Chin doesn't eat pellets but eats other food

[Narea]

Hi guys,

our problem is similar to several others but because of the fact that we visited 2 vets and there is other info I decided to post new thread.

Well, I'll take it from the beginning:
We had some work which needed a lot of travelling in July, so we decided to move our chinchilla Rony to my boyfriends parents house from our dorm and at 30th June and back to our dorm at the end of July instead of moving him several times. But since the day we moved he haven't eaten a pellet, he would only take his beloved raisin and not so eagerly as he used to. After three days we had to leave and so Rony was left in the care of my boyfriends sister (she's 18, so capable of taking care of him). She told us that Rony had eaten pellets a lot so we were happy. But when we got back after four days I found ALL the pellets thrown around and behind the small bowl they were in. So I rushed Rony to the weighting machine and almost fainted - from his usual 450g he had 380g (btw, he's one year old).

We decided to visit a vet and she gave him a shot of ATB without any blood or poop check (I couldn't see the reason, but then again I'm not vet) and told us to come for another shot the next day. He also got some kind of calcium and nutrition solution shot. To say it short: she couldn't find anything in his droppings which were rare and really small and after a consultation with breeder she decided to give Rony hydralona (it ought to be some kind of laxative - she told us that because Rony hadn't eaten his bowel was blocked by mucus and it needs to be treated by this ATB). Rony started to eat fresh lettuce from the garden but he wouldn't eat anything else and was a bit lethargic. We tried to hand feed him with some childs puree with grape sugar but he wouldn't take it freely but it got him from 360-370g he weighted to 380-390g.

After a consultation we decided to move Rony back home to the dorm where he definitely got better but he still wouldn't eat pellets. It was the 3rd week of July. So we found out about local vet who was very praised by chin breaders in Czech rep. She told us that she couldn't find anything wrong with his belly by palpation, check his tooth and blood while he was under narcosis and told us that she dind't find any sign of bad tooth so RTG would be useless and blood also went out fine EXCEPT THAT his white blood cells were a little lower than it should be, but vet said that's fine.

He got another shot of nutrition solution and his droppings were examined again (nothing again) and we were told to handfeed him with Rodicare and give him some pain killers in case he stopped eating for some sort of pain and two drugs for stimulation of bowel movements (degan and ranitol). It kinda helped because he started to poop normally.

That brings us to these days. When Rony got at 450g we were told to lower the amount of rodicare puree (mixed with mash from Apetite pellets soaked with water). We did that but he only took few grams of pellets and got used to the fact that he's given less food :/ So we start hand feeding him again for a week and after consulting with vet stopped at all. He started to eat pellets but it was not enough and even after he gained 2 grams by himself he started to lose weight again by few grams a day and now he's 380g. Today I tried to give him a pellet smeared with raisin juice and he ate a piece of it and then throw it away. The I tried to hide a pellet into the raisin which worked few days before but he only ate the raisin and left the pellet today.

We also tried to give him hay and dried bread and he started to eat them (we weren't giving him these hoping that it would force him to eat the pellets). that reminds me - when we were hand feeding him he took the rodicare puree voluntarily from the syringe (I had to hold him on my lap and he bit the syringe till something came into his mounth). And at night he bites his cage, other wood stuff he has in there and the special calcium rock" for abrading his teeth so he's really full of life and not lethargic anymore. We used to let him run free around the room every evening but we had to stop because when he was running he was loosing too much weight.

Well, that is all that happened until now. We kinda don't know what to do because we can't feed him only raisins (breeders told me to give him 1 raisin per week max) and bread and hay doesn't even help him to keep his weight not speaking of gaining it. We also stopped believing in vet help because there simply isn't anything else what the doc could do. Of course she could give him another shot but that leads in huge scabs at his back which he accidentaly ribbed off when running in his cage. We blaim this to be the reason why he didn't eat last week when not hand feeded but of course we can't tell for sure.

