Loss of Appetite?

Chia isn't eating, drinking or pooping much. I haven't had to fill her bowl in a while, and I cleaned the cage yesterday and there's very few poops in there. The ones that are are very tiny, about a third of the regular size.

Thing is, she's acting completely normal. Not at all lethargic, she looks fine and is fairly active. I let her out of her cage for playtime where she gets the run of the apartment, and last night she was running and jumping around as per usual. We keep a close eye on her, and she almost never chews anything and is fairly good about discipline, so I'm almost certain she didn't eat anything.

The fact that she's acting normally despite this confuses me. She's her normal self, maybe a bit less active during the day but I figure it's because she gets regular 2-hour playtime sessions a week now that I've moved...

Any thoughts?

[edit] I've seen her eat, but she doesn't eat much at a time. a couple of bites here and there. She will take and eat treats if I give them to her. She still chews on her ledges... Everything besides eating/drinking/pooping is normal.

I wouldn't give her any treats.

How does her belly feel? Is she eating hay at all?

Is she just eating/drinking/pooping less during the day while she is sleeping or at night too, when she is running around?

I'm a bit allergic to hay, so I haven't given her any in a long time.. I'll pull out the bag and some gloves and give her a bit. It's hard to tell how much she eats because it mostly just ends up on the floor.

She doesn't seem to poop more at any time of the day. I tried giving her some CC and she didn't really take to it. My boyfriend is coming over later and we're going to try force a bit on her.

She's an antisocial chin, doesn't like hands. She escaped during my CC test and I let her roam for a couple hours, at which point I got to feel/rub her tummy when she sat with me on the couch. It's hard to say because she doesn't usually let me touch her, but it feels similar to Abby's, and Abby is just fine.

She barely poops when she's out, and this time was no different. The poops in her cage are scarce... tiny, hard, and a lighter brown than usual.

Chins need hay in their diet. Either in the form of loose hay or hay cubes. (Personally I do both)
Defiantly give her hay, lots of it. If the hay is ending up on the floor and out of what ever hay device you are using than more than likely she is eating some of it. Chins will pick through and find that perfect piece of hay.

As for her being antisocial, you are likely going to need to burrito wrap her up and force feed her. If you have any Lifeline you can try mixing some of that in with the Critical Care. If you don't have Lifeline, you can try adding 100% Pure Pumpkin to the Critical Care to encourage her to eat it. The ingredients should only be Pumpkin, you don't want the pie filling kind.

Has her water level changed any? You can use a sharpie and mark her bottle so you'll know when you she has drunk some.

She barely drinks. I always fill her bottle at the same time and about the same level as Abby's, and hers hasn't gone down. It's really strange, and I'm not sure what to think.

I don't have lifeline, so for now I'll have to go with just the straight CC. She took a couple licks and then made a beeline for the door earlier.

I have no idea what's wrong because nothing else has changed other than her eating and drinking habits. She's less active when she's in her cage though, doesn't beg as much to get out, but I was sure it's because she's allowed out all the time.

UGH.

Acting normal even if something is wrong is normal for a chin to do, they are prey animals. Unfortunately they hide issues well so you need to be aware of the little signs, when you actually notice them acting sick they are very sick.

As said chins need hay in their diet, about 70-75% of their diet should be hay. It's possible she is constipated, that would cause small to no poop, as well as lack of appetite. The constipation could be caused by lack of enough fiber (one of the things hay is for), or their could be a blockage. I'm sorry but "almost never chews anything" and "almost certain she didn't eat anything" doesn't sound good. If you took your eyes off her for even a few seconds when she was out she could have eaten something. That is why it's not advised at all to allow free roam of a whole home, you can't chin proof a whole home, I don't know how you discipline a chin, but a chin is a rodent, they chew things that is what they naturally do and have to do to prevent over grown teeth. Hay also helps grind down the molars as well (both front and back teeth grow all the time in chins), they only chew with their front teeth on wood so they need the hay.

Also chins should poop roughly every 30-60 seconds, so not pooping much, and then adding the abnormal poop in, it's a big red flag that something is wrong. Little to no poop means the gut is shutting down, force feed CC if she wont eat, as said burrito wrap if needed. Most chins eat an average of about 2 table spoons a day of pellets and about a handful worth of hay, so for CC they need to be getting around 60 ml at least per day over several feedings.
If things don't improve soon though I'd take her to the vet.

I really keep a close eye on her, and she's really well trained. My apartment is tiny too, you have to understand, there's really no place she can go not within my sight. The kitchen, bathroom and bedroom are blocked off and I'm really careful about cleaning and vacuuming. I am not new to the chinchilla world, I have had Chia for over 3 years. She knows when I snap my fingers that she's doing something wrong. The majority of things she's interested in chewing is cardboard, but she doesn't eat it, and many "chin safe" toys have cardboard.

