Lethargic and not eating or drinking

[ChinChiq]

I'm very scared right now. Luna has been very lethargic for the past 48 hours. In the last 24 hours she has not eaten or had anything to drink. She is not drooling and was chewing on sticks so I don't suspect tooth problems. No diarrhea. Her belly is soft, not hard or bloated as if there was a blockage. I am calling the vet as soon as they open this morning, but any advice until then is very welcome!!

 

[ticklechin]

Bloat does not always feel hard, it can feel soft and doughy. Chin needs a vet ASAP since when chins get to this point it can be deadly.

 

[ChinChiq]

I have an 11am vet appt so she will be getting medical attention in a couple of hours.

 

[Jenn]

Good luck at the vet! I hope your chinnie will be ok. Please let us know!

 

[ChinChiq]

Well I am back from the vet. Better news than I had hoped for!

Weight was down slightly from 485 grams when she was weighed in January to 450 grams today.

She checked Luna's teeth and said that they looked fine, with nothing at all suspicious there. There was no drooling at all so x-rays were not done.

Luna had left a couple of very small, hard poops in her carrier, so the vet felt her belly. No gas at all, but lots of poop. After having her belly rubbed, Luna did some more poops, which were surrounded by clear mucous. The vet took a sample and did a microscope smear to take a closer look. The mucous had some cells in it that indicated likely onset of infection.

The vet's conclusion is that Luna is constipated and that is starting to cause a bacterial backup and infection. She was given a 0.2cc injection of Enrofloxacin at the office and I have the same medication to give her orally twice a day at home. The vet also gave me Critical Care to get food into Luna and get things moving as well as having me give her water via oral syringe as often as possible.

I brought her back to work with me (my boss is awesome) so that I could keep an eye on her and get the cc and water to her this afternoon. I just peeked over at her and I think I caught her nibbling on a little bit of hay. I will be keeping a close eye on her, but hopefully we are on the road to recovery!

 

[Dreamlite]

Sounds like a happy vet visit. If you are giving her CC you don't need to give extra water. There is plenty in the CC when you mix it. I would also start her on a probiotic to help get her gut back to normal. Hope things continue to do well.

 

[Jenn]

Awesome news!!! Glad to hear the diagnosis is treatable, and hopefully she responds quickly and is back to her old self in no time! Thank you so much for the update!

 

[Pookinaround]

Quick question...say the chin did get excess water by force feeding the water along with the CC...wouldn't the chin just pee out the excess??? So essentially it really wouldn't hurt would it???

 

[ticklechin]

The reason you want to be conservative when hand feeding water is the chance of aspiration, its especially "dangerous" when dealing with malo chins-they often have active infection in the mouth and those bacteria mixed with water inhaled in the lungs is asking for aspiration pneumonia, the same goes for a slurry of CC inhaled.

 

[ChinChiq]

I never thought of the potential for aspiration...I'm glad you mentioned that! Since Luna was eating the CC from a spoon on her own, I wasn't too worried about getting extra water into her.

What a difference 24 hours and some medical care has made! Last night, Luna was still pretty low key and just hanging out in her hidey hut which is on the floor of her cage. I left some fresh hay right by the entrance so she could nibble without having to go very far. This morning a good amount of the hay was gone, so I gave her the antibiotics and offered more cc which she refused, but she did go to her litter pan to pee so I know she has fluids moving though her system (yay!). I gave her some fresh hay and went to get ready for work. When I checked on her after my shower, I found her perched up on her food bowl nibbling on pellets (double yay)!!

I know she's still not 100% yet but I have seen steady improvement. She is still going to be watched closely and given lots of TLC until I know she is completely back to herself. The vet's office even called to check on her this morning and let me know they are open tomorrow in case of any issues.

Reading posts on this forum educated me enough to know that it was important to get medical attention for my Luna quickly. If I had not learned how quickly gut issues can be fatal BEFORE Luna had symptoms, I likely would have waited to take her to the vet until it was too late. Thank you to everyone here for sharing your experience and knowledge so that I was able to make the right choice quickly...you probably saved Luna's life for me!!

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

So glad to hear that Luna is improving