RDZCRanch
RavenousDeadlyZombieChins
I'm really upset right now and I guess I just need to write about my baby somewhere.
I waited five long years to find my perfect black velvet. First it had to be a female, secondly she had to be very dark and third she had to be huge. I walked into a spring field day and there she was. My perfect black velvet. She was being shown and when I asked to see her my breath was taken away and I knew she had to be mine. A very large chunk of change later(the most I've ever spent on a single chinchilla) and she was coming home with me. From the very beginning all she had to say were nasty things but she was always the best cuddler once she was out of her cage. My baby was only four years old.:cry3:
I don't know when it happened and neither does my vet, but something went horribly wrong with Starbucks' liver. She had her first and only litter of kits back in November(two beautiful girls, one looks just like her) and everything seemed to be fine. Then, in late May/early June, I noticed a large amount of swelling in the tissue surrounding her anus and vagina. I took her to the vet and since she had no other symptoms I was sent home with a diagnoses of excess fat. She was put on a "chin diet"(less pellets, more hay) to encourage her to slowly lose weight. I opened her hole back up to her male and they got into a fight. My poor baby had wounds all over her head and back of her body. I cleaned the wounds twice a day and none showed signs of infection. A week after the fight, I noticed she seemed to be swollen. I took her out and she had a severe case of edema, I called the vet immediately and in the time it took to get to the vet, she had swollen to twice the size she had been when I found her. He diagnosed a severe case of edema due to infection and she was put on antibiotics and a diuretic. Everything seemed to be getting better for two weeks and then when I pulled her out for her medicine one night, she started crying and twitching...my baby had a seizure. I took her to the vet right away and explained what was going on. He took a blood sample(he hadn't been able to get one before because of the amount of swelling on her body). He called me on Monday night to tell me that her liver enzymes were elevated which indicates liver failure, cancer, or an infection in the liver. He said the WBC count was in the normal range but that there were other indications of an infection. We continued the medication but we were very worried about her prognosis because she had stopped eating the Friday night before. My friend Nan was a lifesaver and gave me the rest of her lifeline, which Starbucks ate three times a day like it was candy. She went up and down for the past four days. More than half of the time she would be active, alert, and fighting not to take her medicine, and the other half she would be laying as if she were anesthetized. On Friday night she lost the function in her back left leg, the vet told me this could be due to poor circulation from the edema or she could have injured her back but he highly doubted the latter since she had not been as active as chinchillas who normally receive spinal injuries. Two nights ago she lost the ability to walk with both of her back legs (she could still kick with both legs). This morning I handfed her and gave her the medication. She seemed to be in pain and I knew that though we had tried very hard, my baby would not be with me much longer. I kissed her and went to work, when I came home, she had passed.
Her body is being taken in to my veterinarian tomorrow to have a necropsy done and find out exactly what happened to my baby. We'll possibly be sending out a liver tissue sample as well. The vet said the chances of her disease/sickness being genetic are very slim so Toffee Nut(her bv daughter) should have a good chance at being a perfectly healthy chin...though she isn't going anywhere either way.
Starbucks...I'm so sorry I couldn't do more and didn't realize how sick you were until it was too late. I wish you had given me a sign you were uncomfortable. I'll always miss you even though you will never lose your place in my heart.:hearts:
I waited five long years to find my perfect black velvet. First it had to be a female, secondly she had to be very dark and third she had to be huge. I walked into a spring field day and there she was. My perfect black velvet. She was being shown and when I asked to see her my breath was taken away and I knew she had to be mine. A very large chunk of change later(the most I've ever spent on a single chinchilla) and she was coming home with me. From the very beginning all she had to say were nasty things but she was always the best cuddler once she was out of her cage. My baby was only four years old.:cry3:
I don't know when it happened and neither does my vet, but something went horribly wrong with Starbucks' liver. She had her first and only litter of kits back in November(two beautiful girls, one looks just like her) and everything seemed to be fine. Then, in late May/early June, I noticed a large amount of swelling in the tissue surrounding her anus and vagina. I took her to the vet and since she had no other symptoms I was sent home with a diagnoses of excess fat. She was put on a "chin diet"(less pellets, more hay) to encourage her to slowly lose weight. I opened her hole back up to her male and they got into a fight. My poor baby had wounds all over her head and back of her body. I cleaned the wounds twice a day and none showed signs of infection. A week after the fight, I noticed she seemed to be swollen. I took her out and she had a severe case of edema, I called the vet immediately and in the time it took to get to the vet, she had swollen to twice the size she had been when I found her. He diagnosed a severe case of edema due to infection and she was put on antibiotics and a diuretic. Everything seemed to be getting better for two weeks and then when I pulled her out for her medicine one night, she started crying and twitching...my baby had a seizure. I took her to the vet right away and explained what was going on. He took a blood sample(he hadn't been able to get one before because of the amount of swelling on her body). He called me on Monday night to tell me that her liver enzymes were elevated which indicates liver failure, cancer, or an infection in the liver. He said the WBC count was in the normal range but that there were other indications of an infection. We continued the medication but we were very worried about her prognosis because she had stopped eating the Friday night before. My friend Nan was a lifesaver and gave me the rest of her lifeline, which Starbucks ate three times a day like it was candy. She went up and down for the past four days. More than half of the time she would be active, alert, and fighting not to take her medicine, and the other half she would be laying as if she were anesthetized. On Friday night she lost the function in her back left leg, the vet told me this could be due to poor circulation from the edema or she could have injured her back but he highly doubted the latter since she had not been as active as chinchillas who normally receive spinal injuries. Two nights ago she lost the ability to walk with both of her back legs (she could still kick with both legs). This morning I handfed her and gave her the medication. She seemed to be in pain and I knew that though we had tried very hard, my baby would not be with me much longer. I kissed her and went to work, when I came home, she had passed.
Her body is being taken in to my veterinarian tomorrow to have a necropsy done and find out exactly what happened to my baby. We'll possibly be sending out a liver tissue sample as well. The vet said the chances of her disease/sickness being genetic are very slim so Toffee Nut(her bv daughter) should have a good chance at being a perfectly healthy chin...though she isn't going anywhere either way.
Starbucks...I'm so sorry I couldn't do more and didn't realize how sick you were until it was too late. I wish you had given me a sign you were uncomfortable. I'll always miss you even though you will never lose your place in my heart.:hearts:
