feistychins
The Chinchilla Lady
A few days before Christmas we took in a mother and her son. We were told the mother had a couple of litters before and except for this one son, none of the kits ever survived past a couple of days. We were told it seemed the mother was not producing enough milk and the previous owners did not know how to hand feed. Her last litter was last summer in which her son had been the father since they let them live together.
When we rescued them we brought both of them into the vet for physicals. We knew there was a chance that the mom may be pregnant again by the son. We had the son neutered so they could stay together and the vet did not feel any babies at that time. The mom has never shown any signs of being pregnant for the last few months.
Yesterday afternoon I was shocked to walk past their cage and see two baby kits, a grey female and a mosaic male. We have had many litters born here to rescued pregnant chins and have experience with hand feeding.
After watching the family for an hour it was clear that even though the mom would keep the kits warm, they were not nursing at all. So I was determined to not loose these two kits so I removed them and starting hand feeding. I have used both goats milk and evaported milk mixtures at different times in the past and have had more success with the evaported milk. That is what I started them on. The female was eating very well and the male was slow to eat, but I was getting it into him.
After several feeding and about twelve hours after they were born, suddenly the female went from having perfect baby poops to just being wet around her privates. I decided the evaporated milk must be too much for them, so today I picked up goats milk, baby rice cereal and karo syrup. They have had several meals of the new mixture. The male is doing great and is active .
His sister however is eating, but wants to sleep a lot. Her poops have become a light green paste and tonight her genitals are a little irritated. I thought that she just needed to readjust her system to the goats milk, but I am worried.
I plan on taking her to the vet tomorrow, but my question is; is there something I can change with the formula that will return her poops to normal (maybe acidolphilus?) and is there something safe I can rub on her bottom to make it less irratated? The fact that she is only a day and a half old is why I am nervous about what to use. She was 45 grams at birth, this morning she was 44 grams so her weight is good.
Has anyone else ever experienced something like this? We have had small kits and even sick kits before, but never anything like this.
When we rescued them we brought both of them into the vet for physicals. We knew there was a chance that the mom may be pregnant again by the son. We had the son neutered so they could stay together and the vet did not feel any babies at that time. The mom has never shown any signs of being pregnant for the last few months.
Yesterday afternoon I was shocked to walk past their cage and see two baby kits, a grey female and a mosaic male. We have had many litters born here to rescued pregnant chins and have experience with hand feeding.
After watching the family for an hour it was clear that even though the mom would keep the kits warm, they were not nursing at all. So I was determined to not loose these two kits so I removed them and starting hand feeding. I have used both goats milk and evaported milk mixtures at different times in the past and have had more success with the evaported milk. That is what I started them on. The female was eating very well and the male was slow to eat, but I was getting it into him.
After several feeding and about twelve hours after they were born, suddenly the female went from having perfect baby poops to just being wet around her privates. I decided the evaporated milk must be too much for them, so today I picked up goats milk, baby rice cereal and karo syrup. They have had several meals of the new mixture. The male is doing great and is active .
His sister however is eating, but wants to sleep a lot. Her poops have become a light green paste and tonight her genitals are a little irritated. I thought that she just needed to readjust her system to the goats milk, but I am worried.
I plan on taking her to the vet tomorrow, but my question is; is there something I can change with the formula that will return her poops to normal (maybe acidolphilus?) and is there something safe I can rub on her bottom to make it less irratated? The fact that she is only a day and a half old is why I am nervous about what to use. She was 45 grams at birth, this morning she was 44 grams so her weight is good.
Has anyone else ever experienced something like this? We have had small kits and even sick kits before, but never anything like this.
