Chinchilla not responding and shaking

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coffeebeans

Active member
Joined
Oct 9, 2016
Messages
28
A few minutes ago my chinchilla started making screaming noises, and I went into the room and he stopped, but he is breathing heavily and seems out of it and is shaking. I don't know if this is a serious matter but he doesn't seem 100 percent aware. When I put something near his nose he will sniff but act uninterested. I have even tried giving him a treat and still no reaction but a sniff

It took a while but he finally noticed his dust bath and got in it for a second but immediately got back out and started standing still again. Every once in a while he will jump onto another ledge and stop moving again, looking completely out of it.

I left the room and not even 10 seconds later he started screaming again, and I went back in and he stopped. Is my chinchilla scared? Does he need to go to the vet? There was some loud banging earlier and his screaming started probably 15 to 20 minutes after that.
 
Update :

My chinchilla seems to be back to normal as of this morning. He apparently ate his hay and drank water and pooped. I am a little worried though because soft of his poop is a little soft kbut not runny). I am thinking it could have just been because there was a lot of banging last night that he became that way?
 
It kind of sounds like a seizure, chins having seizures don't always do violent shaking like you would think of when you think seizure. It tends to be more they are just kind of out of it and they may fall over.
Since you mentioned a lot of banging though, it could have simply been he was scared from the noise. If it was loud enough the chin may have thought it was in danger, hence the screaming. Aside from the banging was there anything else? Like did you give him new treats or more then usual? Have him out playing for longer then normal? Anything like that?

I would just keep an eye on him and if it happens again, especially if it happens and there is no other reason for it, get him checked out at the vet. If at all possible try to get it on camera to show the vet too.

As for the soft poops, it could just be stress from the banging really freaked him out. Once again I would just keep an eye on him, you can also pull the pellets if you want for a day or two and see if that helps firm up the poops. If they don't firm back up in a couple days (now that the banging has stopped I assume) or if they poop gets worse (wetter, runny, slimy, stinky, change color, etc) he will need to get checked out by a vet.
 
It kind of sounds like a seizure, chins having seizures don't always do violent shaking like you would think of when you think seizure. It tends to be more they are just kind of out of it and they may fall over.
Since you mentioned a lot of banging though, it could have simply been he was scared from the noise. If it was loud enough the chin may have thought it was in danger, hence the screaming. Aside from the banging was there anything else? Like did you give him new treats or more then usual? Have him out playing for longer then normal? Anything like that?

I would just keep an eye on him and if it happens again, especially if it happens and there is no other reason for it, get him checked out at the vet. If at all possible try to get it on camera to show the vet too.

As for the soft poops, it could just be stress from the banging really freaked him out. Once again I would just keep an eye on him, you can also pull the pellets if you want for a day or two and see if that helps firm up the poops. If they don't firm back up in a couple days (now that the banging has stopped I assume) or if they poop gets worse (wetter, runny, slimy, stinky, change color, etc) he will need to get checked out by a vet.
He would jump from ledge to ledge every once in a while but he never fell over or anything like that. Can they have seizures when they are scared or is the seizure caused by something else?

He just looked very frozen and off. 99.99 percent of the time when I touch his lower back he barks, but when I was doing it last night, nothing. And my husband even picked him up which gizmo never lets him do, and was just completely still in his hands. It was as if he wasn't 100 percent there, and like his mind was off somewhere else.

No he did not get any treats, the most he gets is 1 a day (one dried rose bud) and even then it's not every single day. He wasn't even interested in his dust bath for a long time which worried me a lot. Just the noise of touching the dust bath makes him hyper but he was acting like he barely heard it. He also was not out yesterday playing.

The only other thing other than the banging was yelling (kids were over last night) and they were in the other room yelling and one of them starting to scream (they were crying) but had left the home after he started barking because it was getting late. The thing I'm not understanding is why when I went out of the room he'd scream, but as soon as I came back he'd stop.


However, another note, we have been getting renovations done in the house and in the basement where he is and he has heard banging, and heavy electrical machinery for a couple of weeks and he never once screamed or shook or looked out of it. I don't understand
 
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