Is he ok?

[AppyGirl]

I just got my second chinchilla yesterday. He seemed to be doing ok until I got him home and into his cage. Once he was in there he just sat on a shelf and hung his head over. I put his dust bath in there and put him in it last night. When I woke up this morning he hadn't moved yet. I tried to get him out but he won't budge. Is he ok?

 

[hownowbrowncow]

Is he eating hay and/or pellets? Pooping? Drinking water? It takes chins some time to adjust to new surroundings. Do you know the history of the chin?

 

[AppyGirl]

He hasn't eaten or drunk anything as far as I can tell. He has pooped but not as much as my other chin does. The previous owner said he has never been sick. She wasn't very careful with him and he fell into their pool. He is one giant mat and loosing some fur. I don't know if its because of the mat or because he's scared. What can I do to make him feel more at home? What do I do about the mat? Thanks

 

[AZChins]

I think he probably needs to go to the vet and be looked over. He's very stressed but he may also be very sick. Falling into the pool is something that should never have happened. It could take months to get his fur back to normal.

He needs to eat something soon.

 

[hownowbrowncow]

Some of the people on here with more experience will probably have more advice, but I would consider taking him to a chin specialist vet. It's important that he get some food into him, do you have critical care? A good vet should also be able to help you with the mats.

 

[AZChins]

The type of mat that a chin gets from getting its entire body wet can be very hard to get out. Sometimes the only thing that can be done for that is to give very frequent dust baths and then slow removal of little bits of the mat here and there. Small amounts of fur will come out of it.

I had a chin a couple years back that had a huge mat on her back, it took six months to get it all out. Small mats aren't a problem, they usually slide right out. The really large ones require special care and attention.

Critical care would be a great idea right about now along with some Phazyme or simethicone containing product. Stress can take down a chin very quickly, it seems like the stress always seems to cause digestive issues.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

Please take him to a chin competent vet. Falling into a pool can be serious - he could have swallowed water. How the heck that could have happen is beyond me. He must have been outside (not a good thing) The poor baby is probably VERY, VERY stressed and needs serious care

 

[tcraighenry]

Echoing the sentiments here. He sounds like he's doing worse than ours when we got them home. Both times there wasn't a whole lot of eating or drinking at first. We had to start measuring the food and marking the water bottle to make sure there was drinking going on. After a few days it was better but we really had to watch them. We were kind of fortunate because neither had hay before, so that interested them immediately.

 

[AZChins]

Here in AZ a lot of people have pools. At least twice a year I hear about a chin getting into a pool from a chin owner or a rescue person or from the humane society, etc. Most of the time the chins will drown from it. Basically what it comes down to is that people do not listen when they are told that chins are not outdoor animals. They keep their back doors open and the chins get out into the yard and end up in the pool.

I wish that I had never heard of it ever happening.

 

[MyzarandGemma]

I echo what everyone else is saying and suggest you take the poor guy to a vet

 

[becky12883]

I would suggest a vet too. Falling into a pool, he could have inhaled some of the water, or even swallowed some.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Obviously, they did not dry him properly so the can be the issues of fungus and URI's due to sitting around wet and possibly getting chilled.