Regaining appetite after surgery?

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xpokey77x

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I'm not sure if this is quite an emergency so if it needs to be moved I understand. I was wondering how long is normal to expect before a chin regains their appetite after surgery? My poor little girl got spayed 2 days ago and I was able to bring her home yesterday afternoon. I peeked in on her all afternoon and she was acting alert and pretty normal, not drinking much water but still peeing. She is also munching on hay but her normal healthy appetite for pellets is not back. She is pooping but not in the usual copious amounts. They are about half the size and there are not nearly as many. Since she was eating on her own (just not as much) I didn't want to force feed if I didn't have to as I wanted to leave her alone as much as possible. Is it normal for her to not want to each as much and have less poo right after surgery?
I did assist feed her oxbow critical about a half hour ago. I got half of what I wanted into her and the other half on my shirt:) I felt like she was getting too hot and didn't want to distress her anymore so I let her rest and will try again later. I did speak with her vet about bringing her back in today to get sub-q fluids but I do want to leave her alone as much as possible and just let her body heal. If anyone has any advice on if the stress is outweighed by the benefits for fluids and assist feeding, I would greatly appreciate it. Also any after surgery stories about regaining appetite and pooing. As of now my plan is to continue to assist her with feeding and take her in to get fluids later on today. Her doctor also mentioned possibly giving her metacloprimide (sp?) to help get things going again. Thanks in advance anyone.
 
I am hand feeding a chinchilla now that had dental surgery so our situations are certainly different but I think the principles would be similar. I think that if she is not producing the poo and eating as she should that hand-feeding her will be necessary and the benefits will outweigh the stress you cause her. I would definitely keep track of her weight and poo output. You can lay paper towels down in her cage so poo management is more easily managed LOL. Is she on an anti-biotic? Some can cause loss of appetite. Is she drinking, you might want to mark the bottle so you can keep track of that as well. I added a little bit of blackstrap molasses to the Critical Care and I also added some unsweetened apple juice to make it more appealing. She seemed to like it with the apple juice better than the molasses so that is what I am using now. If you feel she could be in stasis or dehydrated, by all means sub-q fluids and medication to get her gut moving would be a necessity. Good luck, keep us posted!
 
ok, thanks for the advice. She's not on any antibiotics but she is on pain medication. She is taking Metacam which I have heard is an appetite suppressant but I figured that was better than her being uncomfortable since that will cause her to not eat as well. I have not been able to catch her drinking. I bought a new bottle for her with the spring tip instead of the ball and the darn thing still leaks so I can't tell if she is drinking or if its just dripping. She's used to the spring tip bottle and I put it in a similar place to where it was in her big cage so I hope she knows its there. I guess I'll have to take her back to the vet and get her some fluids. Hopefully the car ride and fluids will not be to stressful on her. I don't want to take her to the emergency clinic and have them keep her overnight if I don't have to since she seems to be acting pretty normal and is eating some on her own. I figure she'll heal best in her own environment.
 
xpokey77x said:
not drinking much water but still peeing.
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You can also try giving her the water through a syringe. I had to do that with my boy chin after he got neutered and a few years later as well when he had dental problems because he wouldn't drink out of his water bottle. Also there is an apple/banana flavored critical care that your vet might have on hand, my boy ate that more readily than the regular kind of critical care. Good luck and keep us posted please. I hope she feels better soon.
 
the vet recommended that I mix it with some baby food, maybe carrot or sweet pea to make it more appetizing. I mixed it with a little bit of sugar free apple sauce and she was eating it pretty willingly off of a stick yesterday night but not enough that I felt it could sustain her on its own. I'm just a bit unsure as to what to do since she is eating on her own and I don't want to undo any progress she is making by smothering her with care. I tend to over worry and I just want what's best for my little baby. It seems there is a delicate balance btw how much to let her heal naturally and how much to assist her recovery by outside means. Thank goodness for the CnH forums :)
 
It is a fine line sometimes as to whether to bring them to the vet or not, really, you are the ultimate judge, we do not know her like you do. I would add a little extra water to the Critical Care (I make mine so it is similar to apple sauce consistency, not runny but not paste either) and syringe feed her to get more water into her in case she isn't taking it in on her own. Do you have her on paper towels so you can check her "output"? If she is pooping a steady amount and you see urine spots then I would say she is doing well. If you aren't seeing much output but you know she is getting plenty of input then I would worry.
 