We'd really appreciate some advice from someone who experienced this kind of situation because hand feeding him for a month now is really exhausting not speaking of the fact that I had to cancel my work.

Rony's now 378g, eating bread, raisin and hay and we think that it would be wise to try again the "feed him till he gains a lot and then stop". Any suggestions?

 

[Riven]

You need to take all of that stuff away. Basically it's like a child who won't eat so you offer them cookies. They'll hold out for the cookies.

What kind of pellets do you have available there? You may need to try a different pellet.

Until you find some good pellets he will eat you need to get like a coffee grinder and grind some of the pellets up that you do have, mix in some acidophilus ( available at the drug store or pharmacy ) and mix that with water and feed him through a syringe. You need to get at least 60 mL/cc's per day. You can mix a larger batch of this dry and just mix what you need at each feeding. You can also mix it thick so it is the consistency of dough and try to feed it off of a spoon.

I'm assuming that you do not have Critical Care available there.

 

[ticklechin]

I PMed ClaireD here, she is from europe and may be able to help since you have alot of things being used we do not know about here in the USA and may be able to point you in the right direction as far a meds, feed and food replacements.

 

[Narea]

You need to take all of that stuff away. Basically it's like a child who won't eat so you offer them cookies. They'll hold out for the cookies.

Well, as I wrote earlier, we tried that. At first he just started eating small amount of pellets but after a day or two suddenly stopped again. But then again it might have been only because of the pain from the scab that he ripped off. It was almost healed but you could see a bit of dried blood in the middle of the circle without fur.

What kind of pellets do you have available there? You may need to try a different pellet.

We tried Vitakraft and Darwin pellets for chinchillas and a mixture from Darwin which is basically various dried stuff like cereal, seeds, vegetable and other when the first vet told us to give him anything he'd eat to gain some weight. We also bought few pounds of pellets made by a breeder for his chins but Rony wouldnt it that. The second vet recomended us not to give him another brand of pellets then the one he used to eat for his whole life because chins do not appreciate rapid changes is their diet.

Until you find some good pellets he will eat you need to get like a coffee grinder and grind some of the pellets...

Well, that Rodicare stuff I mentioned is as the vet said "dried hay" ment specially for chins and other rodents to gain weight and maintain bowel movements. As for the spoon/syringe: he fights when the spoon's nearby but when it's syringe he will take the food voluntarily, so that's our way of feeding

I'm assuming that you do not have Critical Care available there.

Since I haven't ever heard of it I have to say no.

I PMed ClaireD here...

Thank you, hope she gets the message soon.


Btw, since you don't know Apetit maybe it'll help if I tell you what it looks like and what it consists of.
The pic is attached and the pellets consist of:

• moisture" 14%
• fibre" 11%
• protein" 15%
• fat" 2,5%
• ash" 7,5%
• vit A" 20 000mj/kg
• vit D3" 2 000mj/kg
• vit E" 100mg/kg
• CuSO4: 20mg/kg

I found out about Oxbow and compared it and it really isn't that different.

 

[tunes]

I posted this on your other thread, not realizing you had posted the same thread twice, so I'll just cut and paste it here and close the other one down.

It would be best if you stop all the junk food. No bread, raisins, grape juice, etc. That kind of stuff is deadly for a chin with stasis, which is what it sounds like Rony is (or was) having. The pain medication and the motility drugs are what he needed to get him moving again, which is good, plus lots of massage, and lots of subcutaneous fluids (under the skin) to get things moist and moving again.

I do not know what the hand feeding food is you mentioned. Can you give us a breakdown of it from the ingredients? Here in the States we recommend Critical Care which is made for herbivores. It would be good to compare the two to see if it's a comperable feed.

Rather than feeding him junk food, I would stick with the hand feeding until he's back up to his normal weight and pooping normally. Make SURE he's getting lots of fluids or his poops aren't going to go back to normal. You may even be able to put the mix into a bowl for him to eat, so that you don't have to be right there feeding him manually. Once a chin gets hooked on the hand feeding, it's often times easy to switch them to a bowl. As he starts gaining weight, start mixing in his pellets a little at a time, gradually going from wetting them to mushy back up to regular pellets. Do it slowly, so he doesn't get a chance to notice the change.

378 gm is very, very tiny for a 1 year old chin. My weanlings are 300 gm, so to me that's a dangerously low weight. Even 450 gm is small, but it's better. I would concentrate on getting his weight back up to normal, then start weaning him off the soft food and back onto hard. Will he chew on wood chews? Without eating the hard pellets or hay, he's not going to be working his teeth and keeping them at an acceptable length. The wood chews, maybe some hay cubes, and keep the hay in there, just in case he'll nibble on it.

You can also try making him puffed pellets out of his own pellets. You just add a little water and a little black strap molasses then back them until they make little cookie type things he can hold onto and eat.

 

[Claire D]

I have looked up some of the drugs & foods you have listed - some I could find & some I could not - the Rodicare & hydrolona I could not find.


Are you still giving the (Metoclopromaide) Degan & (Ranitidine) Ranitol or were they one-off treatments?

I would agree with the suggestions above - cut all the junk food & syringe him high fibre, no sugar food - you can probably mix his crushed pellets (as suggested above) & the Rodicare (probably similar to the Oxbow Critical Care perhaps?) if he will eat that.

How often are you feeding your chin?
Is he getting extra fluids? If not he may need some injected under the skin - a dehydrated chin will be lethargic & will not eat or drink, creating a vicious cycle of further dehydration, constipation, & gut stasis.
Is he having any painkillers?


I would suggest going back to your vet & getting more gut stimulating medication & some subcut fluids.
There is an excellent thread by Menagerie which goes through treatment for a chin which was in gut stasis - it is here ( http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6553&highlight=sparky ) - it is worth reading through & maybe taking it to your vet so that they know what you want to try.

The drug names are slightly different but this comparison might help:
US = Reglan (Metoclopromide - gut stimulant) - Czech Republic = Degan
US = Cisapride (gut stimulant not generally available in Europe) - CR= Ranitol (Ranitidine - used with success in rabbits & rodents in Europe as a gut stimulant. Can be used alongside Metoclop).
US/UK = Metacam (meloxicam - anti-inflammatory pain relief) - not sure what the CR equivalent would be.
US/UK = Simethicone/Infacol (baby gas drops) - again, not sure what the CR equivalent would be.

 

[Narea]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

As for the weight: I consulted with the breeder we got Rony from and I was told that his father which he look like a lot is also very tiny chin and she told me not to be concerned if Rony's weight will be lower than 500g.

To his droppings/water supply: I noticed that I didn't say anything about the current state: he has access to water all the time but since the weather is rainy and it isn't hot in here he isn't drinking a lot which is normal for him. He gets a lot of water in the rodicare puree we're feeding him cos it's more in the liquid state than solid. otherwise it won't go into the syringe. His droppings are of normal color and size (could be like half milimeter or milimeter bigger and more "fluffy" but then again I have never measured them) and he poops with similar frequency like he did before this happened.

To drugs: we don't administer them anymore, we did for a week and when his droppings become more like they used to be (number and state), vet told us to cut the drugs and till then it's fine. Same for the pain killers (found out the name was Meloxivel if it rings any bells).

To stasis: when he was on those pain killers and even on those ATB from the first vet he was like kinda slowed down. Not like he was sitting all day and stuff, he still liked to run around for a while but we know him like a LOT sprightly chinchilla. Day or two after we stopped giving him the medication he came back to his usual behaviour meaning he runs around his cage (wooden with bars on the front side) and bites everything he can (wooden leader, shelfs, tube from kitchen towels or branch from apple tree he has there).

