Raisins....effecting poo? or could it be worse....

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xxobritzoxx

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Hi, im a new chin owner. I got Perka about a week ago for my birthday. intially she squeeked and seemed very scared. I would daily go to her cage and kind of watch her, maybe putt my hand in the cage to let her sniff my hand and get use to me. I tryed picking her up a couple times but she would start squeeking or just run away. About 3 or 4 days after getting her she finally seem comfortable in her new home. I started putting her in the big ball my parents got me and I feed her a raisin. The raisin was out of a dried fruit bag and might have had alittle extra sugar on it, and it was deff. bigger [at least double the size]. I tried whipping the sugar the best i could before giving her the raisin. I did this 2 days in a row.

On sunday, i brought preka back to school with me, a 3.5 hours long car ride. To travel she was put in a rather small animal carrier [much like one you would use for a hermitt crab] she basically slept the whole way to school. At stop lights i would opent eh cage and pet her or let her poke her head out for "fresh air" When we got to school i let her out on my bed thinking she needed to stretch and what not. She eventually slipped off my bed onto the floor and started running around, it took me a bit but i finally caught her and placed her back in the box she travelled in since her cage was not in my room yet. I then finished moving my room around to fit the cage and went to get it. When i got back she had managed to get out of the box and started running around my room again. I let her be for a bit since i had things to put away and all and then started the process of catching her. Since things weren't organized in my room very well it took me a bit and I know i scared her. Once i got her back into her cage i gave her a craisin, as a peace offering like a you can trust me type thing...

I noticed the soft poos not to long after.

They were only present at the time in the box that she travelled in. After awhile i started seeing them in her cage. They were long and soft, not really green. I decided to clean what i could and let her be for the night after doing some research and seeing that raisins could have been the cause of the problem.

Tonight about midnight I came back from doing homework and such and decided to check on Perka. The poos seem like they are getting better, at least back to more normal length, but are still really soft. At first she was not running around very much and seemed quite sluggish. Last night when i did my tiny bit of research i noticed something about the poos getting stuck to fur, so i held for a bit and tried cleaning the ONE poo that happened to get stuck, I then gave her a dust bath, kind of as a test to see weither she would be active or not.

The dust bath went just as normal, and she is now running around the cage alittle more, and eating.

Since i haven't had her very long I'm not quite sure how much water she drinks normally, or how much food. My friend is also a chin owner and she said to give it another day or two and see if it gets better, and NO more craisin for like a week.

other things i saw on websites that could be symptoms:
-her eyes seem bright and clear, not dull, maybe alittle bit of discharge but nothing huge at all
-shes sits in the corner alot, or in her hut

I was wondering if this could be more serious then just the raisins and stress, and if i should be taking action now instead of waiting a couple days.


THANK YOU IN ADVANCED!!!! :)

-britz
 
One of my chins always gets soft poo whenever she goes for a car ride to the vet. Always. SOme chins also get some poo when given treats. No more raisin hun! Go for something safer like rosehips. Keep watching but in my opinion it is only stress/treats.
 
Yeah, I would cut out the raisins completely. And I wouldn't recommend taking her places just because. She's still trying to get used to you and that can take time, taking her places will just stress her out more. Also, don't put her in that big plastic ball anymore, chins can overheat easily in those. Instead, make her a safe area to play like the bathroom but make sure to chin-proof it well.

Keep reading and researching here, there is a lot of good information here that might help you out.
 
How old is this girl? No chin under 6 months old should have any treats at all, aside from wood to chew and the very occasional bite sized, nonsugared shredded wheat.

Aside from that, most likely she's feeling the stress of a new home, plus the move back to school. She hasn't accustomed herself to one area yet, and now there's another car ride and another new environment. Pull all her pellets for a few days. Give her nothing but good quality hay and some bite-sized nonsugared shredded wheat. You can also add some acidophilus to her diet to help settle her stomach. If after a few days the loose stools haven't cleared up, she needs to see a vet or at the very least have a stool sample tested. If she becomes lethargic, isn't eating or drinking, stops pooping or peeing, she needs to see a vet immediately.

What kind of food do you have her on? What kind of hay and water?
 
The one thing I haven't seen mentioned is filtered/bottled water.
Since being moved 3 times in a short amount of time, is the same water being used?
Well water and "city water" can be entirely different, with the addition of clorine and floride in the city water - none in a home well!
At least use a POR faucet filter for your chin, to eliminate guardia.
 
