Chinchilla not eating/drinking

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handsbetween

Alanna
Joined
Jun 24, 2010
Messages
6
Location
West Monroe, LA
I'm sad that this is my first post to this forum, although I'm an avid reader of it. I've read similar posts about this issue where the chinchilla is not eating or drinking.

I recently went on a week long vacation and left my chinchilla at home with a family member. Everything was fine until the last night when she forgot to properly latch the cage when refilling his water bottle. He got out and was lost in the house for about 12 hours.

When we found him, I placed him back in his cage with fresh water, hay, and feed. At this point, he is not eating any of it. He has taken a few sips of water, but is also uninterested at that at this point.

I have tried just feeding hay. I have also tried grinding up pellets and mixing them with warm water and hand feed this to him. He won't even bite at it when he's agitated. He just sits.

At this point, I'm not really sure what to do. If I order emergency care supplies, will they be here in time? I'm very worried and have never had this happen before from my little guy.

Thanks!
 
So approximately how long in total has your chin gone without food or water? Is he still producing urine and stool? You may want to get him to the vet as soon as you can tomorrow morning to get some hydration. Also, your vet may carry Critical Care- some do. If not there are members of this forum who could probably Fed Ex some to you.

Have you tried giving him something like a non-frosted bite sized shredded wheat to see if he'll eat anything?
 
Currently, it has been 24 hours since his last food or drink. I have attempted to mix chamomile with grinded feed/water, but he wouldn't have that either. I tried feeding him plain oat, but that was not working either.

I have not tried any plain shredded wheat. Our vets will not be open until tomorrow, but there is an emergency vet down the road. I'm pretty sure the vets have never handled sick chinchillas, but that is my next course of action.

He is still pooping, though it's very small. I have not seen/noticed any pee in his cage since placing him back in.
 
I would have him checked by a vet to make sure he didn't bite through an electric cord and burn the inside of his mouth. Normally I don't panic when a chin gets loose and I catch them, but they generally dive on the water bottle and start chewing their hay. This is a different story. I would also check around your house to make sure there is nothing toxic he got into.
 
That was my first concern, too, was that he had gotten into something that made him refuse to eat. He was actually hiding out the whole time in the boxspring on a mattress and the room he was in is not one with many wires in it. I'll still have to double check to make sure there isn't anything else.

Usually he is all about his hay, so I was very worried when he refused to even touch that.

The emergency vet we have that is open 24 hours only handles cats and dogs, so I won't be able to get him into the vet until Monday. :/
 
At this point he is very slow to move and reluctant to jump. I took him out of his cage and put him on single story. he attempted a small jump and missed and was huddling on the bottom of the cage. Now he is in a single story with fresh hay and water.

I manages to fees him a small amount of food/water mix finally. Hoping the vet may be able to give some insight but none of our vets here have chinchillas as common patients. :(
 
I'd be checking the room for chewed wires, or chewed anything really. He could have gotten into something he shouldn't have. Hopefully you're on your way (or already at) the vet's office. Like Tunes said, many vets carry CC. If yours doesn't, I'd call around to all the vets in your town. There has to be at least one that carries it. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
He did make it to the vet first thing today. They called me around 2:30 and said he was doing better, but then around 3:30 I got the call that he passed away.

It is very heartbreaking to lose my little guy. I'll miss him terribly. Thank you all for your advice and concern. I really appreciate it!
 
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