Friends after a fight?

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Nana

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Messages
49
Location
Montgomery County, MD
My two boys started to be caged together a few weeks ago. They were fine and were getting along. Last night, I put them in a playpen and left them play. After some time, when I checked them, one of them was lying on the floor all exhausted. He had blood around his right ear, tail, nose, and back. wounds are not too big, but his fur was off all over. He was very quiet and exhausted. I thought that he had got injured by wood boards that I put in the pen. I am not sure. The other one does not have any injury or fur falling. I koted him and gave him water with a medicine dropper. When I put him in the cage, he was lying limp and was very low energy.
My question is that could chins get along and be friends again after a fight? Because the other one went over to the injured one and snuggled with him a bit and kind of trying to groom him sometimes. The injured one was just let him.
Should I separate them?
This morning, the injured one was still at low energy and slow. They were not snuggling together, but not fighting or anything.
 
Well first of all I would be more concerned about the lethargic chin. It sounds like he might have went into shock, which is very common when chinchillas are injured in a fight. It even more so sounds like it since he was just laying limp and let the attacker near him. Usually they will be scared out of their minds after an attack and be defensive against anything and everything that moves. Is he cold to the touch? Breathing shallow? A chinchilla must be brought out of a shock or they can and will die. Veterinary care is needed to warm the shocky chin up and get fluids in them- afterwards it is a wait and see game if they will be able to pull through. The sooner action is taken, the more of a chance they have.

As far as putting them back together, I would never put a chin back with another after they had drawn blood. You're lucky he didn't decide to attack again overnight.

Like I said it sounds like you need to get the poor injured chin to the vet or you could be at risk of losing him, especially if he is STILL lethargic. The wounds themselves may also need care..they may not look bad now but under all that fur they can be much worse. When Mako was attacked it just looked like a bit of blood, shaved all the fur off and it was horrible. They will probably want to prescribe antibiotics to be sure he does not get an infection, and pain medication.

P.S. This is one of the reasons you should never leave chinchillas alone when they area playing...they should always be supervised.
 
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I also wanted to add that quite often after an attack they will stop eating whether it be to the pain, the shock, or the stress, so you will have to step in and handfeed. I had to handfeed a chin who was attacked for a month and a half before he would eat on his own again. The attack was not that severe and most of his wounds were superficial, but he still went into shock and required veterinary care.
 
Absolutely do not put them back together. From here on out, the attacher will have to stay a single chin. I would not even attempt to put him back in with another chin or the same thing will happen again.

I also agree with Stack. The lethargic chin is in trouble. No all injuries are visible. Punctured lungs can happen and only a vet will be able to find that.
 
The injured chin needs a vet now.

A chin would not be bleeding and have fur all over from a board, that is classic signs of a fight.

It's too late to tell you this now, but for any other people and for future reference, this is one reason you should not let chins play out of their cage unsupervised. Especially newly paired chins.
 
Yes, they are newly caged cage mates. They were ok in the cage, but, why do they get aggressive outside their cage in a playpen? I am going home soon to get him. (I'm at school now).
 
Unfortunately you never know when they might fight. I had a pair of males that seemed fine together for several months, and suddenly one attacked the other and nearly killed him.

I agree with Stack and Tunes that the aggressor will likely have to be a single chinnie from now on. You MIGHT try him later with another chin, but under VERY CLOSE supervision and with an EXTREMELY slow introduction. But until you have a lot more experience, I wouldn't try it.

Hope your little guy is ok and pulls through this.
 
i have one chin that attacked his cage mate and they had been caged together since they were weined!!!! nugget the attacker is now by himself and he will never go with anyone else..and he didnt even draw blood he just plucked a big chunk out of oreos hair..but i do agree with everyone else.......you should be more worried about the hurt chin than the reason you posted this.......SERIOUSLY..
 
agree with everyone. when you get home, you should immediately separate them. put the injured one in a carrier with a nice big piece of fleece. try to get some fluids into him and hopefully you were able to make an appointment with the vet and get him the help he needs.
i had a pair that had to be separated. they were besties one day and the next fur was flying! they are both in separate sections of a FN, but right next to each other and they seem very happy now.
 
Do you have an update Nana? Fingers crossed that your guy is okay.
 
Hello! Good morning, ya'll. Thanks for all ur advices and prayers. Yesterday, I went home all nervous and ready to go to an emergency vet in the rain. The injured chin was under a shelf resting but didn't look bad. The other chin has been letting him alone. I took him out of the cage and put him in a carrier with fleece. He was not as active as usual, but drunk lots of water from a medicine feeder. I handfed him hay and a couple of pellets, and he ate them slowly. I held him on my bed and gave him massage. He was calm first, but after a while became more cheerful and started to want to explore my bed. So, I put him back in his cage. He sleeps a lot, but not limp like he was right after the attack, and more like chins usually sleep (round), and acts much more normal. I stayed with him all the evening until this morning. I gave him lots of water again this morning. He looks like he loves to be babied.
 
I hope you are not putting him back in the same cage as the one who attacked him. If you do the aggressive one WILL eventually kill the injuried one
 
I'm sorry, but I still don't think that it's normal chin behavior. He really should see a vet to check for any wounds that you can't see. If left untreated they can easily turn into an abscess which can be a pain to deal with.

And I also agree, I hope you set up a new cage for the poor guy.
 
I agree with the above posts. He needs to see a vet and he absolutely needs to be separated from his cage mate. I'm not sure you understand the urgency and severity of a chinchilla attack and the problems the victim faces. People aren't always lucky and having warning signs like these two have given you. Some just wake up to dead chins with no warning at all. Separate them while he's still alive.
 
I agree as well. If you are putting this little guy back in with the attacker, he will eventually end up dead.
 
He needs to be checked out for wounds so that they can be treated as well as treating any shock .............
Please get him to a vet & separate him as the others have suggested.
 
So how are your chins doing? Ya know some of us live vicariously through other people's crises on this forum...
 
Tell me how I can be positive in this situation. I want to die because I didn't take him to the Emergency room for 2 days. I took him in last night because his condition had got worse. He was crawling to cuddle up with me in my bed, couldn't open his eyes, and was limp. I don't drive and don't know anybody well who drives. I called my exBF to beg him to drive me down to VA. I thought that my chin was dying. We got there before 1AM, I think. It was past 4PM when I got back home. He is staying at the vet's. office now. The doctor called me this morning that he is still in a critical condition. She said that she would inject him something that boost his extremely low blood pressure, but his wounds are bad and he is suffering hypothermia. She said that it's possible that his body wouldn't take it and he woudn't make tonight. Tell me how I can forgive myself.
 
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