Limping Chinchilla

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ncc2015

ಥ_ಥ‏
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
Messages
24
Location
VA
I just found my chinchilla limping today. Does that mean her leg is either broken or sprained, hopefully the latter? She is extremely active always wanting to play out of the cage and only let's you hold her for about 30 seconds before she's jumping around my room. When I come near now she just sleeps on her wheel and when I try to get her she tries to gingerly get away slowly. She still actually runs for a short while on her wheel but I can see that she's not putting her left hind leg down. When she sleeps still her hind leg is tucked in closely to her body. I took out all of the shelves in her cage and just left the wheel in. If you think I should also remove the wheel please let me know. I plan on taking her to the vet tomorrow as I am really worried. I have tried not to hold her too much because I don't want to make it anymore uncomfortable than it is or cause anymore damage. So I just wanted to know how likely it is that she broke her leg and if there's anything else I can do for her until she goes to the vet.
 
it is possible for her to have broken her leg in her cage yes--she could have fallen and broken it. The only way you would know for sure if it was broken is to take her to the vet. What you should do is keep her from jumping or leaping on any ledges until you know for sure. I would also take out the wheel as she shouldn't be running on it if she has a broken leg. What type of wheel do you have in the cage? It's possible she could have been injured on the wheel if it's not chin safe.
 
I have a chin spin that's 15 in. Should I take out the wheel she seems to like sleeping on it now since she used to sleep on the uppermost shelves?
 
I'm not positive but I would think with a broken leg she wouldn't be able to run on it enough to get the chin spin moving fast. Is she still limping?
 
She only ran on it for about 5 seconds. Right now she hasn't moved from the wheel and is resting on it. I'm pretty sure she's still limping because she's still in the same spot when I checked earlier.
 
If you just noticed the limping tonight you need to make sure she sees the vet tomorrow, until then she needs to be kept still and calm to stop moving on it. I understand she likes to sleep on the wheel but I would be concerned with her running on it while injured.
 
the jumping on and off the wheel is just like jumping on and off a ledge. It can cause further damage even if she couldn't move the wheel.

I would also try to keep her confined if you had a smaller cage or carrier, but be advised some chins can chew out of a plastic cat carrier within an hour or so.
 
Yes she is still limping but now she won't even put down her leg like she did earlier. The floor is fleece so I just moved the wheel all the way down so now it is immobile. She still likes resting in it im not sure if the curve of it allows her to put less pressure on it but she keeps going back to it i think it might be the most comfortable spot for her. I also moved her water bottle about half the height it normally is so she doesn't have to stand completely upright to drink. When I came up she was eating some hay and ate a few pellets. I also gave her a bit of chinchilla life line which she gobbled up really fast. Unfortunately I don't have smaller cage and our carrier is completely plastic and she already does like to bite the holes and it's hard to attach the water bottle to it.
 
so this morning she was feeling a little better. I actually put up a short piece of fleece about 2 ft high to section of the cage to make it a little smaller so she would be less mobile. I woke up a few times to find she jumped over it to the other side and even jumped on top of her wheel. So I used more fleece to cover the top so she would stop climbing the sides to get over. So I'm guessing she's feeling better now because she didn't even try to jump anywhere last night, but she still is limping just the same as before. I'm going to try to take her to the vet as soon as my 2pm class ends.
 
It is very important that you get her into a vet today. If she has a broken leg she is in a lot of pain. Where in VA are you?
 
I just went through a broken tibia with Nixi in February. She was clearly in a lot of pain and displayed the same behavior of trying to slowly get away when I attempted to pick her up. There were other signs as well, though. When I finally managed to hold her, her leg just dangled there, noticeably limp and definitely broken. I put her back in her cage so that I could prep an isolation cage and she immediately limped into her box, scurried to one corner with her back to me and closed her eyes. Her ears were flat against her head, tilted slightly to either side rather than straight back (definitely not sleepy ears). The ear on the side of the break was pinkish red. She's really vocal, so there were a lot of soft, pained whimpers anytime she moved or I touched her.

Since you said your chin was jumping around overnight and this morning, it really doesn't sound like like she's dealing with the level of pain that Nixi had, but all chins are different. It very well may still be broken, but just not as severe as my experience. As everyone else said, getting her to a vet as soon as possible is key.

I really hope everything works out for you!
 
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Well I hope that Nixi has recovered well. Yes she's never really vocal unless she hurts herself but I never heard her scream or anything. Her leg doesn't just dangle she can move it very very slightly but it is hard to tell that she moves it at all. I can tell she's in pain because she is extremely active all the time and now barely moves. thanks for the best wishes and all the advice.
 
She did, thanks. It was a long road though. I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone. Let us know what the vet says later today!
 
Aww I can imagine especially giving all the medications. I was wondering if it's possibly a good sign that she is able to scratch her face with the foot she was limping on. I saw her do that about twice. Or is it possible that it most likely means she didn't break something in her leg but probably in her foot.
 
Honestly, only a vet is going to be able to tell you that after they examine her and take an x-ray. Sorry I couldn't be more help. All I have to go on is that one experience. Maybe someone else will chime in with signs of broken toes.
 
Well she actually jumped out of her cage and ran around my room. She's trying to be as active as she was before her injury and I'm glad she is I just don't want her to injure herself more. While she was out of the cage she would actually stand up on both her hind legs. She definitely still has mobility in the leg she's limping with. But I really just can't wait to go to the vet to so I can know what she's dealing with. She's starting to be more active but she's still limping so I know she's still in pain. The only appointments were during my class so we'll be going to the vet tomorrow.
 
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Yay no broken bones just a really bad sprain. They did a regular check up and she felt all along both her legs (using the normal one to compare) and said that there wasn't any fractures. I had extra money and she said that it was possible she had hairline fracture so I decided to get an xray. She came back and said nothing was broken. She gave me meloxicam for the pain and inflammation, laxatone, and mylicon. She said that the laxatone would help prevent her from possibly going into gut stasis and that the mylicon would help her tummy feel better so that she would eat more food. I was wondering if there's anything I could do else about her appetite. She was eating a little bit on Wed and Thurs and now when I see her she eats a little bit of hay but the pellets she goes into her bowl but doesn't actually eat anything. Should I be worried about her appetite because she did lose some weight? And here's a picture of her at the vet, it looks like she's waving "Hello."

2iqmx6b.jpg
 
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