New Chinchilla Problems

[Proteus]

Hi all!

I've recently become an owner of a 6 month old grey chinchilla name Ruffle. I've had her almost three weeks now, and I seem to be running into a few problems. Things seemed to be going fine with her for the first week and a half, but things seem to have taken a pretty steep decline.

I've been trying to bond with Ruffle for the entire duration. I would start by sitting outside her cage and talking to her, then open the cage and put my hand inside, then try and pet her. She seemed to be doing quite well, and I had taken her into the bathroom a few times to let her run and play. Then, about a week and a half ago, she started acting strangely.

Now, I've been kind of obsessed with this little ball of fur (I'm a sucker for small, cute, fuzzy things), so I've been watching her frequently. She's a pet store adoption, and she was only just get comfortable enough with her surroundings to sleep with her eyes closed (thankfully, she still does). However, when she awoke one evening, her eye was held half shut. Thinking she was just sleepy, I put her dust house in the cage and took her into the bathroom. She jumped around a little, but was exceedingly lethargic about things, and even missed a few jumps, which is quite abnormal for her (she'd been getting good about navigating the place).

Slightly freaking out, I decided to pack Ruffle in her carrying cage and take her to the emergency vet. They couldn't find anything wrong with her, but feeling insecure about her health, I have them take a blood sample to see if she's alright. The next day, I go to bring her into the bathroom, and she's barely moving. I can see her twitching in the corner, but she refuses to move. I try and get her to look around some, to see what might be the issue, and I notice her eye, the one that was half closed the other day, was swollen shut. Naturally, I pack her back up, bring her to the vet, and have her examined again. They start her on an anti-biotic eyedrop (ciproflaxin), an anti-inflammatory, and some assist feed as her digestive track felt empty.

Still waiting on those blood tests to see if its some kind of infection, I dilligently administer her medications. Sadly, she's still not the point where she's comfortable being held by me (if she ever will be), so giving them to her is a struggle, especially the eyedrop. I take to "burrito"-ing the poor girl, and she takes to absolutely hating it. It's quite difficult to get her to stay still long enough to wrap her up, but it's harder to get her to stay still long enough to get an eyedrop.

A few days pass, and finally the blood tests come back. She's not got an infection, but her billyrubens and proteins are high, which is indicative of dehydration. I find this strange, as the one thing she *hasn't* stopped doing at this point is drinking. Rolling with it, however, I set up an xray for her, as other potential causes of this are GI blockage and malocclusion. While we're waiting for her xray day, I take her to the bathroom (just to keep her happy while on meds) and discover the baseboard of my sink is improperly constructed in the worst way possible: Ruffle finds her way up into the baseboard. I try and lure her out with some treats, and she obviously smells them as she tries to get back over the board, but can't (still don't know why), so we have to call maintenance to break the poor girl out. Worried, but knowing that she has a vet appointment the next day, I don't rush her back to the vet. The next day, I drop her off at the vet in the morning, pick her up the next day.

When I get Ruffle back, I'm informed she doesn't have any blockages or malocclusions, but to start her on milk thistle and then check back in a week. (they also did an ultrasound and found nothing). Sadly, we don't make it that far. I give Ruffle her medications the next evening, and she's not having any of it. For the first time, she refuses her assist feed outright, starts physically shaking in my hands, and starts barking incessantly. I start to worry, stop feeding her so as to not waste food or spill it all over her (she wasn't chewing and swallowing, so I'd inject a bit, she'd open her mouth, and it'd gush down her lips). I carry her back to her cage, and she leaps from my arms. Now, my room isn't very chinchilla proof, which is why I use the bathroom to administer her meds and give her playtime. So, in order to keep her from chewing on my computer cables or anything, I have to chase her down and pick her up. I get her back in her carrying cage, and get her back to the vet (during this process she finds out how to open her door when not firmly latched and I have to chase her down again).

Once again, the vets can't find anything. All throughout this, I've been keeping a close watch on her eye. Over the past week, she's been scratching it, shielding it away from people, closing it when I try to give her eyedrops, etc. Mostly, I notice she's lacking a large amount of fur in that area. I point this out, and the vet says it may be a side effect of tearing, or just the eyedrops themselves, or her scratching is pulling out fur. They give me a pain medication, new eyedrops, and instructions to come back in 10 days (I'll be returning next Friday) to check on how she's doing.

Finally, we reach present day. Maintenance has yet to come back and fix the bathroom, so I've tried letting her play in my closet, but that just seems to scare her, and doesn't offer the same amount of space or verticality as the bathroom. At the same time, I'm worried about not letting her out of her cage for a while (I was told the bathroom would be fixed by now), as she seems to be a bit despondent. Sadly, she's also come to associate me with medications, and I fear approaching her cage only invites more stress and worry from the poor girl, and she's already been through so much. I'm trying my best to save my poor darling, but I'm really starting to worry about her continued health and emotional state. I've been trying to keep talking to her calmly, let her rest during the day (the original plan with this animal was check on her in the morning before work, refill foodstuffs as necessary, let her sleep while I'm at work for 10-11 hours, come home, play with her, go to bed, rinse/repeat, but I've been decommissioned with a pretty bad ulcer lately).

I guess my present worry is that I've been mishandling her, not giving her enough attention, or giving her the wrong kind of attention. Is there anything I can do to help ease her worry and pain? Her mood is rather capricious lately. When she thinks she isn't being watched, she'll jump around and such, exploring her cage and fidgeting with her toys. When I approach or look over at her, she'll stop, maybe look back, or run and hide. I've seen her get more and more sedentary, especially after her wheel broke (my fault for buying one without doing proper research first and just trusting that the pet stores knew what they were talking about). I just feel bad, because when I do get her out of her cage for play time, she used to run/popcorn/surf/whatever all over the place, chirping happily like a champ. Ever since the baseboard incident, and having to move her into the closet for playtime she's been lethargic, tentative, and scared to the point of barking.