To vet: When talking about the vet there's also another factor - he really doesn't appreciate hands on him and he never did. He's more of a free roaming spirit which "accidentaly" rest on your lap for a while and then goes running again. So you can imagine how freaked he was when he was at the vet. He even came hide to my arms when he got one shot (that was actually really sad moment). If it was possible I'd like to avoid another session with vet and shots for I fear he might get traumatised again. Of course if it was inevitable we'd take him there but from a telephonic consultation with the vet i was told that there isn't any treat available for there's nothing wrong with him physically. She could only give him another shot for hydration if he was dehydrated but he gets a lot of water while handfeeded.

To rodicare: We got a paper when we ordered rodicare and these are the ingredients:

• skins of soja beans: 28%
• oat bran: 18,8%
• alfalfa 15,8%
• wheat sprout: 14%
• flax groats: 5%
• soja protein: 4%
• brewer's yeast: 2,5%
• soja oil: 1,5%
• leaf of peppermint: 1%
• caraway: 1%
• Trigonella foenum-graecum: 0,5%
• liquorice: 0,5%
• curcuma: 0,5%
• calamus root: 0,5%
• fennel fruit: 0,5%
• camomile blossom: 0,5%
• salt: 0,5%
• CaCo3: 0,4%

And then list of contents from another point of view:

• protein: 16,8%
• fat: 4,7%
• fibre: 21,1%
• ash: 7,8%
• calcium: 1,0%
• phosphorus: 0,4%

Is that anything like your Critical Care?

P. S. Really sorry about that double-posting. Was experiencing some trouble with refresh so I might have accidentally send it twice.

 

[Narea]

Noticed I can't my post after 10mins so here it comes in separate post:

To his physical state: his abdomen looks fine, no hard parts, no pain when touching him. He's absolutely calm. (Until he's distracted by some movement and "needs" to go see what was that) So I wouldn't go for constipation. When I feed him (he's on my lap, I have one hand around him supporting his front legs with my fingers and syringe with my other hand) and he chews the food he lets me massage his belly a little so I can monitor the state of his belly all the time.

To the amount of mash he eats: We used to feed him 10-15ml every three hours 5-6x a day but when he got used to syringe feeding he eats a lot more - around 25ml so we fed him 2-3x a day for the weight gain not to be harsh. There are small solid pieces in the mash from the pellets so he's abrasing his tooth. We try to feed him during day so he would get hungry during the night and maybe eat some pellets. We'll remove the bread but I'd vote for keeping the hay for him to chew something. What do you think? We'll also give him those "fluffed" pellets as you suggusted. I already tried it before with this rodicare powder in it for him to smell good when we stopped hand feeding and he ate it. So I hope it will work again.

Btw, do you chins have access to the pellets all the time or do you remove them? I figured that maybe if the pellets don't "smell" in his cage all the day and are there only as "new object" (therefore object of interest) during the night, he might go and investigate what's there.

 

[Narea]

Oh and one slight improvement I didn't mention: when he was on the drugs he kept loosing weight rapidly. We weighted him before and after hand feeding and he kept loosing almost all the weight plus 30g down over night. We fed his yesterday at the evening and over last night he lost only about 15g and not because of the constipation - the droppings were all around his cage

Btw, one possible reason for this previous rapid loosing of weight even when hand feeded was that he had some parasites or something that kept him from accepting the nutrition from his food but the test came out negative.

 

[Narea]

I managed to get some pics for you:

Rodicare I was talking about.

Gallery of Rony's pic after hand feeding and evening running. I'm afraid that using the flash wasn't very good choice bacause his fur looks a lot darker and different that it really is. And I wasn't really able to get the right focus cause he was always on the move. I hope it's sufficient for getting the picture. At img829 you can see a "teeth" in his fur. That's where the scab came off along with the fur. Hope it will grow again.

Rony's droppings. Normal state and size if you ask me.

 

[caiti]

The first pic in your gallery Ronnie looks emaciated. The other pics don't look so bad but I know you are having trouble with him gaining weight. Maybe it's a side effect of the meds but I don't know personally. I also don't know about the parasite thing either but if he was tested for some, he might not have any.

