Hunchback chinchilla?

[meiying]

Hi, I have searched and read the threads about hunchback, just need some insights on my chinchilla Chester.

I know thin chinchilla has more noticible spine, my chin is 1.5 years old, 529grams, he has a healthy diet: Mazuri + Alderpark Chinchilla Pellets, Zupreme Timothy Hay, Rosehips, tons of chew toys, exercise in a 15' Chin Spin, lives in a 5-foot cage, with a good cagemate.... Yesterday he stood with his rear feet and his spine looked weird to me. Attached pic below. Thanks!!!

 

[Anna35]

I really have no clue on this but here is a link to a site that may help you determine.... I thought one of my girls looked hunchbacked until I was showed this by someone...(my baby has been sick though and lost a bit of weight but is being treated by a vet)
http://www.whimsys-menagerie.com/hunchback.htm

 

[DoGooder]

meiying, it helps to take pictures as you have done, because photos often show things that we can miss. I recommend taking a series of pictures of your chinchilla in profile to see if your chinchilla was in an unusual posture when you took the attached picture or if the hunchback shows consistently with different postures. I'm reading that a change in diet can completely heal hunchback disease, but I have to do more research to find out what foods are helpful.

DoGooder

 

[lilchinchilla]

Is Chester the boy I saw when I visited? He seemed to me to have been malnourished (probably by his previous home, as you haven't had him long.).

I would suspect with good diet and care, over time, he should be okay. Most chins, it takes some time to gain the weight back, after being sick or going without the quality care/diet that they need.

I had two rescue boys come to me once who were severely malnourished in their previous home, they had hunchbacks and my vet confirmed they had either gone without food or water for lengths of time to cause those hunchbacks.
It was at least 6 months of having them in my home and on Alderpark pellets, before they started to look like normal chins again (they had lost as much as 200+ grams in weight at their other home and had been neglected.).

It takes time and patience and you are doing the best you can for him. Nothing is wrong with his diet or hay, or his home.

 

[meiying]

Is Chester the boy I saw when I visited?

Hi again, thanks for the info No, it is another chin that my boyfriend got me in 2011. He has always been small and I can always feel his ribs easily. He seems to eat and drink and poop normally. He is a bit picky on food though, when we first changed from Mazuri to Alderpark pellets, he barely touched the pellets but he is eating more pellets now, i am happy. Also, as you know, I just added rosehips to theri diet too.

 

[GoldenChinchillas]

I don't know the whole story on the little guy but i'm sorry if this is of topic but is your avatar of the same chin? If so, does he always sit around droopy like that with his ears? He looks thin to me rather than a hunchback. Does his spine feel unnatural or just look like he would have that hunch?

 

[meiying]

is your avatar of the same chin? If so, does he always sit around droopy like that with his ears? He looks thin to me rather than a hunchback. Does his spine feel unnatural or just look like he would have that hunch?

Hi there, thanks! Yes! It is the same chin as the one in my avator. I took the pic when he got woken up :neener: He was just sleepy in the pic but I found it so cute so I made it as my avator. It is easy to feel his ribs, shoulder, spine....

 

[ticklechin]

Does not look like hunchback to me, looks like a thin chin with a dipped neck.