Chinchilla With Injured Foot

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Courtz

Courtz

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Joined
May 28, 2019
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Hello! Gonna start this off by saying that she hasn't been to the vet yet but I'm going to do my best to get her there. She's not technically my chinchilla, she belongs to the pet store where I work. They are rescues that live at the store, so they're not for sale. My boss for some reason thinks she's a vet and can treat everything herself, but something happened to the Chinchilla's foot over the weekend.

I'm not sure if it's bumblefoot or some other kind of injury. Honestly, the way it kind of hangs sideways and flops makes me think it's broken? My boss insists it's like a cut or something but I don't see a cut anywhere. It's also swollen :(

Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable until I can get her to the vet? We put towels down so she doesn't have to walk on any of the bars, and moved her food and water to the same level so she doesn't have to move around too much to get to them.

My other main question that I couldn't find an answer to when googling was whether or not it was okay to separate bonded chinchillas for a few hours, like if I was to take her to the vet? They're a mother and daughter pair, and I'm pretty sure the daughter is the injured one. I'm more familiar with gerbils, who you can't separate for very long or they'll forget each other's scents and attack each other like they're strangers. Are chinchillas the same way?

Any help is appreciated! Thank you in advance :(
 
Ok first of all I would try to replace the towels with fleece if you can, towels are not safe since they can chew them and they unravel. Even a piece of cardboard over the floor is safer then a towel. If the cage is wire flooring it's very common for them to break toes, feet, and legs, they move so quick that one wrong step and they got a toe, foot, or leg stuck. Just so you know, bumble foot is an infection, you'll notice blood and puss not just swelling.

Although taking only one from a bonded pair to the vet is not long enough time to break their bond it's not advised. It's better if they both go, for one it helps keep stress down since they have each other, but also the "vet smell" on only one can make them fight since one doesn't smell right anymore. If you have to it's ok to just bring the one, then just rub bedding and stuff on the vetted chin.

However if the leg or foot is broken you may need to separate them anyway. A break can be treated two ways, one is try to splint it and put a cast on it, in which case you need to make sure they don't chew on it, and also separate them so the other doesn't hurt the injured one or chew on the cast either. The other possible outcome for a break is amputation, so they will need to be separated while the wound heals. Depending on the break it might end up being the best option, chinchilla bones are very thin and breaks take time to heal, and chins don't like to sit still. Either way they will require round the clock care and monitoring. If separated it's best to put the cages right next to each other so they can still see and smell each other, they can become depressed if separated from their cage mate.
 
Amethyst said:
Ok first of all I would try to replace the towels with fleece if you can, towels are not safe since they can chew them and they unravel. Even a piece of cardboard over the floor is safer then a towel. If the cage is wire flooring it's very common for them to break toes, feet, and legs, they move so quick that one wrong step and they got a toe, foot, or leg stuck. Just so you know, bumble foot is an infection, you'll notice blood and puss not just swelling.

Although taking only one from a bonded pair to the vet is not long enough time to break their bond it's not advised. It's better if they both go, for one it helps keep stress down since they have each other, but also the "vet smell" on only one can make them fight since one doesn't smell right anymore. If you have to it's ok to just bring the one, then just rub bedding and stuff on the vetted chin.

However if the leg or foot is broken you may need to separate them anyway. A break can be treated two ways, one is try to splint it and put a cast on it, in which case you need to make sure they don't chew on it, and also separate them so the other doesn't hurt the injured one or chew on the cast either. The other possible outcome for a break is amputation, so they will need to be separated while the wound heals. Depending on the break it might end up being the best option, chinchilla bones are very thin and breaks take time to heal, and chins don't like to sit still. Either way they will require round the clock care and monitoring. If separated it's best to put the cages right next to each other so they can still see and smell each other, they can become depressed if separated from their cage mate.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply! I don't have any fleece on hand, sadly :( I'll try to see if I can get them some tomorrow. My boss is very big on how things look, for whatever reason, and anytime I've tried to use cardboard for anything she's always tossed it as soon as she sees it saying it looks bad, but I can try! She's not here today so it would stay for today at least.

I can probably take both to the vet, but I'm not sure how I could separate them while the injured one heals, since we don't have a second cage on hand to put next to the other :( I have a guinea pig cage but the bottom is plastic, and the chinchilla would be through that in a few minutes lol

Would it be recommended to have a single level cage while they heal so they're not aggravating the injured leg? I could see if I could find one sure couldn't chew out of o:

My boss might fight me on taking them to the vet, but I'm not going to let her suffer if I can help it :( they were found abandoned in an apartment, so they've already had a rough start to life. They deserve to be healthy and happy!
 
Yes you will want the cage to be single leveled with no shelves or ledges while she heals. The guinea pig cage can work if you use fleece as bedding to cover the plastic. If the cage is like I am thinking, one like this...
71ZKbQkdrIL._SX466_.jpg

You can put a fleece blanket down to cover the plastic (you can get cheap ones at Walmart) then clip the cage over top. Most chins don't bother to chew fleece since it doesn't unravel or tear making it boring.
 
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