Not eating/sleeping too much

[xhbf91]

Hi, I have a 2 year old female chinchilla and over the past couple of days she has become extremely quiet, she is drinking very little and not touching her food at all (she will take raisins from me and eat them though), she's also sleeping a **** of a lot and won't really come out of her nest box. She doesn't seem to be ill, she is still having sandbaths and will come and sit on my hand when i put it in her cage. Does anyone have any idea what this change in behaviour could be?

I also have 4 other female chinchillas and 1 male, although they are caged at the opposite side of the room and are never out of the cage at the same time.

Thanks

 

[lauralynne]

#1 - I'd stop the raisins.
#2 - Is she peeing and pooping normally?
#3 - Has there been a change in environment (temp, etc)?

 

[xhbf91]

No change in temperature and she isn't peeing/pooping much because she's hardly eating or drinking anything :\
she was taking the raisins from me so at least i knew she was eating at least something but i know they're bad for them, do you know what else i could offer her seen as she won't touch her food?

 

[ServantofBlueberry]

Im no expert, however not eating and drinking would send me straight to the vet. I would however second the stop the raisins stated above.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

get her to the vet immediately. You might have to force feed her but something is wrong that she doesn't want to eat.

 

[ticklechin]

Chin needs a vet ASAP, this could go very wrong very fast.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

She needs a vet. Not eating and drinking is a sign that something is wrong.

Also, stop the raisins. Shredded Wheat and Rosehips are both much better treat options.

 

[xhbf91]

ok so she had quite a big drink last night, i've just given her a sandbath and she peed in it, i offered her some hay this morning and she sniffed at it and nibbled a tiny bit. She's a bit more active too.
when she was running around outside of her cage last week, a picture fell from the wall and made quite a loud bang and she was a bit startled (she was nowhere near it, so she wasn't hit or anything), could that have caused this?

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

I don't think a picture falling off the wall could cause this. Gas/Bloat/Constipation or even to many sugary treats could have caused this.

Have you started hand feeding? Is she pooping?

 

[xhbf91]

she is but very little. I am trying to hand feed her and she is nibbling food but still not really eating it. My vet wasn't working today but they can see her tomorrow.

 

[xhbf91]

I'm going to try and get something into her with a syringe today, hopefully that might work. I read on another forum, that you can put yogurt in the syringe, is that right? i don't want to be making things worse. is there anything else i could do for her until i can get her to the vet tomorrow?

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

Personally, I wouldn't do the yogurt.

Critical Care mixed with water should be fine. If you don't have Critical Care you can grind up some of her pellets and mix that with water.

 

[xhbf91]

i'm going to get some critical care from the vets tomorrow if they have it, i just tried the pellets/water thing and she took a little bit of that from the syringe thanks for all your help!