New but experienced owner in need of help

[Alanson009]

Hello Everyone

I am Alan, I am 33 years old, I live in Essex in the UK

I am the proud owner of Bunty the chinchilla, she is 22 and I have had her from when she was a baby.

This is a bit of a story so apologies its long, all I ask is kindness and helpful advice.

Last Wednesday, I let Bunty out in my room as I have done all my life for play time, she usually runs out her bed and jumps on my lap. This time she came out slowly and sat by her box. I approached her, and noticed an awful smell instantly. She was caked in diarrhoea. I have an excellent exotic vet, who i contacted instantly and he saw me as an emergency the next day. I cleaned her and stayed up all night checking on her.

At the vets he gave me sulfatrim (apologies spelling) performed a minor dental and excellent examination. He has seen Bunty since the age of 18, she has regular dental check ups

Although greatly improved her stool is very loose, and she is off her dinner tray. With the help of my mother we have been administering critical care. To look at you wouldn't know anything was wrong, no sign of stress, very playful again, just off her food and soft poo.

Yesterday I took Bunty back to her vets for the follow up, he witnessed first hand the soft stool, and said there are 3 next steps, two were implemented immediately

1) She was given baytril, I have administered this 3 times now. She has a tiny bit of loose stool this morning but she has hardly poo'd at all.
2) He took samples of the loose stool and sent this away to specialists for analysis (he often works at a high profile zoo and assures me the analysts are the best in the UK)

3) depending on the results of the above he may wish to take a blood sample


Guys this is my baby, I got her when I was 11 shes now 22 and I am 33, has anyone experienced this before, my fear is reading the internet we are getting on in terms of number of days. She remains off her food, and stools whilst improved are not right.

My email is [email protected] if you prefer not to post here.

Any advice, or even sharing your experiences would help.

Two things to add, her vet is world class, his knowledge is second to none and he takes great pride in his care, he also weighed her, she hasn't lost any weight

I will share pictures of her and actively contribute to this group, a long term fan, first time poster

I look forward to your kind words

 

[ticklechin]

The baytril will fight infection but you will have a loss of appetite so to be honest ignore that symptom until the course of the antibiotic is done and frankly a week or so after. The diarrhea I would wait until the fecal comes back to see if you are dealing with parasites or bacterial infection. The not pooing now after the baytril also does not suprise me, you should tell the vet and he/she may prescribe a motility drug to get things moving. How much critical care are you giving a day? You should be giving at least 45ml a day broke up into 3-4 feedings, more is fine, I have fed 120ml a day to one hungry chinchilla. So in my opinion make sure the chinchilla is fed, keep the vet apprised of the non-poo situation, wait until the results of the fecal come back and don't worry about the appetite until the antibiotics are done. Let us know what the results are and we can help further. Sending healing thoughts to your little boy.