eye and behaviour changes D:

[jessers]

help! one of the chinchillas i got two months ago escaped from his cage at one point and when i found out in the morning i caught him back and he looked fine then but now a day later he's acting like he was before i saved him from his pushy cagemate and old owner. he isnt eating that i can see he nibbled on a little bit of the icecube i gave him for the hot weather and drank a little water but he just sleeps all day and doesnt come to the cage door when i pass by anymore. Also he refuses to open his eyes fully and even allowed me to hold him and brush his matts out.:cry3:

 

[tunes]

How hot is hot weather? Do you have air conditioning in his room? The passivity you are describing can be from the heat. An ice cube isn't going to do anything at all to help in the long term. It will only cool him down for the brief few seconds that he is eating it.

 

[RDZCRanch]

Lethargy can be a sign of overheating as Tunes mentioned. You need to find a way to check the temperature in the room and then get the temperature down. Chinchillas can suffer heatstroke and die VERY quickly.

 

[starleomach]

I agree how hot is it there? and why does he have matts in his fur anyway? he sounds like he is in bad shape and needs to be cooled off. Heat s VERY deadly to chinchillas

 

[CJR]

Agreed. Chinchillas should never be kept anywhere over 20 or 21 degrees Celsius.

 

[caiti]

You might also want to check and see if anything has chew marks in it. I'm assuming he escaped in a house, though. He could have eaten anything...follow the poo it might help trace some of his steps. You should get him to a vet anyways. Try and call around for emergency vets if your regular one is off for the weekend.

 

[jessers]

its about 23 or so degress and the only traces of poo i found was behind the piano i have, thats also where i found him hiding. The matts was from his previous owner, she said he had matts when SHE got him and apparently it was cause he got wet but i managed to get most of the matts out last time and he was looking good.
Also he was fine up until he escaped though i`m not sure if it`s due to the heat he's acting this way just maybe something happened when he escaped. I also have another chinchilla whose probably around 3 months now and she's still jumping around and acting VERY hyper and just her normal self and living in similar conditions.
and they both have those chin-chillers but I dont have AC yet.

 

[RDZCRanch]

Get an a/c, that is a necessity with chinchillas. When it is warm and a chinchilla gets exercise they can overheat. Since he got out, he was probably racing around and overheated himself. Make sure he is in the coolest, darkest area of the house so that his temperature can come down. For future prevention you NEED an a/c.

 

[ticklechin]

Since he is not eating you need to hand feed him. If what I read is correct and has not eaten since he got out you could be also seeing the beginning of digestive issues such as stasis. Also, were there any electrical wires he could have gotten into and chewed?

 

[jessers]

no wires that i can see have been chewed, i think my a/c is starting to work a bit i hope it will get cooler soon though. he might also have a leg issue from when he jumped cause i see his leg spread out a bit. I think he might just be weak and not eating. This was kind of the state i got him in, he wouldnt eat treats or anything then he gradually ate a bit of hay and stuff,
i weighed him yeaterday and he came to about 418 >.<
what should i feed him?

 

[ticklechin]

You can soak the pellets in warm water until soft, put them in a blender, add water and pulse until a medium consistancy paste then syringe feed. You can buy hand feeding syringes at Petsmart/Petco in the bird health section. You need to feed 40-60ml of this mix a day. The ideal is critical care but I do not know what you have avaliable in Canada nor where you could get it. The leg thing along with the lethargy and how thin he is really needs a vet visit ASAP because if nothing is done to improve his situation the outcome may not be good.