Emergency vet, or wait til Monday?

[Nezhka]

Hi all,
I'm trying to decide if I should take my chin to the emergency vet tomorrow, or wait until Monday.

I just noticed what looked at first like blood (but it may just have been mucus) where one of my chins had been sitting. I took her to the bathroom to investigate and there was mucus/brown goo around her bottom parts. I let her run around a bit and collected some poos, which all looked well-shaped, proper size, consistency, etc. She's still running around like normal - maybe a small bit more timid than usual.

My other two chins looked normal.

Does anyone have a recommendation about when I should take her in? Should I take all three, since they live in the same cage?


Thank you for your response.

 

[Dragonflye]

Is everybody acting normal? Drinking, eating, peeing, activity level? Are all of the chins in that cage female?

Could she have peed and just sat in it so her bottom looks wet? Chin pee can be fairly dark sometimes...

Just looking for more details...

 

[ticklechin]

Does the goo smell?

 

[Riven]

Which bottom parts? Around her anus, around her penile cone, both? All over?

How much was there?

Has she been exposed to a male?

 

[Nezhka]

Fran (the girl in question) has been acting slightly differently - maybe a just a small tad more reserved, but has been taking her daily shreddie like normal. Otherwise, I would say everyone is acting normally.

There are two girl chins (mom and daughter) and a neutered male (dad) in the cage. The daughter is will be 4 in April, and they've lived together practically that whole time, so I am very skeptical that she could be pregnant.

This definitely is not pee - it was light brown and goopy and sort of on her vulva/anus region. I checked later and it was gone, so she must have cleaned herself. However, there was a new spot on a shelf this morning, I've attached a picture.

I tried to smell it but wasn't able to smell anything.

I've never seen anything like this before - could she be in heat, or be having a false pregnancy?

 

[momenteller]

Their pee can be brownish, but I wouldn't expect it to be goopy. I wonder if chins are susceptible to UTIs?

 

[Riven]

At first I thought possible UTI as well, but that still as Kate said shouldn't be "goopy".

Are you able to handle her and see if the slit in her vulva is open? I'm actually wondering if it could be a pyometria issue ( uterine infection). Usually it's not brown colored, but that does have the coloring for dried blood. Females who are not used for breeding can have uterine issues. I would check to see if her vaginal opening is open ( which commonly happens when a chin comes into heat) and probably get her checked at the vet tomorrow just in case it's a pyometria issue.

If she is not open, then it's probably from her anus, in which case she may have an intestinal issue such as a parasite, but with her poops being normal and not running or mucous covered I would say this is less likely than vaginal discharge.

 

[Nezhka]

I will take her to the vet tomorrow and see what they say. She doesn't appear to be in distress, and I haven't seen any spots on the ledges since last night.

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

Any news?

 

[Nezhka]

Fran's being treated for a UTI, and if that doesn't help we'll reinvestigate possible uterine infection. She's doing a lot better now, though!

This thread can be closed or deleted at the mods' discretion.


Thanks!

 

[ticklechin]

Why close the thread? Those that help like updates on the chins condition.

 

[Nezhka]

In retrospect, it doesn't seem like that much of an emergency?

 

[ticklechin]

A URI or pyometra is a medical emergency.