Please help, my pregnant chin fell

[Nicklamort]

Hello, my 2 chins mated about 2 weeks ago. They were going at it for some time, then when I was in the other room, I came back out and my boy Nibbles had sex hiccups. It was the cutest thing ever, and I was so happy.
Well, just today I took my baby girl out of her cage to go play in her usual play spot, and a loud noise scarred her and she ran up my arm and fell!! I'm so devastated! She fell from almost my shoulder, I'd say just short of 5 1/2 feet. I've been searching online, and have read people saying that a miscarriage can happen from a bad fall. She has always been a very agile chinchilla; she's light and quick. She landed on..3 of her feet. Her 4th foot didn't quite make it and she kind of landed on part of her face
She doesn't seem to be in any physical pain or injury. She just shook it off and started hopping about. She still let me hold her, and I touched the places she fell and she didn't seem to be in pain. Like I said, she's only 2 weeks pregnant, if she is.
Please, I need expert advise. Can somebody please tell me if she is going to be ok!? Will her baby be ok? What are the odds of her having a miscarriage? ((

PS - I'm very sorry to my baby girl Chia, and her future kit, and to all you chin lovers. I will never let that happen again!

 

[tunes]

First, you have no proof that she's pregnant. Chins mate all the time. Just because they did does not mean that she conceived. It can happen the first time or it can take years before the female conceives.

Second, if you're going to breed chins, then you give up run time for your female and you give up handling her just in case she really is pregnant. Females in breeding are no longer "just" pets, they are potentially pregnant females and you leave them alone so as to prevent situations like this from happening.

At this point I would be more concerned that she injured herself rather than worry about miscarrying. If she even was pregnant and miscarried, she was so early into the pregnancy that it wouldn't have caused an issue.

Before you continue with your plan to breed, please do some research on the topic by reading through the breeding and babies section. There is a ton of information there that will be helpful to you, from why you are breeding, breeding responsibly, whether your chins should even be bred, and what you can expect throughout the pregnancy. Read through the horror stories section as well. This section was started so that people would have a very clear idea of what can happen with breeding.

Welcome to CnH.

 

[Riven]

Agreed with Peggy, and if she face planted I'd be more worried about malo issues than losing a pregnancy you don't even know she has.

 

[Vyxxin]

You've been given the best of info from these two women. My first concern is what Nicole said and that is malo. When a chin sustains ANY facial injury it can lead to tooth problems immediately...or several months or longer down the road. Furthermore, as Peg pointed out...even if she WAS pregnant a miscarriage this early in pregnancy wouldn't be detrimental to the mother. Finally, there is NOTHING you can do at this point to prevent miscarriage IF it's going to happen. The most you can do is a) monitor behavior and take to the vet if anything abnormal happens OR b) take her to the vet JUST to be sure

This is one of the reasons I try to get it through to pet people that small cages for breeding females are a MUST, no shelves, no play time out in large areas...it's just not safe for mother and unborn.

 

[Nicklamort]

Thank you all for responding, and for giving me your advice. I was wondering if it was good for her to be doing her normal thing, hopping around on the floor in her play spot and jumping on the walls, if she was pregnant. I figured that wild pregnant chins would still hop around and, even worse, jump off stuff (rocks or whatever), and so it was okay to let her out and play. I will definitely not handle her again if she might be preg. I do whatever research I can online, which wasn't enough. That's why I joined this site, to learn more about my chins. I've seen videos on chins giving birth, and the cages their owners had them in are large and have shelves. Are you sure that its necessary for her to be cooped up in a small cage throughout the 4 months? She feels imprisoned in her big cage as it is, always trying to bite through the bars, and shaking her cage bars because she wants out..I feel bad. Beforehand, I would try to play with her and Nibs as much as I can.

I don't think she incurred any injuries..she didn't fall flat on her face. More like her shoulder,which didn't seem to be bothering her at all, as I said in the OP. But I do want to take her to the vet just to be sure that she is okay. I would also want to ask if she is still with kit, if she was. Just in case she might be, I want to know so I can take proper care of her. What's the earliest a vet would be able to tell is she's preg.?

Also (I realize these questions are questions I can ask the vet, and I hope you don't mind me asking here/now), if she was with kit, what are the chances of a miscarriage from a fall like this at 2 weeks?

 

[tunes]

Most serious breeders would never use a large cage for a breeding female, absolutely not one with shelves. A mom needs to be near her offspring, not up on the top most level and leaving them on the bottom where they can freeze and starve to death. You also run the risk of this exact thing happening within the cage - mom falling and injuring herself or the kits.

A pregnant chin is much like a pregnant human. They are ungainly, unbalanced, uncomfortable. Mom jumping down from a top shelf could easily lose her balance and cause harm.

I would also not drag a female I suspected of being pregnant to a vet. From the time a female goes into breeding, she should be treated like she's pregnant. No run time, no rough handling, no shelves, etc. When you see kits, you'll know she was pregnant. The only way your vet can tell you for sure is with an ultrasound and it would be more stressful than it's worth. A very experienced breeder could palpate for kits, but again, that puts the kits at risk if you don't know what you are doing.

 

[Godins Chinchillas]

Honestly-vets are not going to be able to tell for a while without ultrasound.

The girls gave you good advice. Since you started breeding you are responsible for any outcomes that may happen. Good luck!

 

[Riven]

If you want to have wild chins... then go have wild chins. These are not wild chins, they are domestic chins. In that theory you would not hand feed any kits, or take them to the vet. Because wild chins don't hand feed their babies if they can't care for them or go to the vet.

 

[Vyxxin]

Nickalmort- please do not take these responses the wrong way. These woman, myself included, take breeding chinchillas very seriously. We all want the best possible outcome for mother and kit. As mentioned by most, these are NOT wild chinchillas. You quit putting them in risky situations when you brought them into the home in a cage. Period. Chinchillas in the wild deal with predators too...doesn't mean you're going to go get a fighting pitbull and let them have "natural predator time" together. Second, I read your OP. Very throroughly, and nowhere in there does it mention that you're a vet with access to x-ray? So one can only (and reasonably) assume that you are not and do not and have no way at all of knowing about teeth issues. FYI (since you're working on learning about your new breeding animals) chins hide pain very well...it's a natural instinct of a prey animal. Also, tooth injuries don't even have to be severe enough to cause any reactive type pain to cause root elongation in the future...please read up because you're a breeder now and these are the things you should've known beforehand.

Finally, since it seems priority to you, the kits. The vet will not be able to tell you with any certainty the likelihood of miscarriage at this point. If your vet does, get a new vet. It's just not possible to do with accuracy as miscarriage can happen for many reasons or no reason at all. In this situation, the MOTHER is the priorty to serious breeders. While there will be concern for the kits, the breeder will monitor the female and wait for the outcome. Again, read up.

To be perfectly honest, as mentioned, a successful copulation does not mean kits necessarily. Do you realize that our males are exposed to our females 24/7 and generally we get a litter every 6-9mos? Do the math...wonder how many matings took place? I'm not saying it's not possible for her to be pregnant...I'm saying you should take care of the chinchills you KNOW exist. That all said, read up!