Old chin with fluid in rectum

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Sovay

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
96
Location
Virginia
Hi all,
This evening I was checking on my chinchilla and I noticed his bottom was swollen and wet. He also was acting a little lethargic. I took him to the exotic animal vet who looked him over today and said that the swollen-ness on his bottom was from an accumulation of fluid in the bowel and diarrhea. He also has fluid collecting in his feet, and around his eyes. Clearly my chinchilla is definitely not well. :(

I'm concerned about the vet's suggestion and prognosis. Basically he told me I have two options. 1) Take him to an emergency specialist two hours away for ultrasound, blood work, etc. for a better chance at a diagnosis. My quote is a minimum $2K to bring him in for tests and overnight hospitalization or 2) put him down. Basically, he thinks it's possible that my chin is either experiencing heart failure, organ failure, blood poisoning, tumor or a number of other terminal conditions. I was concerned that he wasn't trying to first rule out some obvious problems that were fixable, before pushing for diagnostics or death, so I asked for an x-ray. The x-ray showed that his heart was slightly enlarged, and his intestines were large and full of gas. There was also a space near the colon that he said "could be fluid, or could be a mass". When I asked if we could treat the GI issue, he seemed to think it wasn't worth it, and 'there is likely something bigger underlying his condition". When I asked point blank if he thought it was time to put him down he said no, and that there were "possible scenarios that were treatable". But he didn't give me an idea of what constitutes 'treatable", since he doesn't think it's a GI issue....I'm not a vet, and I want to trust his advice, but I just confused how this could happen so quickly, and why he wasn't willing to treat what we can see is wrong.

I feel absolutely heart broken over this. I admit it, I do have money saved up but with a newborn and a mountain of my own medical bills from the birth, I don't have 2K to spend on finding out if my chinchilla is terminal. In an ideal world I would, but it's just not possible. I am also not willing to do any invasive surgery because I don't think he would make it anyway. He's 14 years old. If he might die in the hospital, it hurts me to think he would be scared and alone in a strange place away from his brother and his home.

I'm mad at myself because I wasn't more confident at the vet office to ask for a treatment that would at least address the GI issue. From my perspective, I want to make sure that he is comfortable and not in pain. I would rather treat what I can to make him comfortable then go down a diagnostic rabbit hole that may likely lead to a scenario that I can't fix anyway. Aside from the fluid, and mild lethrgy, he is still acting like himself...using the ledges, running on the wheel, eating food, drinking water....he even took a dust bath, although he seemed to need to regain some energy afterward.

He's home now, and he ate a half a serving of Critical Care and I gave him some smithicone. I also called another vet nearby to see if they could give sub-q fluids....the one I went to today wouldn't do it. They haven't gotten back to me yet.

I just want to make him comfortable and happy. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I know this forum isn't a substitute for vet care, but is there any advice you can share? Has alone else experienced this sudden onset accumulation of fluid? I'm concerned the vet is pursuing worst case scenarios instead of a more basic solution.

Thanks
 
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