I have a 14 year old male chinchilla named Smokey who cannot gain weight. He still gets hungry and eats, but it just goes straight through him. He has gotten very weak and stopped drinking from his bottle. I am feeding him Critical Care with Pedialyte in addition to his regular food and hay, but he is starving. He has lost all of his body fat and I can feel all of his bones. He lived with two other male chins that are fine. I separated them and put him in a guinea pig cage since he is too weak to jump or walk up ramps. I was just wondering what this could be and if anyone else has ever dealt with this problem.
Chinchilla can't absorb food
- Thread starter Serena710
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aznmexaggie
Chinchilla Chateau
Has he had any blood work done? Sometimes when they lose weight, it is indicative of the organs working less efficiently. Will he eat any pellets on his own? Or only the CC? With chins on CC, if they no longer need it (have recovered from the issue which caused them to need it), I try to wean them off by offering it in a bowl and then mixing it with ground up pellets, mixed with water to make it mushy like straight CC. With chins who need to put weight back on, I offer a bit of alfalfa in addition to their timothy hay as well as a small pinch of rolled oats. I am currently dealing with that in a rescue chin I took in with 3 others last month.
He hasn't been to a vet yet. He eats the Critical Care more than anything. He does eat a small amount of pellets. He eats alfalfa and timothy hay. He gets hungry a lot and gobbles up The Critical Care like he is starving. It just goes straight through him. He is getting very weak now. He staggers around and moves slowly. Could this be from aging?
It really sounds like the chin needs to go to the vet, something is clearly wrong with it. Chins don't really slow down that much with age unless something is wrong, it's not uncommon for chins to be wall surfing and running full out up until the day they die. I'm talking about chins in their upper teens, still acting like nothing is wrong. Chins can sometimes live 20+ years (oldest ever was I think around 30!) so he isn't ancient yet, a senior though (average life span is 15-20).
ticklechin
Well-known member
This chin needs a vet NOW or it will die, I mean really, this may seem harsh and I intend it to be.
Mt. Zion Chins
Barb
14 years old is not THAT old that your chin shouldn't be moving and jumping. I have a 21 and a 20 year old that still uses their wheels and jumps from ledge to ledge
Dreamlite
Well-known member
You really need to take the chin to the vet. You cant wait or the chances of recovery are slim. 14 really isnt old for a chin. They can live to be 20
I'm sorry that I took so long to reply. He was taken to the vet and he passed away. The vet said that it was cancer and nothing could have been done to save him. I appreciate all of your replies. I wasn't waiting for him to get sicker, I just wanted advice before taking him to a new vet. The doctor that he saw was very knowledgeable and saw him immediately. I have had a couple of very bad experiences with vets that claimed to know about chinchillas and then they got the wrong treatment. It was very hard to find them a capable vet in my area.
