My chin keeps hurting his legs.

[purikura]

Hi guys. I don't regularly post here but I do read other topics.
My chinchilla Pudding is 2 years old now and seems to have a recurring issue. He keeps on hurting his back legs - first it was his right, then his right again and now his left. This has happened three times over the course of about a year. Each time I have taken him to the vet who has felt him over and said there are no fractures or breaks and that it is just bruising. He never goes off his food, just becomes a bit resigned and doesn't want to move and limps when he does. Each time it happens in the same way; he tries to jump up onto something, his front legs make it but his back legs don't and he falls back down. Each time the vet tells me to give him Metacam and after doing this for around a week he will be back to normal again, no leg issues.
I guess the reason why I'm asking this is because it is a recurring problem that I just can't figure out how to fix. The things that he is falling from are things that 95% of the time he can get onto just fine. It has happened again tonight and once again he is refusing to move around. He is still eating etc and I have felt the leg (which he doesn't seem to mind) and of course I will be taking him to the vet again. I am just wondering if there is any easy way to tell how serious these injuries are and if there is any reasonable way I can stop them from happening?

 

[tunes]

I guess if it was me, I'd make sure he only stayed on one level. A one level cage, no more than maybe a 6 or 8 inch high house, etc. Since it is a recurring problem, it's possible he's got some nerve issue or bone alignment issue that gets aggravated every time he jumps. Your vet wouldn't be able to see that without some kind of diagnostic testing. Avoid the issue and keep him on one level.

 

[LGarl]

You don't mention if your chin gets exercise time out of his cage but if not you could try to arrange some. If it is just de-conditioned muscles that are causing weakness then exercise on a flat level every day might resolve the problem a bit.

 

[L_frady]

I don't know if it has anything to do with your chinchilla, but my little guy has strokes. In the beginning of his condition, I thought he hurt his leg to, but then in a few minutes, he would be back to normal. When he has an episode he always tries to jump to his top of his cage and always misses the ledge. At first, I thought he just miscalculated the jump but now I've diagnosed him with mini strokes. After a year of having these episodes, I watch him now and I can definitely see he goes paralyzed in his legs, or on one side of his body. His episodes normally last about a minute, or two.
Not saying this is what your little guy has, but it is something you can be watching for.





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