Kawaii_Hedgie_Chin_Love
Well-known member
Zazu passed on quite a longg time ago, I just thought it would be nice to give him a little bit of recognition.
I got this little guy at 5 months old. He was a standard grey, my first chin.
It was mid-summer, and I wasn't as aware of the temperature as I shouldv'e been. I guess you could say this all could've been avoided with the use of the AC, but we had just moved and weren't sure if it worked or not, or how to work it for that matter.
And let me tell you, it was hot. I'd only had him for about 4 or 5 days, and went to check on him for the 1,000th time that day. Every other time i'd gone into the room, he was fine, bouncing around, acting like a normal chin. But this time, he was laying on his side, not moving, and I had thought he was dead.
I just stared at him in disbeleif for a few moments, as I have an extreme fear of dead things (don't ask) so I called my friend into the room, and she reached into his cage and picked him up. I saw his little tummy moving the tiniest bit and i took him from her, stroking him and feeling his ears. They were bright red and burning up.
I immediately ran to my laptop, looking for a cause to my chinnie's "mysterious" illness. I came to the conclusion that it was probably heat stroke. I got a bag of frozed peas from the freezer, wrapped it in a towel, and set Zazu on top of it, trying desperately to cool him off.
Normally, i would've rushed him to the vet, but: 1. it was a Sunday night, my regular vet was closed, and I had yet to find an emergency vet. In fact, now that i think about it, it was a holiday weekend, and I looked up a list of emergency vets, all were closed except one vet, 6 hours away.
and 2. neither me or my friend could drive at the time
I called the e-vet 8 hours away, and tried to get some help over the phone, but they didn't know a thing about chinchillas. They simply said to cool him off.
mind you, this vet was listed as a chinchilla e-vet...
I sat with him for hours, as tiny seizures made his legs tremble. I was starting to panic, but still had hope for my little baby.
Eventually, the seizures stopped, and he began to walk around. I was so happy, and had thought my little guy was cured! By the next morning, he was almost back to normal, but acted a little tired. I thought that he just needed a little time to recoop, and went off to school, not all too worried.
But what I found when I got home, was heartbreaking. He lay lifeless in his Pepsi box. I'm still not sure exactly what caused his death, but I feel like it was my fault for not realizing that it was deathly hot in that room =(
R.I.P. Zazu
I got this little guy at 5 months old. He was a standard grey, my first chin.
It was mid-summer, and I wasn't as aware of the temperature as I shouldv'e been. I guess you could say this all could've been avoided with the use of the AC, but we had just moved and weren't sure if it worked or not, or how to work it for that matter.
And let me tell you, it was hot. I'd only had him for about 4 or 5 days, and went to check on him for the 1,000th time that day. Every other time i'd gone into the room, he was fine, bouncing around, acting like a normal chin. But this time, he was laying on his side, not moving, and I had thought he was dead.
I just stared at him in disbeleif for a few moments, as I have an extreme fear of dead things (don't ask) so I called my friend into the room, and she reached into his cage and picked him up. I saw his little tummy moving the tiniest bit and i took him from her, stroking him and feeling his ears. They were bright red and burning up.
I immediately ran to my laptop, looking for a cause to my chinnie's "mysterious" illness. I came to the conclusion that it was probably heat stroke. I got a bag of frozed peas from the freezer, wrapped it in a towel, and set Zazu on top of it, trying desperately to cool him off.
Normally, i would've rushed him to the vet, but: 1. it was a Sunday night, my regular vet was closed, and I had yet to find an emergency vet. In fact, now that i think about it, it was a holiday weekend, and I looked up a list of emergency vets, all were closed except one vet, 6 hours away.
and 2. neither me or my friend could drive at the time
I called the e-vet 8 hours away, and tried to get some help over the phone, but they didn't know a thing about chinchillas. They simply said to cool him off.
mind you, this vet was listed as a chinchilla e-vet...
I sat with him for hours, as tiny seizures made his legs tremble. I was starting to panic, but still had hope for my little baby.
Eventually, the seizures stopped, and he began to walk around. I was so happy, and had thought my little guy was cured! By the next morning, he was almost back to normal, but acted a little tired. I thought that he just needed a little time to recoop, and went off to school, not all too worried.
But what I found when I got home, was heartbreaking. He lay lifeless in his Pepsi box. I'm still not sure exactly what caused his death, but I feel like it was my fault for not realizing that it was deathly hot in that room =(
R.I.P. Zazu
