Seizure/stroke/nerve damage??

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Aimee & The Chinette's

Aimee & The Chinette's

Pro Poop Cleaner
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
133
Location
New Orleans
Tonight after cage cleanings & playtimes all chins were settling in. I gave each one of them a "hay cookie" (as I do every other night or so) and as I walked passed again I noticed Matilda acting strange... Wobbling, trembling & seeming unbalanced. She has done this once before about a month or 2 ago and I freaked then but afterwards I just thought that she had landed wrong or something as she acted like it was bothersome for a minute but then soon "recovered"... So now that this symptom has showed itself again I would like to know if anyone else has experienced a similar behavior?? I have an awesome Vet here in New Orleans but I find it weird that she is "freaked" for a minute then totally normal the next (running on her wheel, eating hay, drinking & leaping on all of the ledges around the cage...) Any input would be helpful... I took a video of the tail end of this episode but I don't know how well it was captured... I will post the video after it is uploaded... Thanks in advance...
 
It could be epilepsy or another type of brain disorder. That can happen in chins. I suppose it could be another type of seizure, maybe a hypoglycemic type of seizure or her overheating a bit. I've seen it a bit before in chins. There are some that are more prone to the low blood sugar seizures than others, I have heard of epilepsy in chinchillas but I am not sure if I have ever had an epileptic chin since anyone, who has had a seizure seem to have it as a one time only thing.

Is she okay now? I hope she doesn't have anymore seizures...
 
She is TOTALLY normal now!! Like I said before I thought she had hurt her tail when she showed this behavior 2 months ago because she kinda wobbled around for a minute then was fine... This video isn't great but it shows her wobbling for a few seconds, she was shaking too but the video didn't capture that well but you can hear me say "OMG, I don't remember her shaking like that.."
 
I'm not sure if it is the video angle or just the way she moves on that kind of flooring, but to me she actually looks more uncoordinated at the beginning, before she goes into the house. Almost like she was having trouble with her L side. If that wasn't just an artifact of the video, I'd be more concerned about that than the way she shook her tail. My girls tend to shake or vibrate their tails like that when they are "claiming" something (like a treat or my hand after it has been in the supplement box). They will also do it on the very rare occasion that they spray or mark a part of their cage.

I don't know if it is the same thing, or something totally different, but I'd keep an eye on her just the same.
 
You say it happened after playtime. Was the other instance after she had exerted herself as well? Some chins can have hypoglycemic seizures after overdoing it at playtime.

If that's the case, her playtimes should be limited. If it should happen again, it's recommended to rub sub karo syrup on the gums to help raise blood sugar.
 
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I agree with Stack. It sounds as though she has bit of low blood sugar after a prolonged play time. If it had happened only once, I would say just keep an eye, but since it has happened twice now, I would definitely cut back on her play time for a little while, or, some people give a bit of a raisin or papaya before playtime and it balances out the sugar. If you give run time every day, I wouldn't want to give that many treats, but if you run every other day, half of a raisin should take care of the problem. You could also give a little drip of Dyne or Karo before run time, rather than the raisins. It'll give her sugar a boost before she runs and hopefully eliminate the shaking/seizure after.
 
I don't know, she came out of it very quickly like it was a different type of seizure other than low blood sugar. It seems like it will take maybe 10 or 15 minutes to get a low blood sugar chinchilla to get going again. The seizure that they have is usually accompanied by lethargy. This chin was moving the whole time and didn't seem to have any problems moving. Sometimes the low blood sugar will cause a slight paralysis where the front paws can't be moved normally or the chin is laying on his side.

This looks like it's more neurological to me. I couldn't see very well. Did she jerk suddenly when she was in the house? Is that what she did before? The wobbliness can be a sign of just about any type of seizure coming on.

I'd probably look into having a simple blood test done to see if anything is going on as far imbalances go. It will probably not show anything, but it would be good to eliminate any possible nutritional problems or infections.

But, yes, when she does that, give her something to eat. It can be sweet. Anything you can do to bring the chin out of a seizure is good. It could just go away and never come back. Maybe this is a result of poor care before you were able to take her in? I wonder about the preservatives used in petstore food causing neurological issues.
 