Parkerspetchins said:
It is a fine line sometimes as to whether to bring them to the vet or not, really, you are the ultimate judge, we do not know her like you do. I would add a little extra water to the Critical Care (I make mine so it is similar to apple sauce consistency, not runny but not paste either) and syringe feed her to get more water into her in case she isn't taking it in on her own. Do you have her on paper towels so you can check her "output"? If she is pooping a steady amount and you see urine spots then I would say she is doing well. If you aren't seeing much output but you know she is getting plenty of input then I would worry.
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I agree with the monitor of her poop and pee. Also note what consistancy and color her poop is. Chins are hard to read when they are ill. I always pay close attention to their poop because it is usually one of the first ways to see if something is wrong. Good luck!
 
she's on carefresh right now. If I put her on paper towels will she eat it? My chins love to nibble on any papers or books they can get their hands on. I am watching her "output" closely. I just syringe fed her some more critical care with some sugar free apple sauce and that took me about 15-20 minutes and when I put her back I had ~20 little presents from her on my lap . They are still small but colorwise they are the same as usual, and like many owners I'm sure (I hope?) I am used to doing daily poo consistency checks by squishing them and checking their moisture. They seem to be a good consistency, moist and they squish when I gently apply pressure to them. I just wish they were bigger. I got some metacloprimide from the vet so hopefully that will help stimulate things.
She keeps burrowing around in the carefresh trying to find somewhere to take a bath. If you guys think I should switch her to paper towels then I can definitely try that. It would make it a lot easier to tell where she's going. Right now I have to just dig around in the carefresh like a little treasure hunt. :)
 
She probably wants to take a bath so badly because you were handling her and maybe got some CC on her LOL. My girl does the same thing (well, they always love their baths anyway). It sounds like she is doing good if you got that many poos from her while hand-feeding. Is it the white carefresh? That might be just as good as paper towels.
 
her vet said not to give her a bath for a while to make sure her sutures are all healed completely. I don't know how she'll stand it. and yes, I did find some critical care on her. There is just no clean way to syringe feed is there. The white care fresh is a great idea, I feel silly for not thinking of it. I'll definitely try that.
Thanks so much to everyone for all of your advice. I'm feeling much more hopeful but we can still certainly use the good thoughts.
 
I use a solid, light colored fleece to line my hospital cages. Makes it really easy to monitor "output" One way to encourage her gut to move is to let her run around a little bit. Moving their bodies, stimulates their gut.
 
I've had real good luck using LifeLine for beat-up chins, even kept one from going into shock. I imagine it would help her recovery, as it helps getting the intestinal track back in order from antibiotics and the such. If you have some, I usually mix it in a paste and let them eat it off a spoon!
 
I'm not sure if she's improving or not. She's still acting pretty normal but still not interested in eating pellets or drinking water. She's doing very well with the syringe feeding now but her poos are still very small. Usually they are like a big tic tac. Now they are only about 2-3 mm long and wide. I want to get her out for some exercise but she's not supposed to run around too much while her sutures are still healing. Maybe just a romp around the room and hopefully that will help.
 
menagerie and parkerspetchins I took both of your advice and put her on some light colored fleece and put a pile of white carefresh in the corner where she usually pees. I just let her have a quiet roam around a sectioned off area where she just hopped around and explored. Cross your fingers for us that this will get things moving :)
 
all that digit crossing seems to have helped. Between 2:30 yesterday and this morning there were over 100 poos! And they seem to be getting bigger. She also peed quite a few times. She's getting 3 five minutes romps around the room to keep things going and I think that really helped. She's still not eating or drinking on her own though. I tried offering her the little supplement pieces from her regular feed but she's not interested. How is she ever going to get back to eating her regular pellets as long as I'm stuffing her with CC three times a day? For right now its probably good since she is still healing and needs to put on a bit of weight but I don't think I can continue indefinitely. Any suggestions?