The picture of his poos don't really look that normal to me. Did he pee on them or are they always that wet? That is probably a concern that they are that moist. Are they soft as well? It's probably from the sugary stuff you've been feeding him (bread, raisins etc) and might clear up once those things aren't fed to him.

Most people leave pellets in the cage all the time. They don't really smell too strong but I understand your thinking that he'll be more intrigued with the pellets if they are new. I usually pique my chin's interest just by changing them. How long do you leave them in the cage for? Chins kind of graze sometimes, they'll go eat their pellets multiple times throughout the entire day so I think it's a good idea that you leave them in there.

From the analysis you wrote in your post, Apetit seems like it's way too low in fiber and could be higher in protein and fat. Oxbow is a bit different from it, nutritionally speaking. The reccomended ranges are about: fiber 18-23%, protein 16-18% and fat 2.5-3.5%. A good feed shouldn't go below any of those minimums. Maybe switching his food will help him feel better and he might be more interested in eating it (mixing it in gradually with his old food is recommended).

I also noticed your cage has some plywood in it. From what I've read on here, the resin in the plywood can make a chin sick if ingested. Does he eat the plywood?

I hope he gets better, good luck!

 

[Riven]

Those fecal pellets look too wet to me as well. They should be dull and firm.

I know you're trying to get help for Roni, but the first pic of him broke my heart.

You should leave pellets in the cage at all times. Chins are not like humans, they eat all day, throughout the day. The only thing other than hand feeding and pellets and loose hay that I would offer at all at this time is an unfrosted mini shredded wheat ( it's a cereal if you have that there) once per day to help fiber. Take away all of the other foods, and force feed him. Whether he likes being touched or not, he needs to be wrapped up and feed or he will probably die. He also needs a probiotic because the probably un-needed antibiotics that the vet gave would have killed all good bacteria in his gut.

Some chins might not like a food, but they will not stop eating and starve to death simply because they don't like the food you give them.

What are you offering for hay?

I mimic the concerns about the cage, is there any parts of the plywood exposed that he is/can chew on? If not then it should be okay.

 

[ticklechin]

Does his poo have any odor? If you break it in half is it hollow or looks like swiss cheese?
Do you see any slime connecting any poo? Chronic enteritis could cause the emaciation since he is not absorbing the food well and cause him not to want to eat either. That is a low fiber diet and that is one of the causes of enteritis.

 

[Narea]

To pellets: We tried to give him another pellets as I mentioned before but after the vet told us to give him only what he was used to othervise it could bring him more digestive problems we stopped giving him another pellets. I'll try to look for a way to obtain oxbow but so far I got only the fact that some breeder tried to order it and was unsuccessfull.

To cereal: I'm afraid we don't have "unfrosted mini shredded wheat". I googled it and I've never seen it. We do have cereals but people kind and I'm afraid there's going to be a lot of sugar :/ I try to look for some brand without the sugar. Can you point me at some company that makes them or similar stuff?

To the cage: It's from OSB desk and it looks like that and we added spruce linings at the edges of his shelves. That material was recommended by local breeders so I guess they'd notice if there was any problem with the resin. Anyway - he bites it but he doesn't neither chew nor swallow. Same for the spruce leader and calcium rocks. His goal is to destroy as fast as possible and chewing kinda doesn't go with that.

To the pics: That first pic really pictures him smaller compared to pics of other chins but thats almost the way he was from his 8 months till his first birthday at the beginning of July. If I was informed correctly, that means he won't ever get bigger. And.. I don't really know if this wouldn't sound a bit weird but I can compare his weight and state better by taking him in my hand and "feel" it. I always think that fur lies But I won't go there to say he's not skinny - he is. I'd like him to maintain around 400g till the morning. That would be a good start. It depends on his night excercises - when he runs a lot he looses a lot. But then again, when he runs it helps his bowel movements.

To poos: it may be from the raisin he got yesterday but as vet suggested also from the hand feeding for the puree is liquid. I was more concerned about the size cause before the drugs for bowel movements his poos were half in size and shriveled (I don't know how to say it better.. there was no water in them). These got at least back to the regular size and frequency and now the goal is to get to the right "consistency".

