HELP i think my chin is in shock!!

I let my little brothers (11 and 12) play with my chinchilla for a bit to give him some exercise for the day, which I have done many times before with no problems Which I will never do again And one of my brothers brought my chin back with really bad fur slip and smelled like pee, so from that point I just assumed he was spooked and needed time to chill out while I made sure he was ok. Then I put him in his cage and he was laying very flat and he made an attempt to crawl to his hut to get away from everyone but he couldn't stand up. I did move the hut so he could get to it but for about 30 minutes he crawled into his hut and layed there. He tried to walk but he had a limp. For about 20 minutes he sat in the corner of his cage or limped to another corner (also during this time he wouldn't accept any treats). But now he's walking around fine and even jumping on his ledges. I even tested to see if he would take a bath like my breeder suggested to a friend and he took the bath. I think he may be in shock and I'm going to take him to a vet tomorrow morning.

Any help will be appreciated. I know it was dumb to let my little brothers play with him, please don't remind me. I'm extremely worried.

Need help with introducing 2 chinchillas

Hi all.
I need help with my chinchillas but it is quite complicated. I adopted a 3 year old female chinchilla Misha. She's very friendly. Then later I rescued a 5 year old chinchilla, Chika, from a pet store that had lived on her own in a tiny cage. She barked and peed and she doesn't like being picked up. I've had her for 2 weeks now and she's doing very well with me but she still doesn't like to be held. I've tried to introduce her to misha. Their cages sit next to each other and I let them into a room they've both never been into and let them run around. Chika and misha sniff each other and seem okay until chika starts spraying and jumping towards misha. Misha seems to just want to be friends. No injuries have happened but there is a lot of fur slips.
Can anyone help? Will chika ever be able to be friends with misha? Must I just keep trying? I am so nervous!
Thanks in advance

Normal or bad?

Hello everyone,

I am a chinchilla parrent since 1 month and a half to a boy baby chinchilla who is only 3 months.
I am writing here because two days ago I started to hear for the first time my poor chin sneezing.
I thought is because my mother in law has cleaned the floor with a little more detergent that I usualy put in the water (she is with us only for a week for the Holidays) but yesterday the baby sneezed again and today I heard him again.
I searched through the internet and I searched for eye or nose gunk and he doesn't have it, but now in his sleep is making some noises as he is crying or something like a very silent baby crying.(or a baby dog)
The only vet in this city is on holiday as I already called him, and I have no other vets in the area that knows at least something about chinchillas. (I am from Timisoara, Romania)
I also think that last night he wasn't very agitate as he ordinary is (usually all the toys are all around his cage) and also last evening he stayed in my arms a lot more than usualy and he also fell asleep at some point in my hand.. It's not the first time that he sleeps in my hands, but now he was more not lethargic, but he stayed there a lot...

Could it be normal? maybe he is just tired, or maybe he just sneezes like me (I sneeze everyday :)) a lot I would say and I am not alergic and not with flu)...

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. ( I really love my baby chin and I am almost crying while writing cause I don't want anything to happen to him)

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San Francisco, CA

VCA All Pets Hospital
269 S.Van Ness Ave
San Francisco, CA 94103

M-F: 7:00am - 7:00pm
Sat: 8:00am - 6:00pm

(415) 861-5725

http://ift.tt/2zaSrMu

They are the only one I can find in the entire city that treats exotic animals.

LUCKILY there is also AIMSS right down the block from me, for off-hours emergencies and they treat chins as well.

Animal Internal Medicine and Specialty Services

1333 9th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122

(415) 566-0540
www.aimss-sf.com

Fur Chewer

Let me start with, it has been a few years since I had chinnies. I have never has an issue with fur chewing in any of my past chins. So recently I acquired a pair and the female who is so sweet and beautiful is a chewer. Is there anything I can do to help distract her? I assume I should take her to the vet and have her checked to make sure she has no underlying issues. Maybe I can get some more info from the girl she came from. I was not the first stop in her rehoming. :sad:

Bump on ear!

I don’t know what this is, and I’m terribly confused— help?

Trying to be a better chinchilla owner?/

Hi!
I am new to this site and this is my first time posting so I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong thread but I need advice on caring for my chinchilla.

