honeybear99
Member
Hello, I am new to this forum and have been reading as much as I can looking for answers!
I got my chin a couple months ago when he was 1-2 months old. He was very sweet and friendly from the very moment he was home. About a week to 2 weeks of having him, I was changing his water bottle and seemingly out of nowhere his attitude changed drastically and he became very jumpy, scared and shy.
I figured it was health related as his poops were getting a bit smaller and after examining him closer, he also had pretty chunky white crusts with the texture of scabs on his nose so I took him to the vet. They only prescribed Revolution because they thought it could be mites, they didn’t really focus on the stomach/digestive issues at all because “he looked like he was acting fine” in the office. They took a fecal sample and never got back to me.
I then went to more of a specialist vet where they examined him again, but they scraped the white crusts off his nose to check if it was ringworm. They didn’t recommend gas drops after I brought them up “because it would be kind of pointless in a Chinchilla’s digestive system”. After almost 3 weeks, they finally got back to me and said it was negative for ringworm and prescribed Revolution again and some balm for dry skin. Again, his digestive issues were pretty much ignored.
Since it took so long to get back to me, my chin lost fur at the top of his head in a circular pattern and it looks like he’s still losing some fur now. He’s itchy and the insides of his ears are flaky. And his poops are still showing signs of constipation? (Pointy ends, small, fragmented)
I’m not sure if I’m looking too much into it, but I’m not at all convinced that he’s as okay as they are making it out to seem. This is my first time owning a chinchilla and I don’t know what to do, especially if vets are minimizing the importance of the situation. Again, don’t know if I’m overreacting, so I’d like some reassurance or advice!
Thank you to everyone for all the general health info on here, very helpful all around.
I got my chin a couple months ago when he was 1-2 months old. He was very sweet and friendly from the very moment he was home. About a week to 2 weeks of having him, I was changing his water bottle and seemingly out of nowhere his attitude changed drastically and he became very jumpy, scared and shy.
I figured it was health related as his poops were getting a bit smaller and after examining him closer, he also had pretty chunky white crusts with the texture of scabs on his nose so I took him to the vet. They only prescribed Revolution because they thought it could be mites, they didn’t really focus on the stomach/digestive issues at all because “he looked like he was acting fine” in the office. They took a fecal sample and never got back to me.
I then went to more of a specialist vet where they examined him again, but they scraped the white crusts off his nose to check if it was ringworm. They didn’t recommend gas drops after I brought them up “because it would be kind of pointless in a Chinchilla’s digestive system”. After almost 3 weeks, they finally got back to me and said it was negative for ringworm and prescribed Revolution again and some balm for dry skin. Again, his digestive issues were pretty much ignored.
Since it took so long to get back to me, my chin lost fur at the top of his head in a circular pattern and it looks like he’s still losing some fur now. He’s itchy and the insides of his ears are flaky. And his poops are still showing signs of constipation? (Pointy ends, small, fragmented)
I’m not sure if I’m looking too much into it, but I’m not at all convinced that he’s as okay as they are making it out to seem. This is my first time owning a chinchilla and I don’t know what to do, especially if vets are minimizing the importance of the situation. Again, don’t know if I’m overreacting, so I’d like some reassurance or advice!
Thank you to everyone for all the general health info on here, very helpful all around.