Swollen abdomen/genital area

[Jess42790]

I have a 6 year old male chin. He has a very swollen abdomen/genital area. I checked for a hair ring and found none. He is pooping like he is constipated. I have put him alone to monitor him better. He eats pellet rabbit food, timothy hay a couple times a week, and dried trail mix as a treat occasionally. He is a good drinker, but I have yet to see him drink today. It doesn't seem to hurt him. It feels like two mounds on each side, they are soft and moveable. I have had him from a baby and he has never had problems. Within the past few months he started fur chewing on him and his cage mate. I give him plenty to chew on and play with, and it has gotten better but I will still find some patches every once in awhile. Please don't attack me when I say this...I am very tight on funds at the moment and would like to be able to remedy this at home. If it seems life threatening, of course I will take him to the vet. BUT if it sounds like something treatable, advice would be welcome! Thank you!
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Jessica

 

[Claire D]

If your chinchilla is unwell then I am afraid we cannot provide a diagnosis online - you need to take him to a chinchilla competent vet for a full assessment.

Is he able to pass urine ok?
Is he showing any signs of pain?
Is he behaving normally?

 

[Andrea]

You need to take him to the vet. If he is not drinking and seems to have masses and swelling, then you need to get a proper diagnosis. It could be a lot of things such as impaction from fur chewing followed by stasis, but there is NO WAY to know without consulting with a professional. I recommend you try using care credit. I've used it before, and you can pay it off when you have the funds to. If you need vet suggestions, check out the vet listings we have here. It sounds like you already have one lined up...I'd call and set up an appointment ASAP. Good luck and I hope your little guy is ok.

 

[xcdnchinx]

Trail mix as a treat is not a good thing. IT can cause bloat. There are too much fats in the nuts and not to mention if there are raisins in there as well.
Have you tried giving a gently tummy massage to him? It might help elevate some of the pressure

 

[caiti]

I wonder if you are in fact feeling his testicles. Where are the masses?

If his abdomen and genitals are enlarged, that is likely in need of a vet visit. There are many things that could cause that and you need to find out what it is. Swelling can be too general as a symptom to lead to a definite underlying diagnosis/cause.

 

[obcsed]

My male was in a similar condition with bladder stones. He needs to see a vet.

 

[Cuddlebug]

has this little guy seen a vet yet? How is he doing?

 

[Jess42790]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I took him to the vet this morning. She said he probably has heart failure. They put him on critical care food, three times a day. She said he was the healthiest chin she has seen, perfect teeth, perfect weight. She felt his tummy and said he wasn't in any pain. She said he has a heart murmur and she heard a whistle which was probably a valve not functioning right and spurting blood back into the heart. She also said that the distended belly was probably him retaining fluid. But of course without in depth diagnostics she won't know for sure. I'm not sure where to go from here? Is there any chance he will pull through this, and if he does what kind of quality of life can I expect from him? I don't know whether to put him down or keep trying, I don't want him to suffer. Any suggestions?

 

[Claire D]

Did the vet prescribe any medication for your chin? If he has oedema & is continuing to retain fluid then he needs diuretics (lasix, for example) to help reduce the fluid overload.

Heart failure can often be managed with meds & slight changes in the chin's care but getting the chin stable enough at the beginning can be tricky (mainly because of all the excess fluid which puts extra stress on the heart/body).
Getting that excess fluid off is the first step - the lasix dose can be at the maximum at first & then reduced down as the fluid is removed & the chin's condition improves - once stabilised the daily dose can be maintained at a lower level.
An ACE inhibitor is usually prescribed as well as this helps the heart to function by lowering blood pressure, improving output etc (full description here).

I know Dawn has dealt with chins in heart failure (I'm hoping she will chime in to this thread when she sees it) & I have had one case here.
Diuretics, an ACE inhibitor (lisinopril is one drug used in chins - I used Prilium with my chin) & a low sodium, low fat diet, reduced/light or no exercise (at least until the chin is stabilised), & very careful monitoring.

This page (http://www.prilium.co.uk/) has some excellent information on it which might be of some help to you - it goes through the heart function, murmurs, tests, heart failure etc. It's well worth a read as a quick reference.

How is your chin doing now?

 

[Jess42790]

He is doing really well. He fought me to feed him last night and kept pushing out the food with his tongue, but this morning he took all of it with only a little dribble. I don't know whether this is good or not, but he is eating dried cranberries...yes/no?? He seems to be feeling better after just the few feedings we've done. The vet did not prescribe any medications, just the food. She wants him isolated in a small crate for 24 hours to monitor his pee, food and drink intact. Other then that she didn't give me any other instructions. She will be in on tuesday and I expect a call from the office (if not I'll call them) to see what's next. I'm much more optimistic this morning.

also... http://www.fuzzieskingdom.com/herbs/remedies/heart-remedy-rabbit-chinchilla-guineapig.html ...found this, was wondering what you guys thought about me putting him on this when he pulls through??? Should I ask the vet instead??

 

[Claire D]

I'm a bit surprised the vet didn't give your chin anything to take away (some of) the excess fluid - if they think he has heart failure then they need to be assessing & treating for that. I'm a little confused TBH.

 

[Jess42790]

I was too. I'm not sure why she didn't give me anything but the critical care, she's in Tuesday and if I don't get a call I will be calling them to see what's next. Maybe she just wanted him stabilized before treating anything. Don't know??

 

[Riven]

Is there swelling anywhere else? The whole thing sounds off to me. My dog has CHF and his swelling occurs in his torso, not genitals or abdomen.

Does this vet know much about chins?

Do not give ANY treats, they are not needed especially right now. For now it's best to keep everything simple until he's better. What feed are you on? What kind of poop does he have and how often? Does he do any straining to urinate? Odd stretching?

 

[Jess42790]

No swelling anywhere else, she says she is an exotics vet. His poop is small and round, like he's constipated, but it is getting much better. He wasn't pooping hardly anything yesterday. I haven't seen him pee yet, I know he's doing it, but I haven't seen him do it. And no odd stretching. Do you think she just threw out the diagnosis just to have one? I mean I'm getting a little worried here.

 

[Sycamore Chins]

We just euthanized a chin that had right heart failure (among other things). She had fluid in her abdomen (ascites). If it is right heart failure, you can certainly have fluid accumulating almost anywhere, though unlikely in the lungs.
She was 9 and since there is no way to reverse such things, and she was losing lots of weight while we were force feeding her, we let her go.

The next thing for you to do would probably be to get a cytology on the fluid in the abdomen. This should tell you where the fluid is coming from. Also maybe an ultrasound to confirm heart failure, valve problems, etc.

 

[Riven]

What do you have for bedding? You should use a white towel or paper towels, something to verify that he is in fact urinating just to make sure.
I haven't dealt with a heart issue chin myself, I'm just going off what I know with what I've learned about dogs and CHF.

 

[ticklechin]

Fluid has to be reduced and vasodialtation has to happen if this chin actually has CHF, was a x-ray even done? You just don't guess if a chin has it.

 

[Godins Chinchillas]

I second Dawn. Heart murmurs can easily be induced in chinchillas just by holding the scope a certain way. (read that on VIN by an exotic vet specialist at Upenn)

Jessica