The one thing I haven't seen mentioned is filtered/bottled water.
Click to expand...

That would be me up there asking "what kind of water do you use?" So, yes, somebody did already mention it.
 
Perka is about 2 and a half months, the water is the same water from home...fitlered from my fridge...is water from a britta ok? and as for the hay and food its timothy and im not too sure on the food. theres two kinds one is just pellets witha few nutty things and the other has colorfl "treats" in it....she tends towards the second one more.
 
I'm going to guess that those pellets came from a pet store then. No healthy chinchilla food should have junk in it. It should just be fresh, good quality pellets.

Nutrena
Oxbow
APD
Tradition
Mazuri
PANR

These are all good quality foods. You can order good quantities of them through the classifieds here (you can get 14 pounds in a priority box) and it will probably cost you less than what you pay at a petstore for Mazuri or Oxbow. I personally prefer Oxbow over Mazuri, but they are both expensive in small quantities. Either way, you need to get a better food for your chins. Unless you switch to a good quality chinchilla pellet, your girl is going to continue to go for the treats in the food. It's much like offering a a child broccoli or a candy bar. Which do you think they will choose?

Also, most hay in pet stores (Kaytee, etc.) is just as bad. Oxbow is sold at Petco and Petsmart now, a decent sized bag for $10.00.

No treats from now until she is at least 6 months old. Get good quality feed, good quality hay, keep up the filtered water. The occasional bite sized nonsugared shredded wheat, a dried rosehip here and there, and lots of wood to chew. That's what she needs - not junk filled food and raisins.
 
I personally use water at "tap temperature", as I don't know at what temp chins could, or even would get "brain freeze," - just don't want to chance it!
 
Riven said:
I guess I'm a little concerned about the "big ball" and plastic with very little airflow carrier.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with Riven.The ball is bad news.These guys over heat in them very quickly and they are marching in their own pee and poo ,which gets in their fur.
Your carrier sounds dangerous too for the same reason ,not enough air.
I'm glad your here and wanting to learn.This site is full of great info and help.
 
I don't know about chins getting brain freeze. I always refill mine in the afternoon so by the time they get their lazy butts up to drink it's room temperature so no brain freeze for my babies.
 
Seriously, why would a chinchilla get a brain freeze? It's not freaking eating ice cream.

The term "brain freeze" refers to when the blood vessels and nerves on the roof of the mouth get really cold, then warm, repeatedly. I'm pretty sure chinchillas are safe with cool water.
 
If you need a carrier and cannot get one locally hit on the shops some of the people on here have listed and go to there sites. Carriers are not that expensive. Failing that get a small cat crate that has vented sides.

Also you can get purified filtered water from Walmart for next to nothing since you only have 1 chin. Don't want to chance sick chinny.
 
PROBLEM!!!!

Perka has not eaten any raisins/ craisins for almost 48 hours, i did how ever carry her in a box today for about an hour....

her poos have gotten worse, before they were just really really soft pellet like poos and i now just dicovered a very watery? poo...much like a bird in a way...is there anything i can do?? im in Potsdam NY and i dont think theres any vets around that take chinchillas...

ALSO! im not allowed to have pets at school, and my area coordinator found it today...she says that i will need to bring it home or move it somewhere else ASAP...i haven't gotten an exact date yet but im pretty sure they're going to tell me this weekend...Since perka is sick i want to know how long i should wait until i move her again for her health. I would rather get in trouble with the school the risk perkas life. thanks!!
 
one other thing...my friend [the other chin owner] says that if i refrain from touching it it will get better...is petting Perka all that bad?? should i leave her alone for 24 hours and see if it helps or should i take action and find a vet??
 
This chin needs a vet. Watery poo is never a good sign. I'm sorry that off hand I don't know any vets since I'm not from your area.

And I think you should have researched first to see if chins were allowed where you live. What are you going to do with her if you do move her?
 
i will be moving her back home where my mom can take proper care of her. After writing that post i inspected the poo. It wasnt so much watery it was just BIG and soft, and had a wet look to it which why i thought it was watery. Its the only one ive see n like that. I thought she was getting better. The ones in the bottom of the cage seemed to be more like normal. My boss up here told me there was a vet that i could probably take her too, i might try going tomorrow.

How long do you think it will take for her to get better?? i dont want to move her around again until i know its at least semi safe.
 
OH! and shes been running around quite a bit, and eating the water level has deff gone down also.
 
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