We took in a chinchilla through our shelter program awhile back and we are at a loss so I thought I would see if anyone has seen something similar.
This poor little guy had it rough! I was contacted by a person who said the chinchilla had been left at his home when the owner moved. He needed it gone right away. So my husband left work early to go get it. When he picked it up he was told that he thought something might be wrong with it. He was also told that it had never had a dust bath because they couldn't figure out where to buy it.
He was delivered to us in his "cage" which was a maybe big enough for a hamster, on cedar shaving, and with a bag of corn feed.
When he got it home I could see that something was very wrong with its front foot and I could see fur missing from under its neck. I called my vet who came over and we decided to put him to sleep so we could give him a very thorough exam. My vet reached into the cage and gave him a shot and then we waited until he was asleep to pick him up (a much less stressful situation for the chinchilla) The first thing I noticed was the horrible smell coming from this chinchilla. It wasn't infection, it was body odor!!
Then we flipped him over and I almost died! His back foot was gone and there was nothing there but a bone. His front foot was about 4 times its normal size, black, and cold. We were afraid it wasn't getting any blood and may be dead. This would mean having to remove it but we wanted to wait to be sure that was really the case. We checked the hand for any signs of injury or broken bones but could find nothing. We treated the back stump so that it would heal properly and would not get infected.
This poor chinchilla had fur lose from his "dead" hand all the way up to his mouth but there was no sign of fungus or injury of any kind, except that the skin was more pink than normal. We checked his teeth which were fine.
After doing all we could for this little guy we placed him into a larger cage so that he could move around some but kept it one level due to his injuries and waited for him to wake up. We were at a loss as to what happened to him. There was no sign of an animal attack, and no visible explanation for his very bad hand.
I contacted the person that gave him to us who did admit, then, that he got his foot caught in the cage and broke it. The owner (who moved to another country) couldn't afford the vet bill so she cut his leg off with a pair of scissors. He had no explanation for the front hand.
It has been several weeks and he is making a wonderful recovery. His back leg is doing great and he has now learned to run around like a normal chinchilla. He has graduated back into a three story cage and loves to keep me awake each night with his playing.
The front hand is also improving. Oddly enough it turns out it was just covered with a very thick black "skin/scab" that was so think we couldn't feel his warmth through it. He has been slowing chewing off this dead layer and showing red live skin beneath. Our vet is checking him regularly for any signs of infection but so far he is fine. The hand is still swollen and deformed but it is getting closer to normal size and he can now bend his fingers enough to hold a raisin with that hand.
The skin under his neck has turned back to a normal skin color and yesterday I could see signs of new fur growth...But now for the questions. The more we watch the healing of that mystery hand the more it looks like a burn. We were told that over the last few weeks the chinchilla was aloud to run around in the bathtub and on one occasion he was able to jump out. Has anyone seen a chinchilla stick its hand into an electrical socket. Could this have caused a hand burn that would singe the fur off of the neck area causing the reddened skin? I'm thinking that the hand happened after the foot which would have made it impossible for him to have jumped up onto a counter to touch a curling iron - and anyway whatever got him covered the entire hand not just the palm area.
We may never know what really happened to this chinchilla or what has caused this odd hand problem but I though I would see if anyone else had any thoughts. The good news is he is doing well and is very happy and friendly in spite of what has happened to him. He loves to come out and play and will run to the cage door for a kiss and a raisin whenever I come into the room.
