Constipated

[chinchillin2005]

HELP. Ok so 3 days ago, I noticed some strange behavior. Usually when it's dinner time, he's all bouncy and hyper. 3 days ago, he was still pretending to be asleep. Then 2 days ago, I noticed he eats ALL his hay and like hardly any pellets. The water level seems to be the same too. Then I saw him do tons of stretches like he would stretch his whole body out and his stomach. Yesterday, I checked closer, and noticed his poop is very small and hard and hardly any poop! I researched like crazy and found that raisins are good for constipation. This morning, I bought raisins and fed him 2. Now he's sleeping. He seems VERY tired lately, and his eyes look tired, he seems tired, and he gets annoyed if I pet him cause he wants to sleep. WHAT DO I DO? He had a dust bath last night, and he does move around and act perfectly normal, just his poop is small & hard/seems more tired/stretching.

 

[AZChins]

The raisins probably won't help much. It's probably time to get him to the vet. It may not be constipation necessarily, he may be sick with something else that is keeping him from eating. The stretching most likely means he has gas, some simethicone will help with that (baby gas drops or Phazyme have simethicone). With him acting so tired along with the small, dry droppings and the stretching I'd recommend taking him in to see the vet. He may need something to help with getting his digestive system moving again or you may finding out he has something else going on with him.

 

[Narcissus]

My opinion would be to give him simethicone (baby gas drops). Give one full dropper three times a day, ormore. I would pick up some critical care and start force feeding him 25cc 4 times a day. Also, weigh him once a week (get a gram scale if you don't already have one). Monitor his weight. If in 4-7 days he doesnt start pooping more or gets worse, id take him to an exoctic vet that you trust for some gut motility drugs.

 

[ticklechin]

Chin has bloat according to the symptoms listed and frankly the raisin was the worst thing you could give a bloated chin, the bad bacteria in the gut love sugar and the fermentaion process will become worse, the chin needs a vet ASAP, meaning get on the phone now and get the chin in, not treated quickly it can kill in a very short period of time not to mention the chin is in extreme pain. I would not self treat this chin without a vet visit first due to time its been bloated and the lack of poo, a blockage could be possible due to the dehydration in the gut, that and stasis is possible.

 

[obcsed]

I agree the chin is showing signs of bloat. He needs a vet.

 

[chinchillin2005]

The literal minute after I read your replies after checking the forum, I called a vet, then she was full so I literally called 11 vets near my area, all of them were full, except one. I called my mom, and told her she needed to come home cause it was an emergency. She said I couldn't go to the one I was going, but her vet she goes for my dog, we drove them, I told the doctor and his assistant everything. His assistant has 2 chinchillas at home and yea anyways, after like a hour, they said I couldn't do x rays cause it would be way too stressful for him, and so they gave Shadow an inject of METOCLOPRAMIDE and water for fluids. of course my chinchilla squeaked because of the needle and he ran away twice in the vets room, besides that, I'm told to give him this metoclopramide every 12 hours, and he DOES poop though. In his carrier, he pooped A LOT, and actually his poop look normal and not small and hard (i think the raisins in the morning helped), and he acts fine, moves around a lot, jumps, pretends to roll in imaginary dust, etc...As for the lack of poop, my mom told me she vacuumed his cage this morning and that's why there was a lack of poop. He does poop a lot and that's a good thing, and he did pee this morning, and he does eat hay. I haven't seen as many stretches as before, and since last night, I stopped giving him treats, he just had hay, and i saw some pellets were eaten. Anyways, I went crazy and literally was so scared he had bloating that i almost drove to a vet really far away that i have no idea how to get there even with the help of the GPS on my own, i care for my chinchilla, and of course i get worried, I just came back from the vet today.

 

[becky12883]

I'm glad you got him in right away. Sounds like you caught this before it got any worse. I've personally never had to deal with bloat, but I know that it can go down hill very fast if left untreated. I would continue to watch him closely and monitor his food and water intake, and his output carefully. You're a good chinny mom!

 

[chinchillin2005]

Poop still small and hard

He does poop, but not as much, still small and hard. Also he eats a lot of hay and I've seen him eat some pellets last night and this morning. I gave him his medicine this morning, don't see him drinking water, and the water level looks the same, but he did pee this morning and yesterday. What do I do? How can I get his poop normal?

 

[chinchillin2005]

Simeithocpme where can I get this for my chinchilla? I asked my vet and he didn't know, and said he would do research. I think this will be best cause he's bloated, he stretches, so which baby brand do I buy?? and how much do I feed? and what size syringe?

 

[Narcissus]

You just get the baby gas drops from the grocery store... they have a dropper in them.

 

[chinchillin2005]

Just bought simethicone

I rushed to safeway (again) twice for my chinchilla. There was only the SAFEWAY version of Mylicon. It's called Infant's Gas Relief, it says 20 mg Anti-Gas. I tried feeding him (everybody says chinchillas loved them) mine hated it, he wouldn't even lick from the dropper, i forced a little around his mouth and he licked some then i put some drops on a raisin and he drank tinyyyyy amount and he ate the whole raisin (i need to stop with the raisins this is his second today), anyways, i hope this is the right brand and this helps. I need help on a easier way to feed him medicine. It's impossible almost to open his mouth.

