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[shadowborne]

If there is another topic already please forgive me. Silver, my chinchilla, stopped eating pretty much last week and we took her in to the vet. The vet looked her over, checked her teeth and found a little rough spot on the teeth but nothing that should have caused problem. She said she felt maybe a little bit like she had some gas buildup and gave us some of the care food stuff, it's recommended on this forum for sick chins, and some anti gas medicine and sent us home. After a day Silver will start begging for the care stuff and we feed her as what they told us to do and she was starting to eat pretty well. She recently started slacking on her pellet eating and some on the care food and I am worried about her. What could cause the loss of appetite? Her teeth are fine now, we are giving her the medicine the doctor recommended (I do not have the brand but it's store bought and verified ok for chinchilla's), and she is eating but is taking less and less. Her stools are ok, still flowing like the little factory she is, and are a normal size. They took blood while she was out and sent it off for testing but can anyone think of anything else? Sorry for the long paragraph I am at work and very worried about her, I am not even sure how to rub the tummy to see if she might still have a little gas.

Thank you

[Jenova]

Well... I've just been through this with Chong so maybe I can be a little help.
I was advised to cut down on the amount of care food I was giving Chong so that he would be hungry and eat his pellets. For example on the first few days I was giving him as much as he would eat over intervals during the day. It ended up being about 2ml in the morning and 2ml in the evenings and I was giving him 1ml of baby food as well. My vet said cut it down to 1ml of the care food at each feed so that he would feel hungry.

When he wasn't eating at all I was trying everything to get him to, even buying different brands of foods. I even bought some oft he stuff with treats in to try and temp him, but he found one brand where he would actually take a few pellets out of my hand. I put five pellets in with his normal food over night so I could monitor exactly how much he was eating. He did eat them so the next night I put twenty in with his normal food and he ate about 15 of them. I slowly fazed out the care food and he started eating the pellets. They weren't his original pellets but he was eating solid foods.

I know it's not good to change a chinchillas pellets but they way I see it is, if he was only eating the care food that's a change of diet anyway and I'd rather him eat a good brand of solid food.

I hope that helps anyway and the best of luck.

[Beth]

Hello, shadowborne.  How is the family situation?  Is it possible the little guy is stressed out?   Hope he's better soon!

[shadowborne]

The family situation has come back down to peace finally. My father started to talk to Amy last night and she even took a treat from his hand instead of barking at him but he only fed a treat talking to her and left her alone. This one is Silver, our first one and she is a little princess. She has started to eat a bit better, the doctor gave us a chin approved "pain killer" and it is a really small dose. I called the vet recommended in another post close to where I am and they said it is good just not to give to much. Well I gave recommended dose and Silver decided it tasted great and wouldn't give me back the syringe and kept licking at it and pulling on it wanting more. I eventually got it back and gave her a little bit of the critical care which she ate without a problem. Instead of giving a full syringe like I was doing and slowly working down from I had pellets. She ate 10 pellets and then wanted to be scritched. Well after scratching her, rubbing her belly, and carrying her around for 30 minutes she went into the cage, drank ALOT of water, ate a good bit of hay and food, and went to her wheel to sleep. Since she has been eating pretty well, ate 25 pellets overnight, and seems to be feeling better. She has started doing her wall walking again and likes to play escape when we try to leave the room like she used to. Thank you.

[ChillinChinchillas]

Has the chin been eating a good amount of hay? I see where you talk about the pellets, but I don't see much about the hay. I have some chins that occasionally chill out on the pellets, but I usually don't worry if they are eating a good bit of their hay. Make sure you are also monitering the water intake as well. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[Debbie.nl.ca]

I know chins can get bloat, twists and kinks in the intestines but haven't seen it myself.
One of my customers notice her chin was lathargic one day and passed the next from a kink that caused a blockage.

It could indeed be stress, some are pretty finicky, and the slightest thing can upset them.
I ussually see signs in the droppings, so if hers are normal.......I tend not to worry....as much!

We all worry,as things can change quickly in a sick chin. and we don't always have as much time as we might think.
So keep us posted OK

[shadowborne]

She eats a little bit of the timothy hay but relaly prefers alfalfa. She has started to eat a good bit of pellets and eat the hay again but has gone from enjoying being picked up to "I will bite you if you even try it" and I don't know why.

Anyway the not eating thing seems to have passed.

Thanks

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Aww that's great.
I know the vet only found a tiny spur, but that could have been enough to throw her off her feed.It could have been rubbing her cheek or jaw.
You'll want to keep a close eye on her and if she stops eating again get back to have that tooth filed down again before it gets too bad.
It's important for her to eat the timothy hay, so maybe if you sprinkled some alfalfa on it she would eat more of it.
It does take time for them to recover from an illness, but it looks like she coming around.
I'm so glad.