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Author Topic: unexpected, unprepared parent.  (Read 4197 times)

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1newChinmom1

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unexpected, unprepared parent.
« on: June 26, 2010, 01:05:03 PM »

When my 12 year old daughter's best friend finally got the chinchilla pair he had wanted for so long, I was happy. Then him Mom turned out to be allergic. My daughter had also wanted a chinchilla for several years, and we had the room, and finances, so I said yes, we would rescue the little pair. I had NO idea what I was doing. I frantically sought information everywhere. Provided a larger habitat, reduced raisin intake, got lots of good clean chinchilla hay and the proper pellet food. All seemed to be going well.
Then before two weeks had passed, we woke up to a brand new baby! I immediately changed the focus of my research, put Dad in the original cage, made Mom some apple juice water and prayed I could speed up my learning curve.
Dad passed away. He laid down and quit eating or drinking and just left us.
Now Mom is fine, and two and a half weeks later, Baby is HUGE. Nursing seems to be going well, we hold the baby daily, with Mom's blessing, and his encouragement (he comes to the gate and makes little noise to be played with).
All seemed to be going well, until yesterday. He seemed to lose his balance and was pitching forward onto his head! It frightened my daughter (who was sitting close by) and she came to get me. I picked him up and he seemed groggy, like he was waking up from a deep sleep. He did it again once today, while I was watching. We had just cleaned the cage, and he was walking across the floor of it and pitched forward, as if his balance was gone. I waited a moment, to see if it would pass, then picked him up and could feel his little feet bracing as if he were dizzy. It  slowly passed, and he brightened right back up and returned to playing. But this all has us very concerned.
I haven't been able to find a Chin Doctor in the area (we are in Norfolk, Virginia) and I am afraid to drive him very far with the 90 degree heat we have lately.
There is no plastic in his cage, he has a cool room, and a cooling stone, he is eating well, gaining size daily, and has not changed in any noticeable way otherwise. We hold and play with our chin family in the morning and evening, spending perhaps two hours on them a day. They come to our hands and climb into our laps on their own. We do not use carpet fresh, air fresheners, or any cleaning stuff in their room, other then a broom, vacuum and paper towels. They have pine chinchilla bedding, and get fresh timothy hay everyday. Their drinking bottles are glass and metal. We clean and refresh them daily.
any ideas on why our little fellow is having problems? Is this a normal phase when growing so fast? Is there anything I can do to help him? Thank you for reading my very long post. I may not have ever seen a chinchilla a month ago, but I dearly love two of them now, and so does my daughter. ::nod::
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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2010, 07:38:53 AM »

Is it possible he could have fallen and hit his head?  Possibly from a shelf in the cage or while he was out of the cage?
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1newChinmom1

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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2010, 11:35:43 AM »

He and his Mommy are in a single level habitat, with only a chinch box (four pieces of wood that fit together like a puzzle) a gravity feeder made of metal (full of pellets)  a small chinch safe basket that he likes to curl up in with his Mommy to nurse/nap and a piece of slate to cool on. During play time, we add a cardboard type tube that has feed stuck all around - he seems to enjoy hiding in it and standing on top - balanced like rofl, and a small saucer style running toy, a few empty toilet paper cardboard rolls, which they both like to move around and ' redecorate ' with, all of which are only in the cage when we are sitting there, watching. We have a deep pile carpet in the area that we play with him in when he is out of the habitat, and we sit on the floor with him, forming a circle with our legs. The only time he is more than a foot off the ground is when he is cuddled in my lap, sleeping while I work on the computer (which he seems to enjoy very much). Although he does 'popcorn' from the house roof to his basket, and has had a few awkward landings, I don't believe he has ever fallen more than three inches. And that was onto a deep layer of Chinch pine bedding material and hay. We are going to the pet store later today (it is a bit of a drive) and getting a lava stone for their teeth, some alfalfa cubes and a new cuttle fish bone.
His Mommy has fallen on him, from the top of the cardboard tube (about 5 inches), and when she tried to sit on the feeder, and miscalculated. But he didn't show any effects at the time, not even a quack,lol. He really is a very even tempered fellow, very sweet, very friendly. His personality hasn't changed, or his activity level. Except that he popcorns a great deal more lately, and he seems to be eating hay and pellets a lot. But he still nurses too. Actually I was worried that he might need a bigger cage to jump up and down in, but now all I worry about is getting through this.  :-\ His Mommy is becoming more and more friendly, and he just acts like we are his parents too. When I put my hand in the gate, he sometimes comes up to my fingers and makes the same "hey, pay attention" noises that he makes to his Mommy when he wants to nurse or cuddle. I really do love this little Guy! ::nod::
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1newChinmom1

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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2010, 08:22:19 PM »

