Wet/whitish discharge?

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Kattiara17

Kattiara17

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Joined
Apr 15, 2009
Messages
16
I got home tonight and Mischief seemed a little subdued. I noticed that she kept grooming herself on her lower belly, and her nose was a little wet. I picked her up and looked, and she's wet around her vaginal area/rear. There seemed to be a little bit of whitish discharge. I gently cleaned her up, and put her back in her cage - and she's back to grooming herself.

She has a steady diet of Mazuri pellets and Timothy hay, neither of which has changed recently. She gets the occasional rosehip or dried rosebud as a treat.

Her stomach doesn't feel distended, but it doesn't look like she's pooing as much as normal. I will take her to the vet first thing tomorrow if I need, but does anyone know what this might be? :hmm: :\ I'm pretty concerned right now; should I be freaking out? Please help.

(she's my first chin, so apologies if I'm overlooking something obvious.. I'm looking up different diseases right now online)
 
She could be in heat now. Does she look open down there? Sometimes there will be a little more discharge during a heat cycle than with others.

If she's open, I wouldn't worry too much because it is probably just drainage from being in heat. I'd say that if she is putting off more discharge still tomorrow or there are major changes in her behavior or if she seems to be not eating, then take her to the vet to have her looked over. There is a chance that it is an infection, but at this point I wouldn't worry too much.
 
Thanks -- it does look a bit open down there, so I'm keeping a close eye on her and I'll see how she is tomorrow.
 
I agree with Susan as well.

Is she a younger chin? Maybe less than a year? Sometimes first heats can be something new for them to experience. Bodies are changing and all!

As long as she is eating and drinking okay, and still pooing. I would not be concerned unless there are other symptoms that are abnormal for her.
 
She's around 9 months old. I haven't seen her drinking yet, but she's eaten a little hay and is now chomping an apple twig. She doesn't seem to be pooing very much, though. A few pieces, but they also look a bit smaller than usual.. could that also be related to being in heat?
 
The first time I really freaked out about a chin with discharge was with a nine month old female. I had never seen the discharge like that before and I ran to the vet. The vet sort of laughed at me, gave me very mild antibiotics and told me to watch her closely. Basically it was a bunch of money wasted and a lot of unnecessary worry.

Heat cycles can make the girls a little more moody, change their appetites a bit and sometimes it can cause changes in droppings. They are pretty hormonal around that time, so there are lots and lots of changes going on in their fuzzy little bodies. Chances are she will be normal in a couple days and you won't see any discharge this severe for several months. I don't know what it is but sometimes they have these really strange heat cycles that come about with lots of discharge one month and the next you wouldn't even notice. There's something about Fall and Spring, too. I notice that I smell that musky female chin in heat smell a lot more strongly then than I do in the Winter and Summer.
 
I think the first couple heats cause more changes on them as well. Their body is getting used to different hormones and doesn't know how to act... Think about teenage girls, there's your answer! LOL
 
Thank you both for the input! Very much appreciated as a (hopefully unnecessarily) paranoid chin mom! I got up this morning and the discharge is gone, and she seems to be acting normally; however, it doesn't look like she was pooping during the night. I'm going to work and if there's still no droppings when I get home, will plan on calling the vet..
 
Once in a while she'll eat one, but not too frequently. And definitely never enough that I would wake up to an essentially clean cage like I did this morning.

I wish the day would go faster, I just want to get home and make sure she's alright. <sigh>
 
If she really isn't going or going very little, then I would take her into the vet, ASAP. She could be in stasis or have a blockage. Both are very serious.
 
My baby died earlier this month from pyometra...if she's having white discharge and cleaning herself a lot it sounds like what my Chilli was doing...Take her in immediately and test for that.
 
Crazy could be right.... is your girl still having the discharge?

My girl Jasmine has pyometra right now...her thread is in the Health section if you want to check it out.

I really hope its not though....please keep us updated
 
Crazy, I'm so sorry to hear about your Chilli.. and Newt, sending good wishes to you and Jasmine!

Basically what happened is as follows: on Friday morning during work, I called the vet to see if I could talk to one of the doctors and ask their opinion. I figure I would also set up an appointment for that evening. I got a snarky receptionist on the phone who told me that I was stupid to 'just ask questions' and that I needed to bring Mischief in IMMEDIATELY, and it couldn't wait till the evening. I ended up dashing out of work and bringing her there directly.

The doctor (exotics specialist) examined her and told me that she looked fine overall, and that she might be in heat (as was suggested here, and as I had wanted to ask them about when I had initially called). I asked about the reduced pooping, and she said that the vulvar area was looking a bit enflamed (probably from all the extra grooming), and that it might be that Mischief was pooping less because she was sore from the inflammation. She prescribed two medications - metacam, administered orally, and a topical cream (the name of which I'm now blanking on), both to be given twice daily.

I kept a close eye on her all weekend. There has been no more liquid discharge (and it may be worth noting in reference to pyometra that at a couple points when I was holding her, I did rub her belly gently, and that didn't cause any either). I did see a sort of waxy discharge once on Saturday, but none since then.

I'm supposed to keep up the meds for 5 days, so through tomorrow. She's eating, drinking, peeing, and now also pooping normally again (and being a very active spaz as always).

Hopefully this was just, as originally suggested, her adjusting to being in heat. Based on the above mentions of pyometra, do you think I should bring her back to see if they can test for the specifically?

Thanks to all, and apologies for the length of this!
 
She's probably going to be closed up soon if not already. She probably did rub herself a bit raw with the grooming. That probably wasn't the cause of her not producing droppings normally. When they go into heat, especially when the discharge is this bad, their little systems can become inflamed and it can result in strange things happening in the digestive system. Most of the time it means slightly squishy droppings, but it can mean a loss in appetite and maybe fewer droppings.

I'm glad that she's alright. Pyometra is a different than this. Much of the time it isn't even caught until the chin had died or is very ill. The lucky exceptions are when the girls go into heat and the cervix opens allowing the puss to come out a little. It's easy to catch at that point, but still very serious.
 
Chins along with most animals ( including humans ) eat less while in "heat" partially due to a change in hormones, obviously creating less poos.

I would not give a chin metacam for it unless it was totally raw. If she can't feel anything wouldn't that just make her do it more and make it worse?
I also would not put any topical anything on it, she'll just probably lick it off. I don't really believe in the topical use of stuff on chins except when there is no other option.

Every person and vet has their own ways, this is just mine.
 
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