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cintistatern2005

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
524
Location
Independence, Ky
Ok so last night my boy chin whom is 7 months old was out playing. I was at work and my boyfriend got them out to play around midnight. I get this phone call from him saying smokey is lying on his side hardly breathing and he thinks he is dying and their is alot of blood coming out of his nose. I am asking him what happend and he doesnt know his son jake was down stairs with them. I think he shut his poor little head in between a board and the wall, When he went to get into their play area, because they always try to run out. There is nothing high in there for him to have fallen. It is just lots of tubes and some boxes with holes. I told him to put him in a little carrier. I called to try and find an exotic emergency vet. I talked to one and we decided to take him there. So I left work and came home. When i got home he seemed to be ok, he wasn't bleeding anymore, i checked to see if he broke a front tooth because i heard they could bleed from that but no they were there. He was moving around but wouldnt take food so i offered a raison to see if he would eat anything. He ate the raison. I checked his pupils to see if they dilated. The right eye did but the left eye was constricted and wouldnt dilate to light. So we take him to the vet. She checks him over, looks into his ears then she takes him to the back to check his teeth. Everything ok. He is sneezing a little though. So she thinks he might of had some head trauma. So she gives us metacam oral 0.09 mls every 24 hours for 5 days, she said this was for pain and also inflammation. Also she gave ofloxacin ophthalmic solution 1 drop to nose every 12 hours for 7 days.

She told me to keep him caged separate to monitor his food and water intake and also his poops and pee.

I guess my question is, Is there anything else i should be doing? Is the medicine she ordered ok.
Do you think this could have been caused from head trauma?

I've never had any problems with my chins to have to go to the vet so I had no idea what to ask or do.

Thanks
 
I guess I'm concerned the vet didn't check as thoroughly as I would have liked. Maybe some x-rays to look for a cracked skull. Is the son, Jake, old enough to say what might have happened? Maybe Jake knows but is afraid to tell. Assure him he won't get in trouble if he tells the truth. I'm guessing the child is on the younger side. I would worry about brain injury if one eye isn't dilating like it should. But did the vet check that? They are a little more expert at that kind of exam than us, since we may have trouble holding the chin, using the flashlight and checking. If the chinnie isn't acting normally as in eating and pooping, activity, etc. I would be looking for a second, more chin experienced vet.
 
Jake is 11 and I havent talked to him yet cuz he's sleeping but im sure he's affraid to tell what really happened. Smokey is doing alot beter now. I haven't seen him drink yet but he is eating and chewing on his hay cube. Yea i didnt think to ask about x-rays but she didnt seemed to be to concerned. She did check to see if the eyes dilated and said the one wasn't so she knew. My only thing is if he had a cracked skull or something he would probably be dead. I am not a vet though.She wanted to try these meds first to see if it helped and if not to do further tests. Who knows. I wish i knew of some experienced vets in the northern ky, cincinnati oh area.
 
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My only thing is if he had a cracked skull or something he would probably be dead.
Click to expand...

No, he wouldn't be. I had a chin here who fell awkwardly from 5 feet and landed on his head. He was rushed to the vet, they x-rayed and found a fracture in his skill. A large one. He was healing and doing well with cage restriction, pain meds, and hand feeding, then he bloated and I couldn't be aggressive enough with the massage because of his head injury, and I lost him.

Him moving around has nothing to do with him not having a skull fracture.
 
Tunes is right. A cracked skull is a broken bone. It doesn't necessarily mean brain damage, but it could. Ask Jake what happened and tell him he won't get into trouble. It would help so much to know what happened. That would help determine what injuries may have happened and would aid in the treatment of those injuries.
 
My question is what is inflamed? I personally would've preferred to see a steroid given to help with cellular stress.
 
I dont know, i dont think she knew anything about chinchillas. My problem now is he's not eating, drinking, peeing or pooping. I am taking him to another vet today at 11am. I was trying to give him some water by syringe and he took it well but then i heard i think was his teeth grinding. So now I think maybe his teeth are overgrown. She said she looked but how well can you look without an x-ray. His eyes look wet. Can overgrown teeth cause a nose bleed?
 
