Somewhat diarrhea

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whiskers387

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Well i switched my chin over to Mazuri yesterday and right about after that she started having diarrhea it looked like, I took her to the vet and they said she was fine, could it be stress induced?? Or due to the food? also the day before that i put in a small block of wood from lowes, it was labeled whitewood but under a sign that said pine and i asked 3 different people and they all said it was pine, and it looks KD, could the wood be whats causing it? i did not bake it before i put it in, i didnt know you had to do that with wood from stores but now i do.
 
I thought you said her diarrhea stopped?

I'm not sure if the wood would be doing it, that fast anyways but I have no clue. I understand the vet you took her to was an "in-home" vet, I stress that you try and take her to a licensed veterinarian if she still has diarrhea because she could have something very serious.

And do you mean you didn't bake the pear wood from your yard that you put in? Or that you didn't bake the KD pine?
 
Did you do a cold turkey switch to Mazuri? Chins should be gradually transitioned to a new diet over a few weeks period. 25% new food and 75% old food the first week, 50%/50% of each food the second week, 75% new and 25% old the third week, and by the fourth week, 100% new food. Mazuri is a high protein food and a chin that isn't used to it could get an upset digestive system easily.

Since he has diarrhea, pull all pellets and feed timothy hay only until the poo firms up. Give activated charcoal until the diarrhea clears (I normally just open a capsule and sprinkle it onto a moistened shredded wheat) and supplement with acidophilus daily. Once he is pooing normally, then you can introduce the pellets back into his diet.

About the wood, if it was untreated kiln-dried pine, it should be fine. If it was treated wood or non chin-safe wood, he may have ingested chemicals or toxins.

ETA: Diarrhea is never normal nor is any soft squishy poo. Chin poo should be good sized (like a plump Tic Tac), firm, and slightly moist.
 
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Has she "played dead" at all today? I really think something could be wrong here if she has diarrhea and was lying on her side yesterday.
 
He was feeding the charlie chinchilla crap originally and bought the mazuri from me to switch her over to.
Because of the move and the stress and the fast food switch, it's probably causing the runny poo. But to help, just feed the timothy hay and stop with the pellets.
 
I have to say when I went to switch to Mazuri the same thing happened. I think it has something to do with the high protein and their GI system being so touchy. I stopped the switch and went back to Tradition till the soft poop stopped and the vet gave me something to calm the stomach for them too.

After they were better, I switched to Oxbow. Oh mine were all tested for parasitic infection and it was all negative, so it was the food causing the issue.
 
The diarrhea looks mostly gone but i will remove the pellets just to be safe
 
Not all chins will have an issue with Mazuri. I just think that it doesn't help that the chin was on Charlie Chinchilla and had a cold switch as well as is in a new home.
Free feed hay until you see the poo getting better (if it is indeed the stress and everything and she isn't really actually sick) and then I would slowly introduce the pellets. If she gets runny poo again she may not do well on the Mazuri. Some chins don't, some chins do.

But if the poo is more like runny poo and not just sticky there could very well be a worse issue.
 
HaleyGoBoom said:
I thought you said her diarrhea stopped?

I'm not sure if the wood would be doing it, that fast anyways but I have no clue. I understand the vet you took her to was an "in-home" vet, I stress that you try and take her to a licensed veterinarian if she still has diarrhea because she could have something very serious.

And do you mean you didn't bake the pear wood from your yard that you put in? Or that you didn't bake the KD pine?
Click to expand...

You (the maker of the thread) had also specifically said the VET had said it was the food switch, not that YOU think it is the food switch. Which is it?

Was this "vet" an exotic animal vet with experience dealing with chinchillas? Did he run any tests to check for giardia or any other parasites? What did he do to deem her "fine"?
 
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That is a good point brought up, what type of water do you give her? Water should be purified to remove any giardia which chinchillas are susceptible of getting. If you don't have a water filter, you can boil the water (for a couple minutes to be safe) which kills giardia.
 
alli713 said:
That is a good point brought up, what type of water do you give her? Water should be purified to remove any giardia which chinchillas are susceptible of getting. If you don't have a water filter, you can boil the water (for a couple minutes to be safe) which kills giardia.
Click to expand...

I will ask my dad if we have a filter
 
whiskers387 said:
I will ask my dad if we have a filter
Click to expand...

You'd know that if you are getting the water from the faucet and there's some kind of contraption that the water goes into after leaving the water supply and before coming out of the actual faucet. Sometimes it's a carbon filter, sometimes it's a UV filter - either way, it's some kind of contraption (large or small) that the water goes into before getting to your glass (their bottle) after leaving the water supply.

ETA - well...I guess it could be an under-the-sink installed filter. But still... :)
 
alpayton said:
You'd know that if you are getting the water from the faucet and there's some kind of contraption that the water goes into after leaving the water supply and before coming out of the actual faucet. Sometimes it's a carbon filter, sometimes it's a UV filter - either way, it's some kind of contraption (large or small) that the water goes into before getting to your glass (their bottle) after leaving the water supply.

ETA - well...I guess it could be an under-the-sink installed filter. But still... :)
Click to expand...

Yea we dont, i will need to boil it i guess, but then i just throw it in the fridge right?
 
You can also buy a filter. They're fairly inexpensive. Brita and Pur filters work fine. Or buy bottled water.
 
You can also get a pitcher if you don't want something on the faucet. I don't know about Brita but the Pur pitchers will filter for giardia.
 
Boiling the water generally isn't recommended because
A) It can concentrate the metals in the water & from the pot
and
B) Boiling does not kill microbial cysts- which can cause parasitic infection.
 
Stackie said:
Boiling the water generally isn't recommended because
A) It can concentrate the metals in the water & from the pot
and
B) Boiling does not kill microbial cysts- which can cause parasitic infection.
Click to expand...
What should i do then
 
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