Suggestions for "Special Needs" Cage for Sugar Ray (head tilt)

[EMSChins]

Hey everyone! For those of you who have not been following my thread. Sugar Ray is a Pink White male chinchilla, 5 1/2 months old. I picked him up from a breeder about 3 weeks ago and he immediately went into stasis and less than a week later developed severe head tilt. He was given a 10% chance of survival by an exotics vet. We are now 3 weeks out and he is still fighting and I am more and more convinced that he will live but am afraid that the head tilt and ensuing balance issues will stay with him. He is better and is no longer chasing his tail continuously and is actually playing hide and seek in a pvc tunnel with me now but I am still handfeeding him and he is still getting IV fluids and antibiotics.

He is at that point where I need to start to consider a long term cage for him. He is currently in a grower cage (think breeder cage without the run in the back) which I think will be too small for him long term and will only encourage him to turn in circles. He needs something with a larger footprint so that he has room to explore and play but is not so tall that he will fall too far if he loses his balance. I would like to put a few ledges in it not too far off of the ground and a fleece tunnel or house for him to hide in if he needs to. Feed and water dishes would probably need to be in a special area as well but not sure where yet as he is not yet eating and drinking on his own, due to the head tilt they may need to be at head level or on the floor of the cage, I am trying both for now with the feed to see if I can determine if he has a preference.

I have never had a chinchillada with special needs before and I am sure that I have not thought of all of his needs so am looking to forum members who may have had or heard of chins with similar issues and how their owners solved them. What kinds of cages did they use, any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks so much!

 

[Brittany]

Quality Cage makes a great travel cage that might be an option for him http://qualitycage.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=643.

I have 2 that I use when I go home, and I love them. They're not too tall which would be good if he has balance issues. In addition to what's shown with the cage I have room for a hidey house, fleece tube, and food. My girls still have enough room to move around as well.

EDIT: I ordered mine without powder coating on the trays. I have powder coating on my chin-spin and I've found that it wears off with cleaning.

 

[EMSChins]

Thanks Brittany, it is just slightly bigger than the one he is in but it might be my best option. We have the 2 door chinchilla mansion for two of our bonded males - they love it and all of our other chins are jealous! You are right about the powder coating, our chin spin has it on it and it just comes right off - don't know why they bother???

 

[Brittany]

I know there are a lot of cages with larger floor space that can be bought at the pet store. My only issue with those is that they have plastic bottoms. It wouldn't be an issue for a non-chewer, but I never wanted to risk it. Lynn & the Chins and Laurie both have chinchillas with 2 or less legs. They might be able to give you better suggestions for a handicapped chin.

 

[mishellyshel]

i use this super pet cage for traveling. it is a big longer and not too high.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753350


46.5”L x 24” W x 24” H
Depth of the base is 8” Deep.


to address the plastic chewing you could cover the whole bottom in fleece and wrap around sides or just use shavings and fill to top.

my chins never chewed. they also make a similar cage with a metal bottom.
you may be able to find something at a garage sale or on craigs list.

 

[rainey]

I have a chin with a very similar problem. He had heat stroke last summer and as a result has frequent seizures and severe balance problems. While he was at his worst, it actually wasn't safe for him to be in a cage at all because everything I had was too small length-wise and he would get his jaw caught in the wire siding of the cage then have a seizure, and it was just terrible! So I sectioned off a portion of my chin room for him to have, completely chin-proofed of course. It was an L-shaped room so it worked well for awhile, considering he couldn't jump over the (low) barrier I had up, and he didn't chew at all. Also he had to drink from a water bowl because he couldn't handle the suction from a water bottle, so I would have to supervise giving him water every day.

Now that I've moved apartments, I've had to change his setup quite a bit. Luckily I've found a water-bottle that he's able to drink from. I don't know if your chin is having trouble drinking from a bottle but he's using a Water Buddy and it's amazing for him.

For his cage, I'm using a very similar cage to the one "mishellyshell" just put a link up for. I think it's meant as a rabbit cage? Since Snoops doesn't chew the plastic is not a problem, and it's deep enough that he doesn't get his jaw caught in the wire bars like he did in his old cage. Because he can hardly hop, and loses his balance when he tries to, I keep it really simple in his cage. He has a makeshift, wide wooden shelf that is more of a ramp than a shelf actually. But I've found that it works the best with him considering he loves sleeping under the high end of the ramp, and it is safe for him if he falls off of it. Then he has a very heavy ceramic bowl for his food, and a wooden block that he can prop himself up on/chew. I clean his cage daily because he falls into his urine and gets really dirty otherwise. It's a daily struggle for me to clean his fur! Also he can't really have bedding in his cage because it just sticks to him, as he falls over into the spots he's just urinated on. I haven't tried fleece because I don't have my own washer/dryer so I can't wash it as often as I'd need to. Instead I put paper towels out for him in his pee corner, which usually helps. I also let him out to run around twice a day which I think has done wonders for his rehabilitation! He's a lucky chin to have recovered so well.

You'll probably have to try out a few different set-ups before you find the right one, but thought I'd share because Snoops and Sugar Ray seem like they might be similar. Thinking back, when I was still handfeeding/administering sub-q fluids, I just kept Snoops in a large laundry basket lined with towels. He could hardly move for a few weeks so it was best for him. When he started to be more mobile that's when I moved him to the chin-proof space, and from there he improved greatly. I think it helps after a certain point to give them room to "run"...similar to physical therapy for humans who have lost strength in their muscles due to illness or accidents.

Anyway sorry I went on and on, but let me know if I was unclear or anything. And good luck!

 

[partygirlha]

One idea is to use a regulare cage but to build full sized shelevses to make it a multi level cage. yu can get circle drill bits that you can cut chin sized holes in so he can move feom level to lever - jusy make sure that the different levels are not to high. In case I'm not disdcribing this well - each self should be as large at the cage floor - so he can't fall off of it at all - just one (or a few) openngs where he can move from level to level. Space them such that even if he falls from one level to the next it's not far or that it's into a hamuckor a pillow. as long as the holes bwteen levels are in different areas, he'll never have far to fall. So basically a chinchilla high rise with lots of floors.

If you want more floor space all on one level look into C&C cages that people use for caveys and rabbits. http://www.guineapigcages.com/index.htm I built my C&C with shelves from the home center store instead of cubes and I love it. To keep him from chewing the floor of the cage you should cover it (and the sides) in fleece consider something like this http://www.piggybedspreads.com/ either pre-made or just based on that design. Of course chins are not as messy as pigs so you could use almost anything as a "floor" if you wanted to avoid the possibility of chewing. In fact you could probably just lay down a few layers of fleece and place the cage ot top of it. and replace the fleece for waching. If you want more info on this option pm me - I can send you photos of how to make the top as that's not well explained on the site.

Good luck with your boy, I hope he continues to improve.