I weighed her and it doesn't look good. She doesn't seem super interested in the hay.

I'm freaking out because I can't miss work, if I do I won't be able to pay for a place to live, never mind vet bills. This is just bad news all around.

She is actually eating hay now. Quite enthusiastically, even. I'll leave her with a bunch of that tonight and keep a close eye on her, I've stressed her quite a bit today with trying to force feed and weighing and everything.

Is it a good idea to put some CC in a jar mixed with hay? I'm not sure if she'd eat it, but maybe it's worth a shot?

You can try putting CC in her cage in a bowl, but I wouldn't mix it in her hay. If she is eating hay, that is good.
You can also weigh her pellets or even count them. Sounds strange, but it works. When one of mine had gas I counted her pellets every 4 hours. I left 100 pellets in the bowl and when I went back in to check on her, I counted them again. If she ate most of them then I put another 100-125 in the bowl. If she ate only a little bit, I left it at that or put it back to 100. Wrote down how many she ate.
You should weigh her each day about the same time to monitor her weight. Write it down each time.
Mark her water bottle and monitor how much it goes down each time. (sometimes it might not go down at all, but over the course of 24 hours you should see the water level drop)

As for being allergic to the hay, I can only suggest that you keep gloves handy for when you have to give her hay, each night.

Also, with hand feeding CC, it should be thick like pudding.

She pooped a bit overnight and ate some of the hay I left. I'll weigh her tonight and see if she's any heavier. She was 595g last night (versus Abby who was 700, I'm using Abby as a benchmark for comparison, Abby's a little heavier generally.)

I will probably force feed her this evening. But for now she seems stable, pooped a few times. I'll do the pellet counting too. I'm also taking photos of the poops in the cage so I have a visual guide.

I'm hoping it's not too serious and she'll be just fine. Poor bub

Tonight I cleaned out the cage and weighed out food and washed out her water bottle. I gave her a hay cube which she really dug. I monitored her a bit and she ate a little and drank a little. She'd peed twice. Poops are scarce but still happening.

She willingly ate the CC if it was watered down enough, which is fine, as long as I get a bit in her I'm happy. She needs to be hydrated anyway.

I don't think we're out of the woods just yet but it's really promising. Even if only today is good, at least I'll have gotten somewhere and at least she'll have eaten a bit.

What was her weight today?

Since you are watering down the critical care, she'll likely not drink as much water since she is getting water from the feedings. Defiantly keep giving her hay/hay cubes.

Is she still active?

There wasn't a change in her weight from last night to the night before. I'm going to weigh her when I get home this evening. I tried feeding her this morning but she didn't want much and I eventually had to leave for the office. If she doesn't weigh more tonight, she may be coming with me here tomorrow (it's super calm, quiet and cool here.)

She pooped a bit overnight though, I'd say a decent amount for what she's eaten. Her poops are small but at least her gut is moving, and her poops are the right color now. She did eat pellets, but only about 3g. I fed her quite a bit of CC yesterday though, so that could be why. The watered down CC is fantastic, she pees every time I feed her, whereas she wasn't peeing at all before. Unfortunately it means I can't get as much in her, but she's still really digging the hay cube and eating a bit of that.

As for being active - she is when I'm around the cage. She jumps around and looks alert and happy. Once I leave though, she sits in the same corner for the most part. Yesterday I could see in her face that she was feeling a bit better once she'd eaten the CC.

I've been thinking - if she's pooping what she's eating, the loss of appetite might be from something else...

If there's no weight gain, she's going to the vet tonight.

If she has lost her appetite, and doesn't want to drink then there is something wrong. Could be gas or could be constipation for lack of hay. It could really be anything.

She is pooping and eating some on her own, which is a good sign. She might not be gaining weigh, which isn't necessary a bad thing. Holding a steady weight is good. She shouldn't be dropping weight at all. If she is dropping weight, then you absolutely must force feed her every few hours, up to 60 ml a day.

Personally, I'd take her to vet just to get some idea as to what is wrong so you know exactly what you are dealing with.

I did take her, they're keeping her overnight and going to give her fluids and force feed. Its a reputable Montreal exotics vet just 3 blocks from my home, so the trip wasn't too stressful. They couldn't give me much information about it because they were having trouble with the xray machine, but they said they'll call me tomorrow with more details.

I miss my little bub and I feel so bad just leaving her. But I know it's for the best.

I'll be hungry for a couple weeks, but oh well.