Small, hard poops

[Bairnns]

Hello, I have posted here in the past but its been awhile.

My oldest chin, Poppet, is sick. She is 11- middle aged I guess. Noticed yesterday that her pellets were not eaten and water seem to be going too slow. Poops are small and hard, and there are not many. I gave her a couple of raisins, and today another, but no improvement. She looks good, moving tho obviously lower energy but not lethargic. Does not react with pain when I gently squeeze her belly.

I do know what this means! She has not had any unusual foods. Raisins are not her usual treat; I have shredded wheat and oat groats for that, plus the occasional oat cereal piece and a supply of home-baked mulberry sticks.

I gave her about a tsp of critical care early this evening and am about to make some more to force feed her now that I am home for the night. She ate the first feeding on her own (good sign!).

If there is no improvement by tomorrow morning I will bring her to the vet. But would love some input from you guys about what I should suggest to the vet. Even the exotic animal vets in our area have little knowledge about chins (I have been told to feed fresh veggies!). In the past I have found the people here know more than the vet. Afraid they'll just give us Baytril ( seems to be their chin cure-all around here) and send us on home.

Thank you!

Lori

 

[ticklechin]

I would make sure the teeth get a close looking at-not just with a otoscope but a full dental exam. Since the chin had a appetite and ate the CC on her own it tells me IMO the chin is not "sick" but can't eat hard foods or drink due to pain in the mouth. Give her as much CC as she wants until she gets to the vet or you are going to have gut issues also. She needs at least 60ml a day.

 

[Bairnns]

that I left in her bowl last night. She did take a good amount from the syringe last night. About 2 tsp of dry Critical Care total, mixed with enough water to get it into the syringe. She was also willing to eat the treats I hand fed yesterday, including one shredded wheat I gave her after the raisins.

She pooped plenty during the syringe feeding too, the towel I wrapped her in was loaded Smaller than normal but better than what she'd done before.

After the successful feeding last night I was really hoping we could skip the vet, that the cc cleared whatever was blocking her up. This morning I can see it didn't change the overall picture, so I guess I'll make a call. Will make sure she checks the teeth; what is a 'full dental exam' in a chin?

Anything else I shoukd ask about? Is Baytril a good idea or is it likely not? If not, what is?

 

[ticklechin]

Chin could have a tooth point that needs to be trimmed, a dental exam will show it, chin is put under with gas and a inspection of the mouth is done-a x-ray may also be taken. Make sure you tell the vet she has a appetite but just can't seem to eat.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Feed her the CC like Ticklechin says. Stop the treats and especially the raisins, (you could make things worse) until after you know what is going on and she is completely better. When you resume treats do not give raisins, even to check if she will eat.

 

[Bairnns]

Doing well...

Our local vet was no help, just did a visual and said to continue the cc. She has chins of her own but I knew she wasnt right when she expressed surprise that Poppet was over 10 years old.

Made an appt with a vet from the list here but for unknown reasons she improved before it came up so I canceled. She seems fine now, no idea what was wrong but it seems to have passes for now. Will continue to watch her closely and use the other vet in future if needed.

Thanks for the help!

Lori