Giving a chinchilla medicine

[BookWorm]

I brought my chin to the vet Wednesday. They didn't find anything wrong, but noted her distress (she has been pawing at her mouth) so they gave her some antibiotics just in case she has a mouth infection. Well I have been trying every day since to give it to her, but have only succeeded once. I can't hold her still enough to give her the medicine. It's ended up in her fur or running down my hand more often than not. I have put it on pellets, hoping she will eat them, but she won't touch them. Today I mixed up some critical care with it, but she won't take that either. She's still eating hay on her own, but she's stopped drinking and is showing signs of dehydration (small poop). I don't know what to do.

 

[Stackie]

First, did they do a full oral exam (this includes sedation to get a full look, as well as x-rays). Antibiotics will do nothing if she has malocclusion (overgrowth/mis-alignment of the teeth).

 

[Newt]

You need to burrito her, and syringe feed the critical care. Make it nice and watery to combat the dehydration.
Use the forum search function for tips on the burrito technique. Give her the meds while she is in the burrito as well.

You need to find a more chin competent vet, as it sounds like she might need a proper dental exam, plus x-rays. She may just have something stuck in her teeth, or she may have a more serious issue that needs dealing with, like a spur, or a mouth abscess, or root problems.

Don't wait on this. Find a better vet ASAP, and get some critical care into her in the meantime. Good luck xxxx

 

[BookWorm]

Stackie, no, she did not take x-rays. She said that small animals don't do well with sedation, which made me very nervous. I really wasn't sure that she was the right vet to sedate my chin after telling me that. I realize now that I probably should have insisted since things have progressed, but at the time, I just didn't want to lose her due to sedation.
Newt, thank you for the advice on burritoing. I will look it up and try it as soon as I post this. You're right, I do need to find a better vet. There was a vet in town not too long ago, but they seem to have moved away and don't work at the office I have used for my other pets in the past, which is why I needed to find another. Unfortunately, all my options are over 45 minutes away, and I picked the closest one for convenience sake. Looks like I'm going to have to head farther.

 

[Pookinaround]

Try to get to Angie if you can...they can show you techniques to get the medicine down... When I was first starting to learn to force feed a chin they showed me how to get the CC deep enough into the mouth to get it down (I was always afraid of aspiration but they helped me with that...) Best of luck...if she is bad go right away...once chins start to go downhill it is harder to make a comeback...

 

[BookWorm]

Oh thank you thank you. That was so much easier. I got her to take her medicine first try and though I only got her to take a little critical care, I was able to give her part of a syringe of filtered water. Afterward, she didn't act as traumatized as after I tried sans-burrito and came over to the edge of her cage for comforting pets.

 

[Stackie]

I would definitely find a vet who is comfortable with chinchilla dentistry, or at least sedation and x-rays to really see what is going on in the mouth. We mask them with sevoflurane (gas anesthetic) - they do much better with this than injectable. Sevo is quickly metabolized so they recover from it quickly. Anytime we sedate them with sevo, they usually wake up within minutes after we take them off the gas.

I feel your pain about having to travel far- before I moved to the big city, I drove my chins 1 hour to their vet. But, for proper care, it is worth it and saves you money in the long run...you aren't paying vets to make "guesses" only to have to go to another vet who actually knows anyway.

 

[BookWorm]

Thank you, that makes me feel more well- informed. I will be calling a different vet in the morning, this one over an hour away, but hopefully better informed. In the meantime, I am trying my best to keep her hydrated. Any suggestions on where to buy/what kind of feeding syringes to use? I have been washing the single one the vet gave me and the numbers are wearing off. I only have a tiny PetSmart in town and they don't sell them.
Any way of adding the instructions on burrito-ing to the FAQ?

 

[ticklechin]

Go to the bird health section of petsmart and they sell the 10ml feeding syringe there.

 

[BookWorm]

I brought Dru to the other vet today and she said that Dru does not have any tooth problems *phew* but may have some gut problems, so she gave her a shot of regulin(sp) and said she will call back tomorrow. So she's off the antibiotic and she is already eating some hay. I am so glad I went for a second opinion.

 

[Newt]

Did they use anesthetic and do a proper oral exam, plus x rays?

 

[Stackie]

I'd be concerned there was something going on with the mouth since an initial symptom was pawing at the mouth... this could be the precursor to the gut problems. Something has to be causing them.

I have the same question that Newt asked as well.

 

[BookWorm]

This vet used a scope of some kind and looked at all her teeth. She said if she does not improve to bring her back. Dru is bouncing around like a little happy thing now, so I still have no idea what caused her initial problems, but I am glad that she feels better and that I no longer have to give her meds. Ironically, the feeding syringes I ordered off Amazon arrived today. At least I will have them for the future, should anything go wrong.

 

[Newt]

hmmmm, that's not exactly a full exam. I would have pushed for an anesthetic so they could assess the back teeth, plus would have asked for x rays.

At any rate, at least your chin seems to be doing better. I'd keep a close eye on her, and watch out for more pawing, or any drooling. Also I'd get a kitchen scale (if you dont already have one), and weigh her every couple of days (if a chin is well I would say weighing weekly is enough).
If your chin paws at the mouth, drools, or is consistently losing weight, then get her back to the vet and get the full exam.

If none of this happens, then perhaps she just had something stuck in her teeth, and its now out. Here's hoping she keeps improving from here on in

 

[JennaGordon]

Just gonna chime in with my experience here.
A few months ago I noticed one of my girls was pawing at her mouth and dribbling.
I took her to my local vets who looked in her mouth with a scope and saw some spurs on her teeth. They put her under and filed them down. After that she seemed to be doing great until a month later it happened again. I took her back to the same vet who were very pessimistic and suggested putting her to sleep.
I tried a different vets who took her in and filed her teeth down too. A month later it happened again so I called the second vets again and asked for an x-ray. They x-rayed her and it turned out that malo was the problem. They gave me some Loxicom for pain relief.
That was three months ago now, and she's on a 4ml dosage of loxicom every day. She's much happier in herself and has piled on the weight that she'd lost. She's just gone back in to have her teeth filed back down again last week. She's doing brilliantly on the loxicom and is a very happy girl. Obviously I know that once her malo gets too bad and the pain relief is no longer enough, I'll have to do the kindest thing. But until then, I'm just making sure she enjoys her life as much as she can.

I know that was a long story, but the point was that I wish I would have gotten her x-rayed sooner.
I hope your chinchilla is okay

 

[BookWorm]

Thanks everyone. We are going back to the vet tomorrow. She isn't drooling and she seems to be leaving her mouth alone but she is still not drinking much and her poops are still small. It seems to be a gut problem at this point, so they may have to X-ray for blockage anyway so I suppose may as well look at the teeth while there. I guess they have just been trying to spare Dru the side effects of being put under. At least the new vet didn't sound pessimistic about her chances should she be put under like the other one so I would certainly trust her to do it well. I am just very glad she is not taking the antibiotic anymore. The first vet gave her Baytril and after reading all the horror stories, I suppose it was a good thing I could only get two days' worth doses in her. I wish our furry friends could tell us what is wrong so we don't have to guess!