Urgent! Chinchilla isn't doing well. Vet hasnt been entirely helpful.

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tiffany_Marie

New member
Joined
Feb 24, 2014
Messages
1
Location
Pennsylvania
My chinchilla Nibbles hasnt been doing well lately. She slowly stopped eating and pooping so we took her to the vet. The vet told us that her tummy was bloated but she seemed fine otherwise. He gave a medicine to help get her digestive tract moving (it was a cat hair ball medicine). That helped her and she seemed to be getting better for a little. But we still wanted to make sure so about a week after her first vet visit we took her back. I wanted the vet to do an x-ray but he said "if we do an x-ray we take her right to surgery and Im not doing surgery on a Friday night". He gave us an antibiotic and sent us home. Its been a few days since then and my chin seemed to be getting better again but as of yesterday she stopped eating also completely and has barely pooped. Shes only taking snacks (the ones that come in the one brand of chin food we have). She even stopped eating her hair but she appears to be drinking normally and seemed alot more active last night than any other night since shes been sick. I read some where on this site that antibiotics can ruin a chins appetite and Ive also looked into some chin critical care food. Im really scared for her. Shes like the best pet ever.
 
First, chins don't get hairballs, so that medicine did nothing.

Second, if she had bloat, she needs much more than hairball medicine and antibiotics. Antibiotics will not treat bloat. Hairball medicine is pointless. If she is not pooping, you have a very, very ill chinchilla. Not eating, not pooping will result in death.

I'm sorry, but your vet sounds like an idiot. An x-ray leads to surgery? In whose world? And he doesn't want to be bothered on a Friday night? Very nice for an animal in distress.

An x-ray will tell you if she's bloating or if she has a blockage. She needs an x-ray to find out what is going on so that she gets the appropriate treatment. There are medicines that need to be given for bloat and she will need massage and force feeding.
 
I personally would look into finding another vet. He doesn't seem to care about your poor baby. It's kind of rude for him to say that he wont do surgery on a friday night. What would he do if an emergency (not saying your situation isn't one) came in and needed immediate surgery? Would he put it off? Sorry but that's not right for a vet to say that.
When you say she stopped eating her hair? I'm assuming you meant hay?
I've never had a chin have problems (knock on wood!), so I can't help much there. But I would probably find another vet.
 
Back
Top