Need Advice

[TylerC]

Hey everyone,

There seems to be a lot of knowledge on this forum which is why I just created an account to get some quick advice. My wife and I have had our two chinchilla brothers (Neo and Morpheus) for about 6 months now. Today I noticed the older one (Neo) squeaking and making a gagging motion.

I had let them out earlier in the day to clean their cage and they were both bouncing off the walls as usual. A few hours after that I heard squeaking so I went to check on them. That was when I noticed Neo making a gagging motion accompanied with the squeaks. He did it a couple times then jumped around the cage and went to sleep.

I set out their food, something which normally brings them both running, and saw that Neo stayed in his house. I checked and he was awake and saw that he would occasionally paw at his mouth, I didn't hear him squeaking anymore. Some google searching has led me to think it might be a tooth spur.

Any advice/help? Could it be something that will heal itself/dislodge if something is stuck or should I take him to the vet asap.

Any help is appreciated Thanks!
Tyler

 

[hownowbrowncow]

I would lean towards better safe than sorry. If he's still acting odd I would find a good chinchilla vet (emphasis on them being well-experienced with chins) and get his mouth looked at. He could have something lodged there, a tooth might have chipped or broken, his might have spurs; there are a few things it might be but without looking in his mouth its hard to know.

 

[Sycamore Chins]

Are you sure this isn't the warning/scared bark that chins do? Their heads bob a little when they do this. You can probably find a video on youtube to compare if you aren't familiar with the barking noise.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

Sounds like something is struck in his mouth or teeth. If you can't see what it is and get it out you will have to go to the vet so he/she can put the chin 'under' and get whatever out

 

[TylerC]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

It didn't sound like his normal warning bark which is what got me worried. The good news is that he ate fine today and seems to be mostly back to normal, I've heard him squeak a couple times. I went ahead and scheduled him an appointment with a chinchilla vet tomorrow just to get things checked out, but it might have just been something lodged in there which he finally got out (fingers crossed).

Thanks again, I'll post what we find out at the vet.
Tyler