Glenna Rogers recently wrote to us about some serious health problems her chinchilla is having. If you happen to have any insight, please respond to this posting. This particular medical problem is over our heads so help if you can.
More than a month ago, our 3 yr. old chin began having raspy breathing and his energy level began to drop. We took him to our vet, who prescribed Baytril twice a day. He seemed to get better for awhile, but the medicine tastes nasty and he hated it. He would fight taking it and would be so stressed out by the time I was done trying to administer it, that he would go to the bottom of his cage and breath hard for several minutes. The vet said there was nothing else they could give him.
Since this was not working, I took him to a vet more knowledgeable in exotics, who prescribed the pink antibiotic twice a day. Since it is sweet, he takes it like a champ. He got noticeably better at first, even running like crazy on his wheel and sleeping in his sling at the top of his cage, but then after the 12 days of the antibiotic were finished, he started going downhill again.
I took him back in and they did an x-ray, finding something in/on his lung, but they do not know what it is, only that it doesn't belong there. They have put the x-ray out on the internet for other exotic vets to look at and it is agreed that the spot isn't right, but they don't know what it is. Meanwhile, he is back on the pink antibiotic, but not doing any better. His appetite is fine, but he is losing weight. He acts like something is caught in his throat and unless he eats very slowly, his sides heave like he has the hiccups. He even does this after taking the medicine. His energy is still way down - he will only go on the floor of his cage and the one shelf above it. I am extremely worried, but I don't know what else to do. The vet is very concerned also.
Has anyone out there had a similar problem? Thank you for your comments.
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My 1-2year old chinchilla also suffers with breathing problems, he doesn't seem to have lost any waight or appetite, he is quite happy to run around when he comes out and will often play around in his cage but the problem is he seems to strugle with his breathing, his chest seems to jolt in and out a bit like hicups aswell except without the hicuppy sound although he does make a realy snorty sound like his nose is blocked though, when this sound comes on he will make the sound continuously every few seconds and eventually it will stop, somtimes he only snorts once then stops but often this will contiue for half an hour or so. This all started a few months back when i first noticed his eyes were realt watery, (he never had a runny nose), he had a big wet ring surounding both eyes, we pondered over it been a eye infection an contemplated whiping them with a warm cloth which is usually how we deal with somthing like that with pets, but then he started snorting and then his chest went realy jolty even when he was just sat on his shelf.
after about a month or so of him being like this he didnt show any signs of tiredness when he was out or loss of appetite but when he was out he would snort every 2 seconds for the whole time and for a while after being put back in. At that point we decided to take him to the vets because we were realy worried. The vet looked him over, weighed him, listened to his chest and although she cound cleary here him snorting she said whatever it was it wasnt on his chest and sugested that it was probably an ifection in his nose and gave us some antibiotics or somthing like that, that we had to sqirt down his throte with a suringe, (she did say we could put it in his water bottle but we wouldnt realy know how much he was getting, plus it was verry sower so i didnt know if he might stop drinking his water),we had him on that for a week before taking him back for a checkup, there wasnt realy any sighn of improvment but she said apart from giving him an exray there wasnt much else we could do, she also said if it was breathing problems and they put him to sleep to give him an exray there is a chance that he wouldnt wake up. she sent us away with two more weeks worth of medicine for him and told us to call if he got any worse.
after two weeks of him being on the medicine he seems alot better, his eyes have cleared masivly and he hardly snorts, but he has started to snort a bbit more again and im worried he might be getting worse. I can put him back on the medicine but i dont want for him to have to realy on it, plus he hates it and i dont know if it will work long term. the joltiness in his chest never realy cleared and right now im just keeping an eye on him to watch for any mor symptoms.
Does any one have any information on what this could be.
here is a list of things that might have caused it.
-He caught it in winter and also has his cage placed by the draft of the door. (maby its a cold).
-During winter we have our wood burner lit which can give some smoke out. (its spring now and we arn't going to light it when he is in the room in future).
-There is an ilness called Pasteurella which can be passed from rabbits, in winter we did have our rabbits indoors and when it was wet we had them running around in the room the chinchilla was in, i even let them run around together, (wasnt a good idea, they didnt get along and i didnt know the risks back then).
apart from those i cant think of anything else, i clean him out regually and he has sand baths and cleans him self, he even bites the bars to come out in the evening, (which he did stop doing when he was particually bad, but he has always done that scince i first got him), i let him out every two nights to run about for half a hour, I give him fresh water every night. any inormation on what might be wrong?
His name is Collin and i love him very much:)
I have to same problem with my chin! I'm also concerned and have no idea of the cause. Of the possible causes you listed I have none of the following. What type of bedding do you use? I'm trying to think if it was some type of allergy or something. I have two other chinchillas along with her but none of them seem to have it. The eye problem has been there for the past year but the breathing problems are very recent. Help!!
My 7 yr old chinchilla has lost a lot of weight but still eats very well. I think even more than usual with much more gusto but keeps loosing weight. Any ideas? Can he have tapeworms?