Weight Loss

[kellylynnmarie]

How much fluctuation should there be from day to day in chinchillas weight? How many grams lost within 24 hours is too much???

 

[Gumby and Elmo]

In between every weighing sessions, for me it's 2weeks to a month depending on if i think anything is suspicious.
Sometimes they can fluctuate +/- 20g, I'd say if it doesn't go down constantly or decrease more than 5%of the chins body weight, then I'm still in my comfort zone.
I have a book on all my chins weight recordings for the past 7 yrs, I know their pattern well enough to sound the alarm if anything goes wierd.

 

[kellylynnmarie]

Splinter has been on critical care food for about 6 weeks now so I bought a scale to watch his weight. I've been weighing him daily and I'm not sure what's too much. I'm trying to get him to eat more on his own but I need to know if he's eating or not. It looks like he's eating quite a bit yet his weight dropped about 10g in 24 hours. I'm going to keep watching in hopes that is just fluctuates. But I'm not sure at what point I need to really be concerned.

 

[kellylynnmarie]

Update: Splinter weighed in at 539g on Saturday 10/6 at 10pm. Last night, Sunday 10/7 at 10pm, he weighed in at 529g... dropped 10g in 24 hours. So, of course, I got worried. He seems to be eating and acting normal... This morning I put him on the digital scale again and he was back at 538g. Do we think there was actually a 10g drop and it went back up (fluctuating that much) or that my scale has an issue? Hmmm... Any thoughts?!

 

[EMSChins]

First of all - you are overworrying the weight thing! It is weight loss over time that you need to be concerned with. You should be weighing at the same time each day, the amount of food, water and exercise they get in any given 24 hour period can affect their weight greatly. If a chin is very ill or is a newborn kit, you should be weighing everyday. If it is coming out of an illness and seems to be eating and drinking okay then you can weigh every couple of days or once a week - but always at the same time. Monitor water levels, food levels and poop in addition to weight and note any changes.

If I am monitoring a weight I weigh first thing in the morning right before I feed the chins, others do it at night, whatever works best for you. The critical thing is to be consistent. 10 gms is not that significant in an older chin. By constantly weighing the chin you could be stressing him out - relax!

 

[kellylynnmarie]

I know! I definitely can over-worry.

My fear with Splinter is that he's been "sick" on and off since March. And in August was put on Critical Care food as he wasn't eating on his own. Since then I've been spoon-feeding but really encouraging him to eat more hay and pellets... which over the last few days seems to be working! However, the reason I'm weighing him daily (which he seems to actually like playing in the bowl on the scale, haha, so no stress involved!) is because in March he was at 750g (my chubby boy)... now he's at 539g. It really started to happen in August... between August 1st and 14th he lost about 70g and from August 14th to September 1st he lost about another 60-70g. So approx. 140g in 4 weeks. Since the last time he was weighed at the vet's office on 9/1 he is now down another 50-60g.

I realize fluctuation is going to happen, so I'm not panicking about it. Just wanted to know how much is too much, so I know when I need to be alarmed/concerned.

 

[Cuddlebug]

They can loose 10 grams just by peeing. Like already mentioned, you need to look at weight over a period of weeks. Their weight canbounce up and down quite a bit but as long as there is not a downward trend, there is no problem.

 

[kellylynnmarie]

Thanks cuddlebug. And there has been a steady decline in weight over the past couple of months (almost 200g - see above). Is it safe to say I just need to keep watching it and if it continues going down, then be concerned? Everything else seems to be improving and on the upswing with his condition.