Oh, yes, and thank you everyone for your wonderful advice. I really appreciate the support during this tough time. I'm hoping she's on the upswing now :)
 
If you slowly start to decrease the CC you will be able to see if she will eat more pellets on her own. Fluids are very important for a chin that is not eating on their own. A lot of people worry so much about food that they don't realize they also need to get fluids into their chins even if they have to do so by syringe. That is vital for her to have a normal poop production also.

May I ask why you had her spayed?
 
Arg! I typed and incredibly long post and my computer timed out and it is lost. I guess that was a hint that it was too long.
I was wondering if it is possible for a chinchilla to get wet tail? Like hamsters do. My female is doing much better but the area right in front of her tail is a bit damp and there is a small area on the underside of her tail that is missing the hair that I have not noticed before. She is pooping a lot more and they are getting larger. She is urinating in various spots in her cage which is not unusual because she always goes in a bunch of different places. is it possible that it is urine? Since the fleece doesn't absorb it right away? I heard some female chins stay sitting in the same spot after they go to the bathroom and that can cause some staining. She has had the staining before and I'm hoping that's what is causing the dampness. I noticed the dampness after I switched her to the fleece liners. She has always loved peeing on fleece whether its a cuddle buddy, hammock or fleece house so the cage lined in fleece is all one big potty to her. I am changing the liners daily though. If I try to blot her back end with a tissue to see what color it is nothing comes off so its not very damp. But then I don't know about the bald patch. I can't see why the vet might have done it. Is it possible that my female is licking her back area or something? The dampness is behind her genitals and they look fine. her suture line is a bit pink but I think its just starting to scab.
Any thoughts on why it might be damp? I know hamster wet tail is like dysentery but her stool is looking much better and is definitely not wet.

as for why I got her spayed... That was part of my incredibly long post. so to summarize, I had a male and a female together that I got from a reputable breeder whom I trust. They were companions and apparently got along very well. She was a retired breeder who had been with males for 2 years without getting pregnant so though we knew it was possible for her to get pregnant, we figured it was unlikely. Last tuesday I saw some brownish stuff on a couple of their shelves that I had not seen before and there was some on her underside near her genitals. I thought she had been getting a bit chubbier lately as well. So I took her to the vet and we took x-rays and you probably guessed by now that she was preggers. There were 3 babies that we could see. because she had had some discharge they kept her overnight to do an ultrasound in the morning. the next morning when they got in though they found that she had passed 2 of the babies but they were both dead. one appeared to have been dead for a while before she had it and the other looked like it may have been viable before . They did the ultrasound and saw that the remaining baby was dead as well. she did not appear to be trying to pass the third baby and they didn't want to give her oxytocin to stimulate contractions in case it would cause her to have perforated uterus so they went in and took out the baby and spayed her.
So I guess it wasn't a very short version after all but that's why I got her spayed. Does anyone have any thoughts on the dampness or the bald spot on her tail? maybe someone at the hospital held her and she slipped the fur there?
 
I have never dealt with a spay so I have no idea what complications may arise. The point you make about urine sitting on top of fleece though is a valid one. Fleece does not absorb liquids quickly especially if it hasn't been washed several times first. That is a likely possibility for the wet bum IMO. Again, no experience with a spay here, if you feel it may be something serious then a vet would be your best choice. If you suspect it is urine, maybe switch to Carefresh completely and see if the wet bum continues?

Sometimes chins can get a rub spot on their tails where they it goes through the cage bars and rubs on them, it could be a fur slip as you mentioned, or she could have chewed it. Is the skin red or scaly at all? If not then I would think you shouldn't worry about fungus but that one of the other explanations is more probable. Keep us posted!
 
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