I am 16 so I live at home with my parents, the chinchilla is mine though, so everything I want to do has to get passed them. That is the first problem because a little while ago I had a concussion which worried my parents on how I slept, anyways long story short my chinchilla can no longer stay with me in my room overnight. The problem was that he was in my room all the time and now my mom makes me move him before I go to bed in a totally different cage downstairs so I can get good sleep. I feel like this is bad for him though because I constantly have to move him which I feel like must cause him a lot of stress? We keep him in my room during the day though because we want him to be around people as much as possible throughout the day so he doesn't get lonely. Is there a better way to do this? I can't leave him in the common rooms so I have been leaving him in a "storage room" at night. It is a good temperature and carpeted and stuff like that, it just doesn't get a lot of attention.

Secondly, I used to let my chinchilla out in my room to play because it was the most convenient at the time. After him chewing on my wood bed and me being worried that he would get to something that could possibly hurt him, I decided to take him to the bathroom or playroom to play. I always have issues getting him there though, since he doesn't have a cage there and I have to pick him up. Sometimes he doesn't mind me picking him up, I think he bonded to me, but other times he doesn't really like being picked up too much and I don't want to stress him out too much. Is there a better way to do this because I hate deciding whether to make him angry or skip play time so I keep him less stressed but then he doesn't get to play? I use the dust bath to get him in after he is done playing but I don't think using it twice is good but I'm not really going on anything so I am not too sure?

Third (I know this is long, yikes) I want to get my chinchilla a critter nation so he can have a proper cage. The whole two cage thing is really throwing me off so I have a smaller one in my room during the day and a big one downstairs at night because I assumed that he would want to play more and have more room downstairs. I am guessing the ultimate goal for me would be to somehow come up with a way to get him in one cage all day and all night in one location and then invest in a critter nation cage. If the two cage thing is okay and you guys think it wouldn't stress him out too much, is there any cages you would recommend because the ones I have now aren't good and I know that but they were kind of temporary cages that ended up lasting way too long.

Also, am I supposed to take my chinchilla to the vet once a year like a dog? I just thought of it the other day and now I am freaking out because I never took him and I'm scared that he might be sick and I just never knew. He hasn't shown any symptoms I think I am just being paranoid but is it something that I should do anyway?

Those are my four main questions but if you have any advice based on this or any random advise you think may apply please let me know. I am so stressed about this but I am so cluless and it's hard because unless i know for sure it's hard to fight my parents on it if that makes any sense.
Thanks so much if you made it through all of this I know it has been long!

Tricky diarrhea

Hi all,

I’ve had experience with Giardia (mushy poops) on multiple occasions, but never diarrhea in a liquid state. One of my chins has had it for 4 days now, but here is the weird thing. It only seems to be a small quantity (from the amount I’ve had to spot clean in the cage) and it only happens in the late morning hours. By the time I check on him again in the evenings after work, his poop has solidified. Granted not as smooth textured as normal, but not mushy at all. This has been going on for 4 days now, taking him to the vet this weekend.

I feed him a healthy diet (no Charlie or VitaCrap) but have taken him off his Oxbow pellets for now, only hay. Usual treats are shredded wheat or cheerios... dried fruit just once a week. Our other chin is eating the same stuff and is free of any digestive problems. I ordered some pet pectillin but am still waiting for it to arrive. He seems in all other respects perfectly normal. Energy level, appetite, water intake, general behavior. He’s very alert and inquisitive and that hasn’t changed. I have a follow up vet appointment this Saturday.

I took him in for the same thing a couple of months ago, but after a battery of tests (fecal float, blood, urine and ultrasound) the vet ruled out giardia and parasites, but couldn’t find anything conclusive. And it seemed to pass on its own w/o medication. The only other thing the vet can think to check are his teeth and perhaps give him some antibiotics, but we’ll wait until she can see him in person.

I wouldn’t have guessed that diarrhea could be so fickle. I would have thought that it would be more of a constant state until recovery. Have any of you had a similar experience with your chin?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Moving Soon

Gonna move across country in March. Two of us are planning on driving 3 chinchillas, two of which refuse to get along, and a cat from New York to Nevada. I was looking into Ryerson's 3 hole chinchilla carrier, but the pictures are so small I can't tell what it looks like. Are the walls between fenced or solid? Would I need a couple collapsible cages for breaks or should they be fine in the carrier cages for 30 or so hours with ac and food/water stops? will stop to let the cat stretch his legs and use the litter box and eat and offer the chinchillas food and water while i'm at it every 4-5 hours. gonna try and stop at my aunt's house in colorado to put them in a bigger cage to run around a bit and to have somewhere to sleep without worry about the animals.

If anyone has a better picture of the Ryerson carriers that would be greatly appreciated.

Any advice is more than welcome.

Can you re-bond chinchillas after blood is drawn?

Hi, I wrote out the story of my two current male chinchillas and why they may be fighting but it was a WALL of text, and that was after editing it, so I'm just going to ask the simple question and the point of that wall of text; My chinchillas were bonded, they had a falling out, one of them has drawn blood, is there any hope of them bonding again? I know chinchillas sometimes just decided they don't like their cage mate anymore but I was still going to attempt to re-bond them until I heard that after blood is drawn that they need to stay separated. If there is hope of potentially bonding them again, are there any tips or tricks that would help the process? Thanks!

Pyometra

I noticed my 10 year old girl Annie had a white discharge yesterday so I took her to the vet today and she was diagnosed with Pyometra. They did a swab which showed bacteria and white blood cells, an ultrasound and xrays which didn't really show much. Other than the discharge she has been acting normal, eating, pooping etc. The vet prescribed 7 days of Baytril .6ml dose 2x a day.

Has anyone had any good outcomes with just antibiotics? The vet thinks surgery on a 10yr old would be risky and recommended we start with the antibiotics and hopefully that will clear it up.

I'm concerned because most of what I'm finding says it can't be cured and surgery is necessary so trying to find out others experience and if anyone was cured with antibiotics alone.

All information and experiences are welcome.

Thank you!!

Scary behavior..?

3 months ago, my chinchilla finnegan was born! I’ve been his best friend, and my family has grown to love him to pieces!

About three days ago, I notice some odd behavior. First, he was oddly warm 5-6 days ago and it worried me, he hid under his little jumps. I covered his cage and he came out, so I assumed it was the new light I put in my room.

The next day, he acted strangely but wasn’t warm anymore.

The day before yesterday, Yesterday and today, he’s acted like he doesn’t know me. He’s also starting digging at his puppy pad and ripping it up. When I go near his cage, he sticks his nose out and if I let him sniff me, he bites me.
When I stick my hand in the cage, he starts circling it and sniffing and trying to bite. I’m extremely confused and worried about him. He has food, water, hay and all his toys. I let him run around the room but since he started acting odd, I don’t let him out, just out of fear that he’ll hurt himself.

I don’t have money to see a vet, so does anyone have any ideas? Experienced any of this???

Chinnie Goodies

It's been awhile since I've had any chinchillas. I recently acquired one. The master list seems to be a little outdated and I'm not sure which websites are still active or not. I've been out of the current go-to websites to buy things for chinchillas. Looking to purchase a hay box, blue cloud dust, and whole rosehips, mainly.

Bonding my two female chins

I have two females about a year old. I had them out for there first playtime and everything seemed to be going good, in the beginning they were both running around ignoring each other or would go up to each other then continue to ignore one another they sniffed each others butts then once again ignored each other there was some soft going on ones back which I know was the one trying to show a little dominance which I was told to expect but from that point everything was looking pretty good they didnt pay much attention to each other but at the end one of them ran up to the other and a little bit of fur was taken out of course I ended things there immediately. But there was no spraying no going up on hind legs fighting pretty much sniffing each other and ignoring for the most part until that last incident. People have said to keep them in there cages for a few days then to try again but I’d like opinions and feedback on how this went what’s normal what’s to be expected because this is my first time I have no experience just going off the internet and fellow chin owners experiences

Chinchillias no longer getting along

I've had my chinchillias for about a year now and my female ended up getting pregnant. Recently the kits stopped weaning and i tried putting my female back in with my male but they keep trying to fight. they are fine when they are loose in a play pen but if i leave them in the cage together they chase each other and bark. Does anyone know if they will eventually be okay with one another or will they have to stay separated.

Peeing on Fleece

I have four beautiful 7 year old girls. About a year ago i moved them to two Ferret Nation cages. I have been having issues with messy butts ever since =/ As you know, the shelves are plastic and must be covered in fleece. I have heard of many people allowing their chins to pee on fleece and have no issue. For whatever reason, my girls get very dirty bottoms when they pee on fleece. Its mostly just my two bigger girls that have the issue. I cover most of the fleece with bedding so that they can pee on that instead, but they often times prefer to pee on the fleece. I am worried about their hygiene. Sometimes their butts become very wet. I use a layer of fleece, two layers of towels topped off by another layer of fleece. Am i missing something? Is there any way to deter them from peeing on the fleece?

