Skinny chinchilla, I can feel her bones. What's wrong?

[Marshmallowcloudbeanie]

Now one of my other chins has a runny nose on and off.

 

[Stackie]

Now one of my other chins has a runny nose on and off.

Take him to the vet asap. URI's are not something to be taken lightly and you very well could lose him too if he does not get veterinary treatment right away.

 

[Marshmallowcloudbeanie]

I don't even know how he got a runny nose! He didn't live with the sick female.

 

[ticklechin]

Your other chins need a vet visit ASAP, if the one has a runny nose what you have there is something that can be contageous, chins who get a URI can be dead in hours after showing symptoms. The vet may want to premedicate the existing chins if the second one is diagnosed with a URI. Baytril, ciprofloxacin or chloramphenicol would be big gun antibiotics that would be used by injection, sulfa based antibiotics are not strong enough for this case.


As far as the necropsy goes, the decomposition that would have already occured woud obscure any findings and would be useless.

 

[Jenn]

I am so sorry for your loss. But you really do need to be proactive with your other chins and get them assessed by a chin knowledgeable vet to make sure they are healthy, and that what caused Corky to die, isn't going to kill the rest of your chins. One loss is still better than losing all of your chins.

 

[AZChins]

Take any chins you have to the vet as soon as humanly possible. Because of your location I am positive that someone on this forum can give you the names and numbers of veterinary clinics that you can get into immediately. This isn't something you can wait out. A runny nose is a HUGE deal!

I always tell my customers that if there is any discharge of any type from the eyes, the ears, the nose or the mouth, get to the vet right away and then call me to tell me about it.

 

[Laurie]

I absolutely agree with dawn (tickle) if this chin with the runny nose has an URI it HAS to be treated with baytril. What everyone is saying is 100% true a chin with a URI can go from zero to dead in no seconds flat so this animal needs to be seen immediately and hopefully was.

Please keep us updated.

 

[Marshmallowcloudbeanie]

Vet trip tomorrow

Well we are going to Adobe Animal Hospital tomorrow. We made an appointment. My bfs aunt is driving us,since we don't have a car. We have him separated from the others and hopefully Yuki will be ok tomorrow so we can make him better. For future reference does anyone know any chinchilla vets in San Francisco??

 

[ticklechin]

You want Adobe and you really want to see Dr. Nakamura or Dr.Jane Johnson there, they are the "Chin Vets" and have worked on 100s and 100s and 100s of chins, from rescue chins, pets, breeders chins, I know of no other vet in the Bay Area I would trust in your situation.

 

[addictedtochins]

Read up on URI's, probiotics, CC (Critical care) and hand feeding here on this forum. It is common for chins to go off their feed while on meds. My chin Tibbit got a URI, it takes at lot of time and dedication from you two to help him pull through this, it was touch and go for nearly two weeks and I was sick to my stomach from nerves the whole time but he did recover.

 

[Marshmallowcloudbeanie]

We will put in all our efforts!

To make him better. We are taking turns on Yuki watch. We wanna make sure he makes it through the night so we can take him to the vet. He is still eating and alert thankfully.

 

[AZChins]

I hope that he does make it through the night. The thing about respiratory infections is that the chins go downhill so quickly. We're talking about a chin up and eating a treat and two hours later it's gasping for breath because the infection has gotten in its lungs.

You need to take the chin in to the vet. The sooner the greater the chances of saving the chinchilla. If I have that happen to a chin here, we're going to the vet ASAP. They need antibiotics when they have something coming out of the nose.

 

[Marshmallowcloudbeanie]

Yes well we called them to go about an hour ago and they said there was no chinchilla vet in until tomorrow morning,so we are going at 7am. And my bf talked to the operator and technician and they said to bring him first thing in the morning as there was nobody specializing in chinchillas on call. My bf and I are planning to take turns staying up all night watching Yuki. We are praying he will be ok.

 

[Essentia]

When my chinchilla had a URI, I brought him to see the regular vet at my office that same day that I started noticing symptoms. My exotic vet was off that day. The regular vet called the exotic just to make sure he was treating him correctly (medicine dosage, right medicine, etc.). It doesn't take an exotic vet to diagnose a URI and give antibiotics. With URI's it's urgent the chinchilla is seen as immediately as possible. URI's turn into pneumonia very quickly and then are much more difficult to treat.

I realize this is too late of a post now since it's already after 7am, but I just wanted to mention it for any other new owners who may be reading the thread.

 

[ticklechin]

Any update?

 

[AZChins]

I'm checking the thread to see what happened. Let us know when you can.

I went to the vet today with a chin that had to be put on Baytril today. We caught it super early so the chin will recover in a matter of a few days with little worries about it getting worse. I hope that this is the case for this chinchilla!

 

[Marshmallowcloudbeanie]

We took him in and saw Dr. Nakamura and he said it was a respiratory infection. He gave us CC and Trimeth. Is there any tips for handfeeding? Yuki is NOT fond of it. :/ and we got a scale today, so we are gonna weigh him after his nap. He hasn't been able to sleep much.

 

[Laurie]

The meds given are not strong enough for this type of infection. Injectible baytril would be the best medicine especially since another chin has recently died.

You should call them and see about getting baytril to give instead

If you are force feeding Critical Care the burrito method works best. You'll have to wrap him in a towel tightly like a burrito and feed him that way. If he's losing weight you will need to feed critical care every 2 hours and at least 10mls at a time

 

[ticklechin]

I just had two chinchillas treated for URI's by Dr. Nakamura who was treating them both for teeth issues, he Rxed injectable baytril and TMS, 21 days each and even with that they both did not make it so I have NO IDEA why he did not RX baytril for you since this chin has no pre-existing conditions to complicate treatment, baytril is what you need to be used synergistically with TMS.

 

[Essentia]

I agree that TMS is not strong enough for a URI.