Hand Rearing Baby Chinchilla

[LCC]

So one of the rescues gave birth a week ago, apparently her third back-to-back litter (she has been non-stop pregnant since she was 8 months old according to the 'owner'!) and rejected the smallest baby a few days ago, she was a puny 39grams at birth and 37 when I pulled her (mum attacked her).

She seems to have finally got used to dropper feeding and is actually sucking on the dropper end now to get milk faster than I can drip it into her mouth but...
I am worried that she seems to be getting more and more lethargic, though it is daylight at the moment so that may be why.

She's regularly urinating, and pooping fairly regularly, no diarrhea, she's warm.
I'm feeding her on a 50/50 "Zero Lacto" Cow's Milk/Water (as I can't find evaporated milk or goats milk).

She's taken 3mls at each of her last 4 feeds. Is 3ml an adequate intake amount for a week old kit?

 

[LCC]

She's perked up a bit now that it's dark, and hopping up and down the dining room table and trying to climb inside my shirt sleeves, though she's hunched up and moving slowly, not at all like her sister (who is still with mum and whizzes around the cage at a million miles an hour)...

Is she old enough to have baby cereal added to the formula mix? I've seen some people saying that baby cereal shouldn't be added until the chins is a couple of weeks old...
And if she is old enough... Is it just the 'rice cereal'?

I've never had to hand rear a baby this young before, even a rescue so I'm a bit out of my depth here, any advice would be great.

 

[Claire D]

How much does she weigh & how often are you feeding her?


I'd go for hourly feeds to see if the little one is hungry - if she's not been feeding then she may well be dehydrated & a few feeds close together may tip the balance.

Slow, hunched, shuffling may need hourly feeds for 12 hours or so - IME I have seen that dehydration can play a big part in a kit being hunched but it can also be a sign of underlying issues.

Are you adding anything to the milk?

 

[LCC]

She's up to 42.4 grams (pre-feed) from 38.7 (pre-feed) at 6am this morning.

I tried doing hourly feeding initially but she wouldn't take anything and her little tummy was still full, so she's been on 2 hourly feeds since 10pm last night.
Does the skin test for dehydration (pinch up the skin on the back and see how long it takes to go back into place) work for chins?

Only milk and water, no extras.

She's just done a whole lotta poop (more than she's one all day) she couldn't be constipated could she? That might explain the hunching...