Btw, there's one theory we managed to create with vet but it has some flows - he got stressed when moved into different cage (flaw: he was there few months ago for Christmass and nothing bad happened). The weather was different (flaw: there wasn't direct sun or heat in his room) and the surroundings as well - that's what I'd go for. In here at the dorm he has his calm and peace during the day and the room is set for him to roam at the evening. But at my boyfriend's parents house it's all a bit louder during the day so it might have been difficult to rest properly for him. Vet suggested that these aren't lethal factors but the combination might have led to this situation. Or he might have hurt himself in the cage or something. She told us that the main concern is to make him eat by handfeeding (accomplished) and then by himself. So we're trying to.

Does his poo have any odor? If you break it in half is it hollow or looks like swiss cheese?
Do you see any slime connecting any poo? Chronic enteritis could cause the emaciation since he is not absorbing the food well and cause him not to want to eat either. That is a low fiber diet and that is one of the causes of enteritis.

I don't smell anything nor even when I break it down. It also dried quickly so I don't think it's a slime that covers it. Just water. Otherwise it should be still wet, shouldn't it? The poo looked like that when broken in half.

Btw, there was one time we saw two poos connected. It was more like one really big with a narrowment in the centre. But that was the first time he was at ATB and after nutrition shot(first vet, first visit) and his poos looked all kind of stuff for a few days - smaller, bigger, fluffier - so I don't know whether this gives us anything :/

But if it was chronic enteritis, what could we do? And secondly: Could his lower count of white blood cells point us to this direction?

 

[Narea]

I'll post another one for the questions I omited:

You should leave pellets in the cage at all times.

We will then. We used to change them every other day for the good smell to get back, so I hope it will lure him again.

What are you offering for hay?

We tried several types and his most favourite was local hay from Šumava. It's a national park nearby so the hay is not travelling long till it gets to it's consumers. The package looks like this. He also liked hay with dried carrot. Well, he liked the carrot But we don't have it anymore.

 

[ticklechin]

You would use a antibiotic that works inside the digestive tract to kill the bad bacteria causing the chronic inflamation, then you would increase his fiber and keep his diet very simple, pellets and high fiber hay. I can see pain around his eyes, its a look that becomes familiar when you work with chins in chronic pain. I would guess you are dealing with chronic teeth or digestion issues, that sunken look does not happen over night and with that degree of emaciation hepatic lipidosis is a very real threat which can lead to liver damage.

 

[Narea]

I would guess you are dealing with chronic teeth or digestion issues.

Well, his teeth were examined under narcosis and his belly by palpation of two vets and both told us that everything's fine so I don't really know what to say or do.

I wouldn't go for teeth problem for he ate few grams of pellets over the month and if you let him smell raisin he's eager to eat it and eat's it whole - no spitting. For digestion I can't say more than I got from vets and that his behind is clean and his belly not hard when I touch it. Nor does it bring him pain. I don't think he would let me touch him otherwise.

To the look.. well, this is difficult. I think that he doesn't like the hand feeding. Not the feeding part but the hand. He likes to be on his own and then he let you scratch him. He gets this "omg, what is happening to me again!" look everytime we take him out of his cage for I think he foresees the hand feeding. It breaks my heart but the vet said if we won't handfeed him and maintain his bowel movements he gets constipated, lose weight and die.

Can we help his bowels somehow? Is there a way to get my hand on some fibre to mix it into his hand feeding mash? Or shall we try some acidophilic yogurt to help him with his bowel environment?

 

[ticklechin]

Has he had his liver enzymes tested? Has he had his poo checked for parasitic infection? A chin does not get that particular look because he does not like his food, you have something organic going on, just keep posting observations of him, his feeding habits, his actions etc, no bit of info is too small, it can be a clue since chins hide illness so well.

 

[Riven]

I believe they did do a fecal and it came back negative if I recall right.

