mark miller
Miller Chinchillas
Yesterday was a very eventful day in my chin room. It's not very often that I am in awe of happenings with my chinchillas after being around them for 40 years but, yesterday was one of those unexpected days. It started out with me going out to check on the chins as I do every morning and finding one of my top standard female was discharging a brownish fluid and I knew from experience she had a kit stuck in her that was most likely already dead. She was given a shot of Oxytocin and some vet lubrication to help expell the baby that was stuck. I then came home from church an hour later and she had the head of the baby crested but, it was stuck and she was exhausted. I gently pulled at the fur on the head till I was able to grab one ear then the other and worked the baby out of her. It was a stillborn standard female. Definitely, would have been one of my show animals for next fall, I was very disappointed but thankful that at least I saved the Mom. I then walked around and checked the rest of my chins and noticed one of my Blue Diamond females had just given birth to 2 babies while I was at church. They were up and trying to nurse and were still wet so, I didn't want to bother them and check them yet. I decided I would just check them later when they were all dried off and settled in with Mom. I left for a couple hours and came back home to check the chins and when I looked into her cage I saw a third baby laying in the back of the cage. It was cold, bleeding from the tip of the nose, abandoned by the Mother and gasping for breath. I grabbed it to take into the house and warm it up and it stopped breathing and went stiff and lifeless in my hands. I learned from my Grandpa and Dad that if you catch a baby right when they go stiff, you can sometimes revive them if you submerge the body in warm water holding just their head above the water line. As I was waiting for the water to get warm from the faucet, the body went from stiff to limp. It had not breathed for about 60 seconds and was completely lifeless. I was sure it was too late but, I put him in the warm water anyway and gently rubbed his chest. About 5 seconds later, the chin gasped for a breath. My son was totally freaked out. Lol! He said, "Dad that baby was dead and now it's breathing again". I left it in the water for about 1 minute and then took it into the bathroom and immediately started drying it with a hair dryer. I realized it had clear fluid coming out of its nose so, it obviously had liquid still in its lungs. I performed the "banana swing" to try and help clear the liquid from the lungs. I finished drying and warming him and by now he was trying to stand on his own but, kept falling over. I knew I had one chance to get him with the female that had delivered the stillborn baby earlier that day. I powdered him up with baby powder to kill the scent and put him in with the Standard female. I watched him for awhile and he was struggling to stay on his feet. I didn't know if he would make it through the night or not. I got up this morning and went out to check on him not knowing what I would find. He was on his feet and nursing with his new Mom and I was reminded how awesome it is to raise chinchillas sometimes. It doesn't always go good but, when it does it truly is rewarding.
