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[sashasmommy]

Since my last post about Star passing away, Spike (my very first chinnie) has also. Now Sophie is very lethargic and doesnt want to eat. I'm probably going to stay up with her tonight and try to make critical care for her and get it into her system. My other 3 seem ok...but so did she yesterday, as did Star and spike before they passed. It seems like Giardia, so I will be taking her to the vet tomoro god willing. Does any of this seem familiar to anyone...it is obviously contagious and hits very quickly.

Jess

[sashasmommy]

Also she doesnt seem to be pooping at all.

[Harleychin]

Hows your chinny today?I hope the vet visit goes well.
If it is Giardia you will need to disinfect everything and I would bring in fresh stools for all of your chins to be tested.
I have dealt with this once be for and it took a lot of cleaning and a few rounds of meds to get it cleared up.

[sashasmommy]

well i got her an appt for today at 2. we will see how it goes...i sat up with her for a while last night and got up and down all night to check on her. she seems more active now but still not eating really. But i think that since she made it through the night and what seemed to be the worst of it, we should be in the clear.

[sashasmommy]

and i did get stool samples for the vet too...do you kno how hard it is to get them to poop on command...lol

[Harleychin]

Boy do I!I have followed my boys with a baggie in my hand waiting for fresh ones more times than I'd like admit.

[mylittlechinchilla]

Please update what the vet says...

[sashasmommy]

well it isnt giardia. And thats all the vet can say. She took a wild guess and gave Sophie some antibiotics followed up by bene-bac and gave her some fluids. she's like new! she also gave me antibiotics for the other 3 chinnies just in case. The only way for her to really diagnose would have been a blood test I couldnt afford. So I'll never know what happened to Spike and Star I guess. Too bad we didnt catch this earlier on with them but Sophie was the only one that gave any sort of warning signs...

[mylittlechinchilla]

On the next trip to the vet, I would try to find a more experienced vet.  Antibiotics aren't always a cure for everything.  It could be something else..

[sashasmommy]

understandable, however there werent many visible symptoms..so without the blood test...

on the plus sophie seems to like me way more now. since she was sick she has a much larger appreciation for me and her daddy

[Abby W.]

I am so glad Sophie is doing better!  I agree that it would be a good idea to try to find a vet who specializes in exotics and has lots of experience with chins.  Still, even with a vet like that, there is so much we still don't know about chinchillas....it's kind of scary...even the best veterinarians will see something they didn't know about.

[Jo Ann]

  I had things explained in detail, but the machine (my old computer) froze up, so I'll just say please read carefully the two articles @ http://www.geocities.com/jobernstein1949/  named: "Girdia" and " Don't Let the Cure Kill Your Chinchilla"  Both may be of some help to you.   I do not think your chins are out of the woods yet.

   Jo Ann

[sashasmommy]

JoAnne

What do you mean by not out of the woods yet? Everything seems better with them, the cage has been disinfected. Even the doctor gave Sophie a clean bill of health.

[ABC Chinchillas]

she means it is one of those things that can easily come back.