Chin is bleeding from rectum (possibly vaginal opening?) Please Help

[Sinfonian]

My girlfriend just had our chin Lily out for some attention and suddenly had a smear of blood on her arm. We took at look at Lily and she had significant amount of blood coming from either her rectum or her vaginal opening. We immediately put the chin in a carry cage and my girlfriend left for the emergency vet.

What could this be? A quick search of the forum for this kind of bleeding hasn't shown any results; I'm not sure if I'm using correct terminology or search terms.

If you know of anything that could cause a chinchilla to bleed from its rectum or vaginal opening, please respond ASAP!


I called the emergency vet to tell them what to expect, and they told me that the doctor on duty doesn't see chinchillas... I've taken my chins there before, but I guess the specific doc on duty is useless. My girlfriend is now heading to our regular vet office because one of the docs there is kind enough to meet us after hours.

 

[Ruby]

The only thing that I can think of now would be maybe a prolapse? Was there any tissue protruding from her rectum or vagina?

 

[Sinfonian]

We did not see any protruding tissue of any kind, just a strong bleed.

 

[Gizmo24]

*fingers crossed* let us know how the poor baby makes out.

 

[Sinfonian]

I just received an update from my girlfriend at the vet: it IS a prolapse--of her reproductive organs, apparently. I don't have anything more specific than that, but this is not looking good.

I'm heading to the vet to join her now.

 

[tunes]

Tell them to spay her. If it's her reproductive organs, it's most likely her uterus that prolapsed. If they spay her, they will remove the uterus and she "should" be okay.

 

[starleomach]

I am so sorry. Best thing you can do now is a spay.

 

[Sinfonian]

Update: Went to the vet and got some clarification. The prolapsed tissue had been dead for some time, and the vet was able to gently pull it out with no trouble. He hasn't yet been able to identify the tissue, though. The first (and most likely) possibility is what was originally thought--that it's tissue from Lily's reproductive organs. In this case, a spay is our best route. The other possibility is that the dead tissue is what's left of miscarried and partially reabsorbed fetuses. This is highly unlikely, as she's only had two brief encounters with a male, but is still possible because the encounters were cut short due to mating attempts.

Lily is on light pain meds and antibiotics, and we'll return to the vet in the morning for another look and, hopefully, more information. Thanks for the responses and your well-wishes; I'll keep you updated as information becomes available.

 

[tunes]

It could be retained products of conception, but if it is, and there is all that bleeding going on, then there must be a lot of infection in there.

For future reference, this is why we say never to let males and females play together. It literally takes seconds for conception to take place. We aren't kidding when we say that. By the time you break up the attempted breeding, it's done.

If they send out the tissue for pathology, they should be able to tell you exactly what it is. If it was me, I would also insist on an ultrasound to be sure there is nothing else in there causing an issue.

I hope she clears up for you, and yes, please keep us posted.

 

[ann1]

Is there any up dates? What happened?

 

[Sinfonian]

Lily's condition is greatly improved. She perked up quite nicely after her vet visit, and has been on antibiotics since then (doc wanted a longer course to be cautious). The only trouble so far has been that the meds stunt her appetite. I've been giving her lifeline spaced out between antibiotic doses (to give the probiotic content time to work) and supplementing with critical care on days when she snubs her food. She lost a little weight initially, but has held steady and started gaining slowly since then. She should regain her appetite in a few days when her course of antibiotics ends.

Once she's off the meds and back up to 100%, we'll be talking to the vet about a spay.

 

[saphire]

thanks for the follow up... great news

 

[Silverrose]

Did you ever figure out what the dead tissue was? I'm going to assume it wasn't a part of the reproductive system since a spay wasn't used immediately as a course of action. Good luck and sending healing vibes to your chinnie!