 

[chinchillin2005]

THIS OK? Simethicone 20 mg anti-gas. Dye free drops. Non-staining. Compare to infants' Mylicon drops non-staining (This product is not manufactured or distributed by Johnson & Johnson/Merck Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co., Distributor of Infants' Mylicon Drops Non-Staining). No alcohol. No saccharin. No artificial flavor. No artificial colors.

Ingredients
Active Ingredient (in Each 0.3 Ml): Simethicone (20 mg). Inactive Ingredients: Citric Acid, Flavor, Hypromellose, Maltitol, Methylcellulose, Mono-and Di-Glycerides, Polyethylene Glycol, Polyethylene Glycol Stearate, Polysorbate 65, Purified Water, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Citrate, Sorbic Acid, Xanthan Gum.

 

[obcsed]

Those will work just fine. Don't be afraid to give a whole dropper full. Keep trying them with her. They usuall don't like the smell at first but once they get a good taste, they take them better. Might take a few tries. You can wrap her in a piece of fleece or thin towel to give the med's. Stick the dropper or syringe in the side of her mouth just behind the front teeth. There is a good gap there to get things into.

 

[Stackie]

Stop giving the raisins. They contain too much sugar which will only make the bloat worse.


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[chinchillin2005]

There has been ONE improvement since last night. This morning I noticed the water level has gone down. Still hardly any poop, like no new poop, haven't seen him poop I'm still worried about that. His hay was a mess, I don't know if he ate hay or not, I refilled his hay 3 times yesterday because he did eat hay and very few pellets were eaten. I gave him his gut motility medicine and the gas drops just now. It's been 2 days since he's eaten this medicine and I don't know if the gut motility is helping him or not. HOW do I get him to poop back to normal?

 

[AZChins]

When you get the critical care in a couple of days, that can help in getting chins to make more droppings. The chinnie needs to be eating hay, that is the one thing that helps more than anything else. Keep giving him the gas drops and see if you can get him to keep eating his hay. Does he make droppings for you after you give him the gut motility drug? Maybe 5 to 10 minutes after?

 

[chinchillin2005]

When you get the critical care in a couple of days, that can help in getting chins to make more droppings. The chinnie needs to be eating hay, that is the one thing that helps more than anything else. Keep giving him the gas drops and see if you can get him to keep eating his hay. Does he make droppings for you after you give him the gut motility drug? Maybe 5 to 10 minutes after?

Not at all, he doesn't poop at all after I give him the drug, I haven't seen him poop or any new poop, there's hardly any poop, and I just vacuumed his cage today and no poop still

 

[AZChins]

That's not good. How is his behavior now? Is he acting lethargic?

You can do some belly massages for him, but if he isn't making droppings by now I worry about him having a blockage or his intestinal tract has just shut down. Usually with the drug you were given it will have an effect shortly after it is given. If it doesn't, it's not doing anything at all to help and there's something seriously wrong.

I've had success with pineapple juice helping in cases like this, but I don't know if your guy would drink it for you right now. You should call the vet first thing in the morning and ask if you can bring him in.

 

[chinchillin2005]

That's not good. How is his behavior now? Is he acting lethargic?

You can do some belly massages for him, but if he isn't making droppings by now I worry about him having a blockage or his intestinal tract has just shut down. Usually with the drug you were given it will have an effect shortly after it is given. If it doesn't, it's not doing anything at all to help and there's something seriously wrong.

I've had success with pineapple juice helping in cases like this, but I don't know if your guy would drink it for you right now. You should call the vet first thing in the morning and ask if you can bring him in.

He moves around a lot actually just sleepy as he's nocturnal like always, he DID poop in the carrier when we took him to the vet, so I think he can poop..I don't think he's eating too much which might make him not poop as much, and usually he doesn't poop much in the day, I got some free droppers from the pharmacy and I'm going to try and feed him that way, I will go to the vet on Monday/Tuesday for Critical Care.

 

[chinchillin2005]

Hes pooping!!!!

I checked and he's active like he's always at dinner time and there is poop everywhere a good amount in fact I heard him poop anyways he seems normal and fine I gave him both his medicine tonight and I refilled his hay so many times to count cause he eats it. He drank water last night so I'm hoping he'll drink again tonight. The poop seems moist and bigger I will post pictures tomorrow to see if it's normal. May be I was overreacting because even during the vet ride he pooped in his carrier and was eating just more tired and way less poop with stretching and he still eats few pellets but he does eat I've seen him eat it 3 times tonight he is very active and bites wood more may be cause of pain anyways veryyyyy good sign that he's pooping he is done with the vet prescribed medicine and I honestly don't think he needs critical care. What do you guys think? Anyways should I ask the vet for more medicine or no?