obviously infected and the chinchilla is now showing significant signs of pain.
He has been to the vet several times and has been prescribed Neotopic-H Lotion to be applied topically to the tail and Deprim solution orally.
The vet could offer no explanation to the sudden onset, and no way to stop it. The vet has not done any xrays for broken/fractured vertebrae or identified the infection. They have recently (August 2012) got a cat so it is possible the cat nicked his tail causing an initial infection, though the cat has shown no interest in the chin.
To try and help the tail heal the owner has been trying to construct a cone for him but he always manages to get it off.
So my questions are:
1) What could be causing this that the vet may not have considered, or are there specific tests we can ask the vet to do?
2) Is there a better way to treat the infection? I was surprised to hear the vet had not prescribed Baytril, given there is an obvious infection.
3) How to stop the poor little guy chewing at his poor mangled tail?! I have suggested a paper cup wrapped around around his middle to stop him bending around, do you think this would be effective?
