Placenta an issue?

[Encantadora]

All species of animals that I can think of eat the placenta, however I have heard other breeders (breeder) say that it can cause chinchillas digestive issues since they ae vegetarians. And to remove it right away.

Has anyone had problems from females eating the placenta? I don't assume most breeders find the babies immediately after birth to take it out.

 

[Sycamore Chins]

I think that's a bunch of rubbish. Many herbivores eat their placentas - it has very valuable nutrients in it and it's programmed into them as a defense mechanism.

We've never had a problem with mom's eating their placentas. We've never had a mom not eat her placenta either (natural births).

 

[Riven]

I've had a couple not eat it, usually in bigger litters or hard births when the kit is lost. Otherwise yea... chins would have been extinct after the first litter.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought it was important for them to eat it to help stimulate milk/colustrum production?

 

[AZChins]

It's good for them to eat it and most mama chins eat most of it if not all of it. Their instinct is to eat all the afterbirth. It doesn't hurt their digestive system, I don't believe that for a minute. It does help to stimulate milk production or that's what I have been told.

I had a mother chin eat the placentas since she had her babies today. She's fine and nursing her little ones.

 

[Claire D]

I disagree with some of the responses here. There have been anecdotal reports of chin females becoming impacted from eating multiple placentas but it is not that common. Females will sometimes eat the first placenta & then stop so that the second falls through the cage bars (bearing in mind, most breeders in the UK use mesh cage flooring).

The chinchilla gut is designed to move fibrous plant material through it & it may be that the tissue type in placentas presents a bit more of a challenge to the gut. I have seen females produce long faecal droppings (2-4 inches in length) which are obviously mainly composed of 'stringy' placental tissue. Most chins do manage to pass the placentas without issue though.

I'll have to see if I can find the photos I took - I had a female develop gut problems after her last litter & she passed a dropping which was the same length as a 1ml syringe. This was in an otherwise perfectly healthy female who has never had issues before. She made a full recovery, nursed her kits & is absolutely fine.

Some breeders here will remove hay from the female's cage when she is due to litter in order to reduce the risks of impaction but the effectiveness of this is debated.

Having said all of that, I don't think it's a big issue (as others have said) & I don't remove placentas (& would not recommend it) unless there are more than 2 - if I am home & see the female about to eat a 3rd/4th then I will remove it/them.

 

[Encantadora]

A first time mom is having babies right now and eating the placenta. She is a little temperamental and in sure I'd lose a finger if I tried to take it away.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

In Alice Kline's book she says eating placenta is normal and good. If the litter is large she suggests removing some placentas if you are there for the births.

 

[Claire D]

I'll have to see if I can find the photos I took - I had a female develop gut problems after her last litter & she passed a dropping which was the same length as a 1ml syringe. This was in an otherwise perfectly healthy female who has never had issues before. She made a full recovery, nursed her kits & is absolutely fine.

I found one of the photos which I thought might be of interest. The tissue in the faeces was definitely placental.

 

[Encantadora]

I noticed poo like that this morning but not nearly so long!

 

[addictedtochins]

I guess that's one more reason to give them some alfalfa after birthing, for fiber