Chinchilla laying on side.

[thesmartblonde]

my chinchilla zoey is laying on her side!!!!! i dont know what to do. she just looks dead. i wake her up and she gives me the stink face, but she seems so tired. i cant take her to vet!!! its raining SO HARD. i cant see my street. my yard is flooding. i need help. is there anything i can do to relax her? shes 7 months. is this normal? she usually doesnt lay on her side when she sleeps!!!!

 

[lauralynne]

It's not terribly abnormal for chins to sleep on their side.

Is she eating/drinking/peeing/poopy normally? Does she get upset when you mess with her on her side?

We need to figure out if she's lethargic or just sleeping.

 

[mlwarren]

My bob sleeps on his side daily! If they are eating and pooping normally she's probably fine.

 

[Jenn]

How long has she been on her side? Can you gently force her to get up on her own...like by offering her a small treat?

 

[Kriko24]

My chin sleeps on his side pretty often. When I walk in my room, he'll even pop his head up a little to acknowledge me but continue to lay there like I'm bothering him. When I first got him this made me really nervous like he was paralyzed or something and I started to panic - but it turns out everything was fine!

Definitely monitor his eating/pooping/etc like was already mentioned! Keep us updated!

 

[thesmartblonde]

thanks for the help! shes pooping and eating normally. but i haven't seen her drink in a few days.

 

[robertchins]

Monitor the water level in her bottle. She could of course be drinking when you're not watching. Mark the level with a pencil or fill it to the top.

 

[tcraighenry]

Mark the bottle. She might be drinking more than you think. When we've put our chins through something stressful like moving, coming home, going to the vet they seem to drink less. And sometimes it appeared not at all. We started monitoring it by marking the bottle so we could monitor it. Sure enough, they were drinking, just not as much as normal.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Is she peeing? If she is than she is drinking; she can't pee if she is not drinking.

 

[thesmartblonde]

she doesn't pee quite often. usually about two to four times a day.

 

[thesmartblonde]

and i have two chins. zoey and pepper. zoey is in my room, and pepper is in my downstairs. they dont know that the other one exists. zoey just seems a little lonely. even tho i give her so much attention.

 

[tcraighenry]

She might just be bored. If she has toys in her cage, move them around. Because that means NEW TOYS. As smart as they are... that usually works.