Alternate Wheel - running carousel

What do people think about this running carousel?

http://ift.tt/2nKvP51

Our chins have been steadily beating their 16 inch metal wheel into the ground. They run super hard at night and I'm wondering if this might be a good alternative for when we have to take it out/fix it/it needs to be replaced.

My only concern is that it seems to encourage the chin to run at an angle-- kind of curving around. I know wheels that are too small in diameter are no good for chins' backs -- do people think running at an angle like this might have bad long term affects in the long run? Any opinions would be much appreciated! :)

Here are some videos of chins running on them:
http://ift.tt/2nPXtOi

http://ift.tt/2nKvQ95

Chinchilla skin health problem

I have male chinchilla boy for 6.5 years, and he never had any health issue.
Today I saw this hair loss around his ear, and it seems to be itchy, because he's itching very often in that area.
I am suspicious about ringworm here. Does anyone has any other idea?
I have to wait until Monday to bring him to the vet, but to be honest there is no good exotic vet in my town.. :/

Attached Images

djuka5.JPG (18.7 KB)

Bad Fall

Hey all! First of all this is my first post and second I’m very happy I have ran across this site! It has been like my bible since bringing home our 2 mo old chin!

However, tonight during play time he had taken a leap out of my arms... landing on his head/neck! He bounced right up and headed for his cage. He started limping, hopping, and being some what spastic all at the same time. He calmed down and I checked his little body over. Nothing seemed to bother him and he’s acting just fine now. Eating, drinking, and playing normal. Not sure if his movements were out of fear or hurt? Has anyone else had an experience as such?

Dental exam/x-rays

My chinchilla had a dental exam an X-rays done today because she has been pawing at her mouth and grinding her teeth a lot lately. The vet said everything looked normal. After the appointment she seemed fine, she was eating hay an pellets, no issues but after an hour or so of being home she seems to almost be in pain? An she wants nothing to do with her hay an pellets now. She did not have any dental work done an I know it can take them a little bit to come completely out of feeling groggy from the sedation but I just didn’t know if the exam itself would cause her to be in pain? An if it does how long before she goes back to normal?

Cage Rattle

Hi All!

I hope everyone is having a great day. I have ordered some really nice new wooden cage shelves from My Critter Store. They are wonderful but they are only anchored to one side of the cage (previous shelves had nuts and bolts that anchored to 2-3 sides of the cage at once). We have a Ferret Nation 142.

My main issue is now when my chin bounces from one shelf to another the cage rattles. This seems to be stressing her out.

Are there any quick fixes to quiet down the cage?

Thank you so much!

Help With New Chinchilla

So we got our 12 week old chinchilla named Winter on Thursday night. We did what we were instructed. Placed her in her cage and let her acclimate. My daughter would lay down next to the cage and speak quietly to her, but she got spooked by something and ran and hid behind her wheel and started what i would describe as a barking sound. On Friday we did the same, let her continue to acclimate. I also put in her dust bath and she took a bath. However on Saturday we had company over and while no one went into the room we noticed she was hiding and barking more. Now, she will come out and explore her cage when we are not in the room and she is eating and drinking. Its been 4 days and whenever we enter the room she runs and hides. When i open the door and put my hand in just to clean the cage, not even near her (she pulls all of her hay out of its bin) she hides and makes the barking sound. We make a tongue clicking sound whenever we enter the room to let her know we are there. And we are always quiet when in the room. I'm worried that she will never come around. Is there something we should or shouldn't be doing? do we just need to be patient and give her more time? I'm very worried about her.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks!

ISO Chins In AZ

Looking for another chin in AZ, if you have a bonded pair or one for re-home let me know as I may be interested.
Looking for Mosaic, Beige, or White Violet.
Preferably under 2 years old.
If you can no longer care for your chinchilla and it may be older than 2 I know others looking or I may be willing to take them.
:HH:

New chinchilla owner-HELP!!