Over grown teeth cannot cause a nose bleed unless they are into the nasel cavity. Teeth grinding is a sign of pain, if he is in pain he will not eat or dring, which would stop peeing and pooping. Is he on any pain meds? he should definitly be on pain medication. I am shocked he didn't get x-rayed that is one of the first things my vet does if there is a problem.
 
I have a question that i have been thinking about. I want an honest answer though. If this does turn out to be teeth problems would he be in a better place to just let them put him to sleep. I dont want him in pain and can't stand to see him suffer. But if the vet can actually help him then i will by all means do whatever i can.
 
He wouldn't have suddenly started having teeth problems because of what happened, unless his jaw is broken. Teeth don't suddenly elongate, poking through nasal passages into eyeballs. There is weight loss, loss of appetite, etc.

Jake's little boy would be telling me what happened and he'd be doing it right now. I realize accidents happen, everybody has them, but your chin is dying because your boyfriend let him out unsupervised with his child. Now he's suffering and he can't seem to get the answer out of his kid as to what happened. Someone needs to take accountability for this and find out what happened, then you need to find a vet who doesn't have his head up his butt and get this animal cared for. If nothing else, put him to sleep so he doesn't have to be in such pain.
 
You need an x-ray, big time. It could be any number of issues at this point since no one seems to be divulging any information. He could have gotten squooshed in the door, gotten a dry-nose nosebleed, or have a ruptured blot clot or tumor for crying out loud (I had one that died suddenly from that). I'm not saying this to you to scare you... okay, maybe I am. You need to get that boy to tell you what, if anything, happened to your chin and then go from there; bleeding that much is NOT okay. If your current vet seems clueless, go find another, even if it requires you to drive an hour or two.

The bottom line is, how much do you love your chin and how far are you willing to go to help him? Figure that out and then get to it.
 
Ok so we just got back from ANOTHER vet definately not the same one which was an hour a way but worth it, i didnt much like the vet we seen first. Anyways he did x-rays and palpated him looked in his mouth with this big long thing, looked in his ears, and he said something about a blockage and trauma to nose which he thinks he may have ran into a wall from playing with the other boy, who knows!! Jake did say he didnt do anything and he was grounded until he told the truth so I honestly believe he didnt do anything. So anyways the dr. whom i really liked. Gave him some sub-q fluids. Gave him an injection of penicillian and also sent us home with penicillian to give. He ordered reglan to give every 8-12 hours until he starts eating and also gave us critical care to feed. I guess my question is now is how much critical care do i need to be feeding and how often?
 
Once again, your vet is lacking any knowledge of chinchillas. Read below:


The use of Gram-positive spectrum oral antibiotics can seriously alter the sensitive balance of bacterial flora in the cecum.

Remember antibiotics to be avoided by using the PLACE rule.

Penicillin
Lincomycin
Ampicillin, Amoxicillin
Clavamox AKA Augmentin (amoxicillin/clavulanate)
Cephalosporins, Clindamycin
Erythromycin
-----------------------------------------------------------
Safe antibiotics
Bactrim AKA Sulfamethoxanol and Trimethoprim
Baytril AKA Enrofloxacin
Chloramphenicol
Gentamycin
Doxycycline
Flagyl [/QUOTE]

Do not give your chinchilla Penicillin.

Your chin would have had to hit that wall like a speeding bullet to do that much damage in his nose. Chins run fast, but I doubt that fast.
 
So should i not continue the penicillan? It is hard to find a good vet over the holiday weekend, i am trying my best. The critical care they gave me is green and i am having a hard time getting him to eat it. The syringe they gave me is to small to even draw the stuff up in. I dont know of where i can buy the apple bananna stuff local. I know i can buy it online but i wont get it for a few days. How much should i be feeding him? he weighs 453g
 
Call the vet back, ask about Baytril instead. I'm confused though as to what the antibiotics are treating. I don't see anything about an infection, just a banged up nose.

Critical care is minimum of 45 gm a day to maintain weight, more than that to gain weight. I have an 800 gm chin on CC right now and she's getting 125 gm a day.

A syringe with a catheter tip works best. It's pointed, like a regular syringe, but the opening is much wider. You'll have to mix up the CC, then add water until it's a consistency where it will squeeze out of the syringe. Don't over do it. The more water you add, the less nutrition they are getting. You want it to just come out of the syringe, not squirt out of the syringe, if that makes sense.
 
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