Senior Chinchilla Owner
Member
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2015
- Messages
- 8
Hello,
I have been coming to this forum for years, but only now am posting since I have a serious issue and need advice. I apologize in advance for the long post.
I own two 14yr old chinchillas (I had a third, but she passed about 2 yrs ago). They live in a large 4 ft tall cage and generally lead happy chinchilla lives. One of them, Miss Piggy, a very healthy and feisty chinchilla, started to act "off" yesterday (Sunday). She wanted to be in the corner of the cage and just wasn't her normal curious self. I monitored her throughout the day and around 6pm noticed that she was very lethargic, was making retching motions, and had a lot of foam around her mouth. Recognizing this as a probable choking issue, I rushed her to an emergency vet (after finding one that said they treated chinchillas) and they gave her oxygen which perked her up a bit. After that they did a sedated oral exam and found nothing. They put her back on oxygen to help her come out of the sedation and she perked up like normal. They then took her off oxygen and observed her and she seemed to be pretty much fine. They brought her to me and she ran around the exam room like a maniac (like normal), pooping and otherwise being ok. The vet believed that she was choking on something, but somehow managed to pass it (perhaps the sedation allowed her to relax and the food slid down).
I took her home with instructions to not give her food for 6 hrs and only allow her water until then. I took out all of the platforms and left her and her sister to spend the night in their hut on the bottom of their cage with just water. In the morning, she seemed ok, but she was very, very hungry. I thought about what I could give her that would be easy to swallow, so I tried giving her a tiny piece of a raisin. She grabbed it, ate it like normal, but then immediately went back into the choking actions. She retched hard for about 20 seconds and then I saw her bring it back up. She then went into her hut with her ears down, etc. She was breathing though. I called around but no vet could see her until Wed morning. A half hour later, she's back to semi-normal again. I took the day off so I could stay home and watch her.
I waited another 5 hrs and by then she was really hungry. Normally they come for treats, but she was coming over when I opened the cage and frantically searching my hand for anything that was food. (BTW - I fed her sister separately). I thought again about what I could give her that would be easy to swallow. I took to the forums and found Oxbow critical care which I have overnighted to my house (arrives Tuesday so I can give it to her tomorrow evening). However, she had to eat. So, I took some alfalfa "dust" and put that in my hand. Miss Piggy went after it and ate a few bites and then went back to the retching motions but this time not so bad and she seemed to recover pretty quickly. She didn't seem to be bringing it up, but she definitely was having trouble swallowing.
Back to forums for guidance and I saw another post suggesting to feed pure pumpkin. I mixed that with water to make watery pumpkin goo. After feeding her some off my fingers, she took to the tiny amount I put into a dish with gusto. After eating for a little bit and seeming to be normal, she started to have issues swallowing and made some of the retching motions again, but this time not quite so bad and she seemed to get over it fast. She went over and drank a lot of water and now she seems to be acting fairly normal.
So, she can't get to a vet until Wed morning, which is over a day away. She has an appetite but seems to have trouble eating normally and swallowing. I'm confused, since she drinks ok, so she obviously isn't choking, and she seemed to tolerate the pumpkin fairly well, but still with some issues that make me concerned to give her too much.
What can I do to help her get over this? Any ideas what may be causing this? Is it just residual irritation from the choking? The vet did say her soft palate was pretty irritated, but she seemed to think that 5-6hrs would be enough time to recover and it's been almost a full day.
Please help.
I have been coming to this forum for years, but only now am posting since I have a serious issue and need advice. I apologize in advance for the long post.
I own two 14yr old chinchillas (I had a third, but she passed about 2 yrs ago). They live in a large 4 ft tall cage and generally lead happy chinchilla lives. One of them, Miss Piggy, a very healthy and feisty chinchilla, started to act "off" yesterday (Sunday). She wanted to be in the corner of the cage and just wasn't her normal curious self. I monitored her throughout the day and around 6pm noticed that she was very lethargic, was making retching motions, and had a lot of foam around her mouth. Recognizing this as a probable choking issue, I rushed her to an emergency vet (after finding one that said they treated chinchillas) and they gave her oxygen which perked her up a bit. After that they did a sedated oral exam and found nothing. They put her back on oxygen to help her come out of the sedation and she perked up like normal. They then took her off oxygen and observed her and she seemed to be pretty much fine. They brought her to me and she ran around the exam room like a maniac (like normal), pooping and otherwise being ok. The vet believed that she was choking on something, but somehow managed to pass it (perhaps the sedation allowed her to relax and the food slid down).
I took her home with instructions to not give her food for 6 hrs and only allow her water until then. I took out all of the platforms and left her and her sister to spend the night in their hut on the bottom of their cage with just water. In the morning, she seemed ok, but she was very, very hungry. I thought about what I could give her that would be easy to swallow, so I tried giving her a tiny piece of a raisin. She grabbed it, ate it like normal, but then immediately went back into the choking actions. She retched hard for about 20 seconds and then I saw her bring it back up. She then went into her hut with her ears down, etc. She was breathing though. I called around but no vet could see her until Wed morning. A half hour later, she's back to semi-normal again. I took the day off so I could stay home and watch her.
I waited another 5 hrs and by then she was really hungry. Normally they come for treats, but she was coming over when I opened the cage and frantically searching my hand for anything that was food. (BTW - I fed her sister separately). I thought again about what I could give her that would be easy to swallow. I took to the forums and found Oxbow critical care which I have overnighted to my house (arrives Tuesday so I can give it to her tomorrow evening). However, she had to eat. So, I took some alfalfa "dust" and put that in my hand. Miss Piggy went after it and ate a few bites and then went back to the retching motions but this time not so bad and she seemed to recover pretty quickly. She didn't seem to be bringing it up, but she definitely was having trouble swallowing.
Back to forums for guidance and I saw another post suggesting to feed pure pumpkin. I mixed that with water to make watery pumpkin goo. After feeding her some off my fingers, she took to the tiny amount I put into a dish with gusto. After eating for a little bit and seeming to be normal, she started to have issues swallowing and made some of the retching motions again, but this time not quite so bad and she seemed to get over it fast. She went over and drank a lot of water and now she seems to be acting fairly normal.
So, she can't get to a vet until Wed morning, which is over a day away. She has an appetite but seems to have trouble eating normally and swallowing. I'm confused, since she drinks ok, so she obviously isn't choking, and she seemed to tolerate the pumpkin fairly well, but still with some issues that make me concerned to give her too much.
What can I do to help her get over this? Any ideas what may be causing this? Is it just residual irritation from the choking? The vet did say her soft palate was pretty irritated, but she seemed to think that 5-6hrs would be enough time to recover and it's been almost a full day.
Please help.