That said, the medications do seem to be working. Her eye doesn't swell shut anymore, and looks clear aside from the balding. I'd say she doesn't need the anti-biotic any more, but I had to unseal her eye again the evening I got her back from the vet (it was open when she left, sealed shut some 8 hours later that evening). She's back to taking her assist feed, even though she tries to explore out of my hands in between syringes. Any help you all can give would be greatly appreciated. I want to save this chinchilla if I can

 

[LYChinchillas]

Since it's really been quite a hectic time for her, and given that she's in a new home with a new diet and new surroundings, she'll probably need much more time to adjust before taking her out to attempt and bond with her or develop a playtime. It's important not to overdo the handling and playtimes when the chin first arrives - it's really good to keep them in the cage, in a quiet area, and allow them to adjust. On top of having a new diet, she also has to deal with a new cage, and then additional new environments when you allow her out for playtimes - and the stress with vet visits, getting lost in the bathroom, and all the meds. I'd suggest letting her come to terms with the situation, and truly allow her the freedom to become adjusted. The trust you have with her will be built up over months and years, not weeks. It's understandable that at the beginning of it all, there will be distrust and disharmony, but time and effort and consistency will improve those aspects. Don't feel bad - it is obvious you are doing everything you can for her, including vet visits and over-worrying, like chin-moms will tend to do! But, in this case, since she's a new chin, I'd say don't force it and let her have a week or two of just free-feeding pellets and hay, monitor her consumption of food and water, and give her time in her cage to adjust. The playtimes will come, and they won't end - but in the beginning, it's always better to be safe than sorry and give ample time for adjustment. I have a few articles on bonding and playtime on my blog, if you're interested in doing more reading up. Keep us updated on her and hope all is well! Try to relax, there may be less wrong with her than you think - a little R&R might do the trick!

 

[Proteus]

So, I've been trying not to worry, and was able to socialize with my chinchilla little last night. She seemed more or less her old self: curious, exploratory, tried to leap out of her cage more than once. She even tried to leap on to my shoulder at one point, which was reassuring, even if she couldn't stay there too long lest she escape into the room proper. I saw her eat at least one pellet on her own, which was good, and I'm pretty sure I've heard her fidgeting with her hay rack, so I decided to try and minimize her stress by stopping the assist feed and anti-inflammatory, as they were only until she started eating normally again.

This morning was another story though. I do try and keep her on a schedule, so this might have something to do with it, but she still shied away from being picked up for medication. The night prior, she was willingly going into my hands (part of an escape plan, I'm sure, but cuddles are cuddles), so I was hopeful she would be at least a little more secure with my hands this morning. But no, I still had to shepherd her into a corner to scoop her out of her cage and burrito her for her eye drop.

Overall, though, I'm hopeful. I'm guessing chinchillas do act differently at different times of the day. I only ask for assurance, as I've seen Ruffle be alert during the day as well, and react as though she's ready for playtime after being awoken in the middle of the day, and her behavior doesn't always follow a pattern I would expect for an animal that's most alert at dawn and dusk (I was playing with her at about 1 in the morning when she tried to jump onto my shoulder). I guess I don't really have a baseline for standard chinchilla behavior yet, and despite her very inquisitive nature, she may still be getting used to everything around her.

 

[Godofgods]

chins are usually most active at dusk and dawn times, sleeping many times through out the day. Tho they can develop there own patterns. Even my friendliest chin can be quite pissy when i mess with him while hes sleeping/tired

 

[Pepperpot]

One of my chinchillas, Zulu can display a different behaviour mode each day. One evening he will have his bath, the next he will not. He will cuddle in the morning and push me away in the evening. He will come jumping down to me on one occasion and turn his back on me on another occasion. I have, over several months, taught myself to feel out his mood and interact with him accordingly. This little guy is a real enigma. :confused1:

 

[Proteus]

Well, I had thought we were sufficiently out of the woods. Ruffle was eating on her own, being happy, and coming out to play, and returning to her old self. I decided it would be fine to take her off the anti-inflammatory after a few days of this behavior (after all, it was only supposed to be until she started eating on her own again). Sadly, today, she holed up in her stump, hid all day, didn't come out to snack, and shied away from me when I even so much as looked at her.

When I finally coaxed her out with a pellet (which she took a small bite of and dropped), I saw her eye was once again swelling. I've put her back on the anti-inflammatory, I'm assist feeding her again, and giving her a small dose of tramadol again (she was barking earlier from what I can only assume was pain; nothing else was different or should have scared her). Are there any thoughts as to what may be wrong with her?

 

[Proteus]

Update: It's all over but the culture. Ruffle is doing better, but is still on her regiment of medications and assist feed. At this point, it seems likely that she has a case of ringworm, but we're waiting on a culture just to be sure that it's certain that's what she has. Once it comes back as ringworm, she'll be going on a systemic anti-fungal to knock it out.

Sadly, I was told to keep her from bathing until this is resolved, as it would only aggravate her eye more. I've noticed, however, that she's chewing her pumice block and then rolling around on the bottom of her cage, like she's creating her own meager dust bath. Should I remove the block, or let her continue, or let her actually have a dust bath. Her eye is still very bald, and I'm not sure how long it will be until this is resolved. I feel bad about it, as sometimes assist feeding her gets a little messy and I spill some feed on her fur, and I'm sure she's really wanting a dust bath right about now.

 

[SarahJo]

I'm sorry she got sick right after you brought her home. Did she end up having ring worm? How is she doing now? Were you able to build your bond back together?
I hope things are going well!