DorisandDiva
Member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2013
- Messages
- 13
Hi all,
Hoping someone may be able to offer some advice about my chinchilla. She is 7 years old and up until now has always been healthy.
Late on Sunday she was sitting on the bottom of her cage barking. This isn't typical behaviour and after giving her the once over I thought her breathing sounded a bit wheezy. On Monday I took her to the vet, and by this time I noticed she was occasionally making a clicking sound along with the wheezing.
My vet threw a few potential diagnoses into the picture. Firstly she mentioned Bordatella, then a URI and finally dental issues. My chinchilla's chest sounded clear when she listened to it with the stethoscope. The vet struggled but could eventually hear the wheezing when my chinchilla was just bouncing around on the examination table.
WRT the potential dental issues, the vet said when she wiggled her lower jaw from side to side it wasn't catching as you'd expect with overgrown teeth. When she looked inside my chinchillas mouth she said there was a bit of saliva and she couldn't really see the back teeth. She said the roots on the teeth which can be felt under the jaw felt a bit sharp. Aside from that, my chinny has been eating normally and does not have any dribble.
The vet is treating her with Baytril and hoping that will resolve everything. She said the only way to really know if there was a dental problem would be to put my chin under anaesthetic but she was very pessimistic about this.
As of today, my chin has bursts of energy but overall is pretty lethargic. She is eating fruit/veg that I present to her, her faeces and drinking water. I haven't seen her eating her food pellets but I also haven't seen her sister who lives in the cage and is fine do so, it may just be I am not around when they are eating.
Does anyone have any ideas or experience with these type of symptoms? I don't know anyone else with chinchillas and as mine have always been healthy I'm pretty inexperienced in dealing with sick chinnies.
Thank you in advance
Hoping someone may be able to offer some advice about my chinchilla. She is 7 years old and up until now has always been healthy.
Late on Sunday she was sitting on the bottom of her cage barking. This isn't typical behaviour and after giving her the once over I thought her breathing sounded a bit wheezy. On Monday I took her to the vet, and by this time I noticed she was occasionally making a clicking sound along with the wheezing.
My vet threw a few potential diagnoses into the picture. Firstly she mentioned Bordatella, then a URI and finally dental issues. My chinchilla's chest sounded clear when she listened to it with the stethoscope. The vet struggled but could eventually hear the wheezing when my chinchilla was just bouncing around on the examination table.
WRT the potential dental issues, the vet said when she wiggled her lower jaw from side to side it wasn't catching as you'd expect with overgrown teeth. When she looked inside my chinchillas mouth she said there was a bit of saliva and she couldn't really see the back teeth. She said the roots on the teeth which can be felt under the jaw felt a bit sharp. Aside from that, my chinny has been eating normally and does not have any dribble.
The vet is treating her with Baytril and hoping that will resolve everything. She said the only way to really know if there was a dental problem would be to put my chin under anaesthetic but she was very pessimistic about this.
As of today, my chin has bursts of energy but overall is pretty lethargic. She is eating fruit/veg that I present to her, her faeces and drinking water. I haven't seen her eating her food pellets but I also haven't seen her sister who lives in the cage and is fine do so, it may just be I am not around when they are eating.
Does anyone have any ideas or experience with these type of symptoms? I don't know anyone else with chinchillas and as mine have always been healthy I'm pretty inexperienced in dealing with sick chinnies.
Thank you in advance