dabou
mommy of Kahlua and Pedro
I put a reply under someone else's question, thinking that it might actually answer my question, however I haven't seen anyone check that forum post in the past two days, so I'm making a post of my own to be sure.
The post is about Pedro, my heart-condition chinchilla (he had heart murmur, now not so much anymore but his heart is bigger than it was, sometimes making him really tired and breathing heavily because the heart squishes his lungs a bit). I caught him making weird noises two days ago. He seemed like he was coughing/sneezing, and barking oddly, stretching his neck and opening his mouth wide when he barks. So yesterday morning, I called the vet and was able to go today at 1:30pm. But before I went, I took this video since Pedro seemed to only be doing this on his toilet or when half-sleeping in his fleece tube (in case he didn't do it in front of the vet)
http://youtu.be/jhRnrLC8SoQ
My vet told me his general condition was fine and that he was very alert so probably not sick. However, she told me that, since the weather changes a lot recently, it could be some kind of sore throat, or maybe dust or something, so I got medication for him to see if it'll help. It's an anti-inflammatory stuff that I give orally (he doesn't seem to like it...burrito time ahead!)
So since the behavior seemed to leave my vet a bit confused as she never saw that before, I was wondering if one of you people can give me additional advice. My vet told me it looked like hairball behavior, but chins don't have hairballs, so we were both confused. She also said there was no teeth problem, and that he was eating fine since he had food in his cheeks.
Yesterday after I returned to the vet, Pedro seemed fine for most of the afternoon. But late in the evening, he started doing it again. Not as bad as in the video, one of two small sneezing then the big stretchy-mouth-bark, then that's it. After I gave him the medication however, he went into a huge fit of sneezing-like movements, and he did the bark a bunch of times.....I dunno if it's because he hates the medication? I saw him, once as he was barking, wag his tail frenetically. I'm pretty sure that one was painful...
The post is about Pedro, my heart-condition chinchilla (he had heart murmur, now not so much anymore but his heart is bigger than it was, sometimes making him really tired and breathing heavily because the heart squishes his lungs a bit). I caught him making weird noises two days ago. He seemed like he was coughing/sneezing, and barking oddly, stretching his neck and opening his mouth wide when he barks. So yesterday morning, I called the vet and was able to go today at 1:30pm. But before I went, I took this video since Pedro seemed to only be doing this on his toilet or when half-sleeping in his fleece tube (in case he didn't do it in front of the vet)
http://youtu.be/jhRnrLC8SoQ
My vet told me his general condition was fine and that he was very alert so probably not sick. However, she told me that, since the weather changes a lot recently, it could be some kind of sore throat, or maybe dust or something, so I got medication for him to see if it'll help. It's an anti-inflammatory stuff that I give orally (he doesn't seem to like it...burrito time ahead!)
So since the behavior seemed to leave my vet a bit confused as she never saw that before, I was wondering if one of you people can give me additional advice. My vet told me it looked like hairball behavior, but chins don't have hairballs, so we were both confused. She also said there was no teeth problem, and that he was eating fine since he had food in his cheeks.
Yesterday after I returned to the vet, Pedro seemed fine for most of the afternoon. But late in the evening, he started doing it again. Not as bad as in the video, one of two small sneezing then the big stretchy-mouth-bark, then that's it. After I gave him the medication however, he went into a huge fit of sneezing-like movements, and he did the bark a bunch of times.....I dunno if it's because he hates the medication? I saw him, once as he was barking, wag his tail frenetically. I'm pretty sure that one was painful...
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