urine staining?

[spochins]

I just adopted Izzie 2 weeks ago. She is a young, female, mosaic. She appears to be very healthy: clear eyes, normal poop, good appetite etc.

However, this evening I noticed that there appears to be urine staining on her abdomen. There is no signs of urine scald just yellow, slightly matted fur.

I am a volunteer at the Philadelphia zoo and sometimes help with the animals in the Education Department. The zoo uses a thick layer of newspaper in the bottoms of their chin cages that is changed daily. I know that the Philly Zoo is extremely careful with the care of their animals and assume that the use of newspaper is not harmful to the chins. They keep their animal cages meticulously clean!
I've been using this method for Tico, my other chin that I've had over 3 years. I haven't had any problems with urine staining with him. He is dark black with a white belly. The yellow staining would not be as noticable on him due to his coloring. Still, he appears not to have the problem.

I'm going to start using Carefresh in Izzie's cage to see if there are any noticeable improvement.

Any ideas why she appears so dirty "down there?" Should I take her to the
vet? How serious do you think the problem is? She I take her to the vet early this week or use the Carefresh for a while to see if the problem clears up?

I'm attaching a photo showing her "condition". I'm also including some pics that show her from a more flattering angle! Although she missing most of both ears, I think she adorable!
I can't thank Chin -n- Hedgies enough for all your support and knowledge. No matter how much I read about these little critters I always seem to have unanswered questions.

 

[spochins]

urine staining

Here are the pics.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

Does she have soft poo?

 

[spochins]

Her poo appears well formed and normal size. There isn't any signs of diarrhea. I'd take a photo of some but my 16 year-old daughter already thinks I'm nuts.

 

[Tanya]

To me, it just looks like Izzie pees where she sits, maybe she is afraid to go pee to the bottom of the cage when people are around.

 

[alli713]

I've seen some urine staining on chins, but not normally that much.

I would think that the newspaper is not wicking away the urine quickly enough and so she's sitting in it. Many of us use kiln dried pine shavings, so you can try those too, or aspen. Some chins like to eat carefresh so be careful of that.

 

[spochins]

Thanks! I'll try some kiln dried pine shavings or aspen. I never knew that about Carefresh!

 

[Chinniechantel]

I agree with Alli I think the newspaper is the culpret. I used newspaper and then shavings on top of it, but found newspaper made it smell more and it didn't really help in the clean up department. Carefresh, if your chins don't eat it, can be a good bedding and it is not quite as messy as shavings.