Hello!
I'm a new chinchilla owner and I'd like to make the best possible environment for my new chinchilla. I got my new chinchilla yesterday. He’s the cutest, most adorable, super fluffy thing I’ve ever held! I can barely believe he’s real😁. Chinchillas are officially my new favorite animal! He’s been so perfect. He loves to be held, he loves his cage, he’s fun. But I’ve got one problem. He won’t leave his cage! If I reach in to grab him he’ll yell at me. It’s scares me because the sound he makes is similar to the sounds I’ve heard other animals make when they’re in pain. He seems fine though and he only makes that sound when I try to get him out. I don’t understand, what’s wrong with my chinchilla? What should I do? I gave him some toilet paper rolls, I think he may be eating them. So I’ll probably stop giving him those. I’m getting chinchilla dust off of amazon along with a little bath house and a wood den. I put a ferret hammock in his cage, so far he’ll test it but he won’t actually get in it. I could really use an advice from an expert or even an experienced chinchilla owner. I have a had a lot of experience with other animals and I'd like to know if the chinchilla has similar needs as the animals I've taken care of before. I also would appreciate any advice I can get as a new chin owner. I've had dwarf hamsters, hamsters, gerbils, ferrets, cats, dogs, rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs and some others that aren't even close to the same category as a chinchilla. What similarities do chinchillas have to these animals? I've done a lot of research on the chinchillas and I'm feeling kinda confident, but I don't won't to make any fatal mistakes. We had some ferrets that would die soon after being bought, we still don't even know why they got sick and died so quick. I'd like to have this chinchilla last years, so what are some suggestions? Here's what I've got for my chin so far; a cage that we've used for our ferrets before-it's tall and has plenty space for exploring and has multiple levels. That's basically it, though we have a water bottle and a food container. I'm planning to just feed the chin rabbit and guinea pig food, from what I've read this is okay. I've read that chins overheat easily, does that mean they don't need bedding? Should I give the chin a liter box? If so, then would it be okay to use cat liter? Do they even need a liter box? Could I use old ferret stuff? I have some ferret hammocks and a ferret tower, would either of these be okay to give the chin? The room I'm putting the chin in isn't really chin-proof, so I can't really let him roam in there. Would it be okay to just let him roam on my bed during the "roam-time" or on the floor with a gate like you'd use for a rabbit? With my small rodents like gerbils and hamsters, I've never really had to worry about their teeth growing too long. I'd just give them toilet paper rolls that have had the toilet rolls or egg cartons to chew on. For our rabbits, I wasn't the main person taking care of them, but from what I remember, we didn't have to worry about their teeth either, though they had wood to chew on. However I noticed that we needed to trim our rabbits toe nails. Will I need to trim the chinchilla's toe nails? I wouldn't think so. Also I saw somewhere that they need wood chips or something at the bottom of their cage. Again I've never had to worry about this type of thing for my gerbils and hamsters, because they'd always make their own chips by chewing up the toilet paper rolls. For our rabbits, we didn't worry about wood chips either, in fact the cages we had them in were homemade wire cages so we couldn't really give them wood chips. BTW I have boy and during my research I saw that with the boys they need to be checked for hair rings monthly. What do you do when you find a hair ring? Just take it off? Are there any other things that I need to do regularly to prevent health issues? From what I've read chinchillas are super sensitive and I'm scared that I might do something to upset them. The room I'm going to put my new chin in is relatively quiet. It's probably one of the quietest rooms in the house. Something else I found in my research is they can smell other animals. We still have cats and a dog, they're the only "predators" we have. The cats stay in the backyard and the dog is basically free roam, but the dog doesn't come in this room very often. The only other animals that will be in this room are one gerbil and a couple betas (fish). I doubt the fish will be a problem, but I'm wondering if the chinchilla will have an issues with the gerbil. I wouldn't think so. I'm super nervous and I can't believe that I even have a chinchilla.

Thanks for any advice you can give me!
-Josie

P.S. I named him Bartholomew; Barry for short, like the flash.

Kit Injured During Birth

My chinchilla girl recently gave birth to a kit, but seems to have gotten over enthusiastic when cleaning it off, as the kit now has a large area on its head of matted fur and I believe scabbing. The kit is running around and acting fine, but I'm worried about there maybe being moisture trapped under there or the site possibly getting infected. Below is the best picture I could get of the wound.

New cage and potty training

My roommate and I recently switched to a new cage (Feisty Ferret) and our previous cage had a solid bottom which we covered with bedding. The new cage has wire bottoms which we have covered with fleece that is chinchilla-safe and put in a corner litter box with bedding, but they are only about 5 months old and still pee in other places. Is there anyway to get some sort of addition to the cage which would allow us to cover with bedding? It doesn't smell as good as it did with all bedding, and I feel a little bit out of my element here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Also - if there is a forum that would fit this type of information, I would love to know what it was, because I had a hard time finding information on this type of thing!