Here is a break down quick, the inside of the intestines is like millions of tiny fingers close together. It is not smooth on the inside. What happens is the food is liquefied and basically ran through those "fingers" that absorb the nutrients out of the liquefied food. But with chronic enteritis is an infection of the lining, the swelling causes the "fingers" to press together tightly so the liquid food can not pass through it. So only the tops of the "fingers" can absorb food, instead of all of them, this cuts down the chance of nutrients being absorbed by at least 85% or more.

You may need to get him on a gentle antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory to reduce swelling and get rid of the infection. Unfortunately I don't know what is available for you for drugs there to help make a recommendation. Perhaps Dawn or Claire might have a better idea.

Enteritis is a good diagnosis at this time, and in the photo of the broken poo it almost looks supportive of this, I see some spots that don't appear very digested.

Do you have any other cereals there that are like the shredded wheat? Also free feed hay, all the hay he'll eat.

 

[Narea]

Well, Vet told us that she'd like to take some blood to test whether he has some problems with his liver or kidneys. The result was: everything normal, only the count of white cells could be a bit higher. But that could be because the amount of blood was really small as we were told.

His poo was checked twice in two different labs - negative.

You mentioned that chin doesn't get this look only from not eating and that reminded me of one thing vet said. She told us that there might have been something, ie bad hay, something in pellets, something in water (even though we give him packaged), something physicall or mental and that made him stop eating. This cause may be long gone but there were consequences - no food means no bowel movements and hunger, no bowel movement means pain and that might have been stronger than the hunger and got us into the circle "I don't eat because I'm in pain and I'm in pain because I don't eat" even though the reason for the original problem is long gone.

In the first weeks he wasn't really interested in food but after the week on drugs it really got better. He got interested in it again and when you put hand inside his cage he goes closer and smells all over it whether you have something good. If it's raisin he will take it, but if it's a pellet or the mash on a finger or spoon he will turn his head. This fact led the Vet to the conclusion that he's just "spoiled" and got used to the care with syringe and doesn't want to get rid of this habit. That brings me to the habits:

To the habits: this is the funny part.. he's back to normal - he runs around, then sits on his favourite spot at the branch in "I look like a fluffy ball" style. And when it's almost morning he starts to bite something to wake me up so i follow the ritual and do so and then turn around and fall asleep smiling. During the day he mostly rests. Either in his house or on the top of it. He also likes to rest on his buddy - cotton mouse. He doesn't bite him, there's only cuddling.

After hand feeding he enjoyes a sand bath. We keep that in his cage almost all the time for he likes to bathe or rummage through the sand a lot. From the day we got him he kinda got used to pee on a paper handkerchief and not just any. He prefers just one brand and when the store we're out of it and we gave him another brand he smelled it and peed elsewhere till he got his favourite After each hand feeding he pees a puddle and we change the handkerchief usually after two puddles. We give him a new one, let him sniff it whether it's ok and if he doesn't protest we put it in the cage.

Enteritis is a good diagnosis at this time..

Even though there is no slime around his poos or holes in them and they come out separate?

Some spots that don't appear very digested.

Hmm, I can't neither approve nor disapprove for I have never looked inside. From the outside it looks the same as before the illness.

For the drugs it's a bit of a problem. I doubt that vet would give me the medicine if I go and ask for them. And taking Rony there means at least 2 hours in public buses which I don't consider safe - a lot of ill people, constant rain (we have floods these days).. We got a car pick up last time but it's not around anymore. Not speaking of the trauma from shots - he got always lethargic and not interested in any food. That's why I try to solve the problem by myself and preferably by something natural. I was told to try acidophilic yogurt for helping his intestine. Would that be helpful?

I guess, the current motto is "we got him eating pellets for one day and gain 2g by himself - let's do it again". And hopefully there will be no pain distracting him from eating this time.

Btw, I try to call vet and ask her for detailed results of the poo test and try to find out whether she could confirm undigested food.