T
Tazwell
Guest
This is kind of a long story-- I know I'm going to get some "You're a bad chin owner!" Type rap... I know, I should have done things differently in the past!
I've had three chins for about five years. One belonged to my mother, and two (mommy and daughter) belonged to me. My mom stopped taking care of her chin, Fluffy, about a year ago, so I took over her care. Fluffy was always living alone, but in the same room as the other two, because Joo, one of mine, hated her. But she's a very social little girl.
After my Mom lost interest in fluffy, she began pulling out her fur. At this point, I convinced Mom to hand her over to me. I took her to the vet for a check-up, then moved her into my bedroom. She's been getting plenty of interaction from me and my rabbits, and she has stopped pulling out her fur, and now that it's "That time of the year" again, she's regrowing it.
Anyway, I LOVED Momma Chinnie, Joo. But she was an older adult, of an unknown age when I got her. Unexpectedly, about two months ago, she passed away-- no apparent reason. She was apparently healthy, I didn't notice any diarrhea, eating fine, drinking fine (as far as I knew-- but there were two of them in the cage). At this time, My dog Archie was very ill-- so I'll admit I did NOT spend lot of time in that room during that 4-5 days, so I probably missed lethargy or something, I imagine. Mind you this room is a Chin-safe room, which housed only those two chinchillas at the time. I thought maybe she died of old age.
When I found her, her daughter (Kyo) was huddled in the corner, acting... Depressed, scared. At that time, I took her and introduced her with Fluffy, and they lived together. Fluffy was ecstatic to finally have a friend again. Both were absolutely fine.
About three weeks later, I came home late one night, and noticed Kyo was acting strange. I let her out of the cage, and she bounced out, ran around for about 3 minutes, and went back into the cage- like she was tired. Picked her up, and just thought she didn't feel right. She did eat a raisin for me, though.
Later that night, I went back, and she was just sitting there- She had diarrhea, and looked very weak. I watched her for about another half hour, and decided it couldn't wait until morning-- I wanted to take her to an E-vet. I called the closest one, they didn't handle Chins. I called the next closest one they recommended, their small animal vet wasn't in that night. The next one was almost four hours away, and by that time, my own vet would just about be open, so I decided to wait it out.
By Morning she was too weak to even move. I had tried to give her water, but it just wasn't happening. I called the vet, and they told me to come in in about an hour, but she was just about gone by then-- and she passed very shortly after that.
This chin was only about 5 years old. I don't know what happened, but by this point, I was very afraid of something contagious-- very worried about Fluffy. Fluffy has been acting fine, but has seemed somewhat depressed sometimes lately. As soon as I let her out, or feed her, or interact with her at all, she's normal. The vet usually tells me they can't really test for anything, it's basically symptomatic. Is there anything I should have her tested for, or anything I should do? Or does she just sound like she needs a friend? I'm really paranoid after losing my two Babies...
I've had three chins for about five years. One belonged to my mother, and two (mommy and daughter) belonged to me. My mom stopped taking care of her chin, Fluffy, about a year ago, so I took over her care. Fluffy was always living alone, but in the same room as the other two, because Joo, one of mine, hated her. But she's a very social little girl.
After my Mom lost interest in fluffy, she began pulling out her fur. At this point, I convinced Mom to hand her over to me. I took her to the vet for a check-up, then moved her into my bedroom. She's been getting plenty of interaction from me and my rabbits, and she has stopped pulling out her fur, and now that it's "That time of the year" again, she's regrowing it.
Anyway, I LOVED Momma Chinnie, Joo. But she was an older adult, of an unknown age when I got her. Unexpectedly, about two months ago, she passed away-- no apparent reason. She was apparently healthy, I didn't notice any diarrhea, eating fine, drinking fine (as far as I knew-- but there were two of them in the cage). At this time, My dog Archie was very ill-- so I'll admit I did NOT spend lot of time in that room during that 4-5 days, so I probably missed lethargy or something, I imagine. Mind you this room is a Chin-safe room, which housed only those two chinchillas at the time. I thought maybe she died of old age.
When I found her, her daughter (Kyo) was huddled in the corner, acting... Depressed, scared. At that time, I took her and introduced her with Fluffy, and they lived together. Fluffy was ecstatic to finally have a friend again. Both were absolutely fine.
About three weeks later, I came home late one night, and noticed Kyo was acting strange. I let her out of the cage, and she bounced out, ran around for about 3 minutes, and went back into the cage- like she was tired. Picked her up, and just thought she didn't feel right. She did eat a raisin for me, though.
Later that night, I went back, and she was just sitting there- She had diarrhea, and looked very weak. I watched her for about another half hour, and decided it couldn't wait until morning-- I wanted to take her to an E-vet. I called the closest one, they didn't handle Chins. I called the next closest one they recommended, their small animal vet wasn't in that night. The next one was almost four hours away, and by that time, my own vet would just about be open, so I decided to wait it out.
By Morning she was too weak to even move. I had tried to give her water, but it just wasn't happening. I called the vet, and they told me to come in in about an hour, but she was just about gone by then-- and she passed very shortly after that.
This chin was only about 5 years old. I don't know what happened, but by this point, I was very afraid of something contagious-- very worried about Fluffy. Fluffy has been acting fine, but has seemed somewhat depressed sometimes lately. As soon as I let her out, or feed her, or interact with her at all, she's normal. The vet usually tells me they can't really test for anything, it's basically symptomatic. Is there anything I should have her tested for, or anything I should do? Or does she just sound like she needs a friend? I'm really paranoid after losing my two Babies...
