So heartbreaking...

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Silverrose

Silverrose

Chinnie kisses!
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
589
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I've felt pretty fortunate not to have many mishaps during my few years breeding, but today, all of my good luck has finally caught up with me. I remember Peggy saying to me one day that kit fights were the worst, worse than any adult fight, and I really couldn't fathom that. But now I see why.

The trio I am talking about is from here: http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3269. They were nursing fine, seemed to be getting along fine, with just an occasional squabble, but nothing crazy. I was gone for most of the day today, and came home this evening to a big mess. The large, oldest girl (X6) had a swollen and bloody face, chewed up ears, and eyes full of pus and inable to be opened. I got her cleaned up as best as I could. In the middle of getting her examined, I also about fainted, I dunno if it was just the stress of it all or just because it's been a long day. Thank goodness Andrew was there to catch me! But anyways, she has lost one eye, and may lose the other, so we will see. Her nose/face is still a bit swollen, but at least the bleeding has stopped. She is such a sad sight at the moment, but somehow she is still fighting and has some spunk to her. She is such a beautiful and big girl too.

I guess this just another one of those stories showing that breeding isn't all rainbows and unicorns. It's going to be a long road ahead of me trying to rehabilitate this little one. Also, if there is any advice for partially/fully blind chinchillas/kits please feel free to give me any. Or if you have any success stories with having one, I could use a little reassurement that she can have a somewhat normal life if she pulls through. Thanks.
 
She will have a completely normal life Therese, except she won't be able to see if she loses both eyes. Beep has never, ever let being blind in both eyes slow him down one iota. He is active, busy, friendly, and a happy little guy.

I know how you feel, having just gone through this. Thankfully, this little guy only lost one. Watch to make sure she is gaining well. Have that hand feeding stuff on hand and get ready to start it. I had to hand feed the little guy for a couple days until he wasn't so down in the dumps and shocky. Make sure she's got plenty of warmth, again to prevent shock. If you don't have antibiotics on hand, you may want to get ahold of some. If she's torn up that bad in the facial area, some sulfa wouldn't be a bad deal right about now.
 
I have a girl here with half a nose and only 1 ear. otherwise a beautiful sapphire. She was one of quints. it sucks. Hopefully this little girl pulls through.
 
Oh Dear, I am very sorry to hear you had to go through this. I couldn't imagine!

I hope she pulls through. All my best, and lots of prayers being sent your way.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about her :-( I hope she pulls through as well
 
I don't breed and never dealt with a blind or partially blind chinchilla, but good luck with her. My black velvet came to me missing 2 toes and she has a tear in her ear so I can only imagine it was a kit squabble too.
 
If anyone knows what this situation is like, it'd be Peg! I'm sending you and your girl some healing thoughts tonight and in the days to come, T. Good luck.
 
I am so sorry. Kit fights are so vicious. My husband wouldn't believe me- until we had quads. It is fight for their life, and boy, do they fight. Peggy is right, I have not seen nearly as horrible fights with adults as kits. It's almost hard to believe they did it- my husband swore it was the mom. But I know what those little teeth can do though. Thank you for sharing though, people need to read this stuff.
 
Gosh I'm sorry you and your little kit have had to suffer through such an unfortunate situation. I wish the best for her. Bless her little heart. Keep us updated.
 
therese, hugs to you, the kit, and andrew. these are the days i am ready to ship them all out and never look back...
 
I will be hoping your little one pulls through, I am sorry this happened!
 
As Therese said, the squabbles were minor. They would last 5 seconds, and that would be the end of it. It would always be the boy running off from the larger girl. If anything, we assumed there would be a possibility that we would need to remove her from the hole to protect him. We actually did temporarily to give the boy and smaller girl some peace and quiet, and to allow them to catch up in weight.

The mom was a first-timer, and milk did take a little bit to come in. It has came in nicely though, and their weight gain was very rapid once the milk arrived. All three appeared to be getting along well, gaining weight, sleeping next to each other. A few days later though, you leave the house for a few hours, and you just hope and pray you come back to 3 kits with toes and nose attached. That wasn't the case in this thread.

We expected if anything to be worried about the boy. It was to our dismay it was actually the older girl who got hurt. It's a very hard lesson that teaches me that all animals are unpredictable, and as hard as we try to domesticate and love them, that you never know what can come from them.

Therese mentioned that there was another incident that had occured over the weekend as well with two animals that were squishy lovers who'd never fought. To the dismay of that owner, months/years later a fight finally erupted. I would never expect anyone to sit in their chin rooms and barns 24/7 paranoid of a fight always being imminent. But I was stupid enough to say at times "it will never happen to me". Now I just hope I can always be smart enough to say "I'll always be prepared"...

In an even greater irony, it was X6's mom that was our first baby, who was actually rejected and attacked by her mom after a rough labor and handfed by us. A true "baptism by fire" for Therese and I. She came out of it our first ribbon winner. Not saying this one will end up show-worthy, but with persistence and a lot of love, I've seen through our situation and on these forums that even the worst of cases can end up becoming the loveliest of chins.

I hope through these kinds of stories that people will always be prepared for every situation. I also hope though that these kinds of stories will teach people how strong and resilient these animals are, and to never give up and always be persistent when helping chinchillas recover from an attack or being sick. They fight for life hard, and love hard, and they deserve no less from us.
 
Evangelion said:
...
I hope through these kinds of stories that people will always be prepared for every situation. I also hope though that these kinds of stories will teach people how strong and resilient these animals are, and to never give up and always be persistent when helping chinchillas recover from an attack or being sick. They fight for life hard, and love hard, and they deserve no less from us.
Click to expand...

Amen!
 
There was a chinchilla that came into our local humane society, someone had either turned another chin lose or it got out. It had been attacked by a cat, and had a massive infection in his ruptured eyeball (in the socket in another words), skin problems, and a missing toe....

After about 3 weeks of optical meds, 2 surgeries, and 4 exams. His eye socket was no longer infected, he doesn't have his right eye..... and another 2 weeks, he's growing his fur back. He does not like being approached on the side without an eye AT ALL, and freaks out. He prefers the toys/dishes/etc. being on one side of his cage (so he can see people walking by and where his things are). And doesn't like to have his face touched.
 
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