Thanks for the info. She had been back in her cage for over an hour when this happened... I was handing out hay cookies, everyone snatched one up (including Matilda) then I looked back and she was kind of "hunkered" down, cookie still in hand. Her ears lowered and she looked scared, I reached in to comfort her & then she clumsily jumped on a ledge. I then scooped her up hugged her & talked to her, set her down then took the video. To me it looks like on side wasn't working right too. All of this happened & it was over within 2 or 3 minutes...
 
Poor little girl. :( I can't say for sure what it is... It could be epilepsy, low blood sugar, a blood imbalance...who knows. :(

Are you okay, Aimee? That's always a very frightening experience. I remember the first time I saw a chin have a seizure and it really scared me. We went to the vet and nothing at all was found to be wrong! I am glad that I went that one time because I was able to learn so much about what was happening. Nothing beats the experience and knowledge of a good vet even if it just means the vet calms you down by sharing pertinent info. :)
 
Did the first occurrence also happen when you were feeding "treats"?
Was she given her treat after others or first?

Some chins are very excitable around treat time and can have "episodes" associated with that - I've seen it and others have experienced it - the fit is not the same as a hypoglycaemic (low blood sugar) fit or a full-on epileptic episode. Often the chins can "hunker down" as you described and become uncoordinated - sometimes the head will lower close to the ground and I would describe the fit as "focal" (in that the chin appears to be staring intently and the head lowers at the same time). Recovery from these types of fits is usually very quick with no "help" from the human. They almost bounce back to normal within 30 seconds or so and you'd never know there was a problem.
I actually think many people miss these types of fits because they are over so quickly with no residual effect on the chin. Unless one sees it happening, that is.

One way to reduce the risk is to give the chin their treat first and see if that helps - it is often the waiting that induces the fit.
 
I don't know, she came out of it very quickly like it was a different type of seizure other than low blood sugar. It seems like it will take maybe 10 or 15 minutes to get a low blood sugar chinchilla to get going again. The seizure that they have is usually accompanied by lethargy.
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When my girl had a seizure, and thankfully I've only ever had one chin with them, right after the Karo was applied, within maybe a minute or two, she was up and doing her thing. Not as boisterously as a chin normally would, but mostly normal.

Claire's description sounds more like what you were describing, which I had never heard of before. In my experience with run time though, I never gave treats after, so that could be a good reason why.

Good luck at the vets.
 
Honestly, unless she was having seizure after seizure, I've yet to see anyone come back with any kind of abnormality in blood work after a quick seizure. It gives you peace of mind that you went, but that's about it.

Maybe it's as Claire suggested and you could watch for that next time. 70 isn't a bad temperature, unless they really get to rocking when they are out for play time and it causes them to overheat, but then you would almost think it would happen every time they got out to play.
 
70s a pretty good temperature. ;)

Sometimes the vet can see different problems in the blood work like possible infections and imbalances. I've seen it before in chins. One thing about seizures is that it's best to eliminate all possible problems right away just in case it turns out to be something serious. I'm not one to recommend going to the vet for just anything...but with an adult having seizures it can be so many things that could be causing them. With babies it's usually low blood sugar, but in this case it had happened previously. I want Aimee to not have to worry! :)
 
AZChins said:
I want Aimee to not have to worry!
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I don't think any of us want anyone else to worry. But it is what it is. It's better to be armed with all the possibilities.

TBH, I wouldn't have taken her in either unless it was a frequently recurring problem. In my experience, with both people and animals of different species, they can't tell what is happening unless they happen to see it happen or they are hooked up to monitors at the time of the occurrence.
 
Matilda isn't really a "hard" player, she is more of a chin that likes to be out of the cage chewing on toys rather then wall surfing like most of the others... The Doc seems to think that her "episodes" may not be seizures because of how fast it happens and then poof she is back to normal.

As far as bringing her to the Vet, it was 1st to see if something was obviously wrong and 2nd for piece of mind. I can't put a price on POM. I would have NEVER forgiven myself if I didn't go in and something was to happen or if I could've learned of what was wrong to prevent it from happening again. I feel seeing the Vet was beneficial either way. But now I am kicking myself in the butt because I would have liked to have had a head x-ray, since she was sedated already anyway.. Oh well, you live and learn..

Thanks for the info, experiences & support...:kiss:
 
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