OK, so, he only had two of those 'fits', one on one day and another on the next day. None since! He seems to be fine, popcorning his little buns off ::silly::, eating mountains, nursing eagerly, and sleeping under Mom's tummy. How long do I need to wait before I can believe this has passed us by? When should I think he is safe? Everyday I wake up worried that he didn't. I really do adore him, and his mother. I just want to make sure I am not missing anything and that I know WHAT to look for.
Thanks for helping me. The more I know, the more I realize how much I don't know. :doh:
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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2010, 09:08:38 PM »

when you say the room was cool do you know for a fact it was 70 or lower. Chinchillas can start to overheat as low as 75 and babies have a harder time adjusting to temperatures.  Another thought do you have a salt block or other treats? what are you feeding. Too much salt can cause seizures and kits again would have a harder time regulating this. If you have anything with salt pull it out. Calcuim deficiency can cause seizures as well so you may want to check mom's teeth to be sure they are a nice orange or yellow...white means she needs more calcuim. His teeth will be white since he is a baby yet.
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1newChinmom1

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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2010, 06:48:55 AM »

OK, the  first three days it was 74 degrees in their room, but I bought a bigger air conditioner and got it down to 68 degrees. Actually I have been worried it was too cool, lol. No salt blocks, but I do have a calcium supplement bowl, made out of calcium suppliments and I put pellets in it. Percephone seems to think she is being clever when she chews on it ::) Percy's teeth are tan/light orange, but the Babes teeth are palest pale yellow. She is a very affectionate, easy going, Black Velvet, and I am not certain what the Father was.
Cereberus ended up only having two seizures, one on one day, and another on the next day. I still have no idea what caused them. He is now a month old, growing like crazy, eating like a little piggy, and as active as can be. He is friendly (jumping into our hands, snuggling in our necks, noseying with us). No apparent lasting ill effects so far. I still wake up every morning, worried we may have lost him in the night. But every morning he greets me at his habitat gate, reaching through with his little hands, begging to be held and loved.  :blush2:
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know. ::)
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Debbie.nl.ca

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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #6 on: July 04, 2010, 07:06:56 PM »

Quote
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
::clapp::
Didn't some one famous say that  :D

I could it be over heating, but that too depends on what they are used too.

If you took one of chins to Florida it would sweat. ;D  { I know chins don't sweat}

Being just a baby and easily excited, he could have just been over doing it at 74.
I don't let my chins run over 70, they're just not used to it. When it does get hot all they want to do is laze around.

And yes you may never know for sure. Let's hope so. That would mean he never has another seizure.
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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #7 on: July 05, 2010, 09:46:43 AM »

 ::silly::  Sounds like it could have been one or more of a number of things:
1)   Temperature is a huge factor.  I keep my little ones a 68 winter and summer.  74 for a tiny kit under a mom that is a bit on the warm side herself, could have triggered it.  You might consider getting a couple of chin chiller stones (local hardware store, flooring department, 12" square marble or granite tiles ... the thicker the better).
2)  Had you cleaned the carpet with in a week of the first "stupor or seizure type" reaction?  If the carpet has been cleaned, any residue left from the cleaner could travel through the bottom of the feet of the kit and affect his system adversely.
3)  Lack of calcium can cause seizures ... mom's teeth should be yellow to orange at all times.  If they seem to lighten during nursing, a calcium supplement would be a good idea.  Cuttlebones found in the bird section are good calcium supplements.
4)  Lack of certain vitamins, with the size this is doubtful ... but ... dried papaya and dried rose hips are a great treat and has needed minerals and vitamins their system needs.
5)  Mom's fall on the kit could have caused a little damage, luckily kits seem very resilient at this age.
6)  When a kit has a seizure and only one within a two week period, you are usually safe.  Having had two, brings a question, but, no additional ones brings light to the end of the tunnel.   :)  I would watch him closely for a nother couple of weeks ... if no more occur, I would not worry.  If there are more, your vet would need to run some blood tests to rule out different possible problems and give possible solutions.   :)

You will continue to find that the more you learn, the more you will learn, you still have much more to learn.   :::grins::  This is one thing I mention on my website many times.  Mine is one for beginners (soon to be or current) with new chinchillas or those wanting to breed chinchillas.  There's lots of information on it, just don't let it over whelm you, should you choose to check it out.    ;)

Hope this helps a little.

 ::wave::  Jo Ann
www.luvnchins.com/
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1newChinmom1

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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2010, 02:27:58 PM »

Thank you so very much, Jo Ann and Debbie :::grins::! And everyone here who has answered my moronic ( but essential) questions. I have visited every website available from this Chinchilla club, and feel a bit more comfortable, even a bit better informed.
To address the carpet cleaner question, no, we only vacuum the rug, and we roll the habitat two rooms away before we do that, for fear of frightening them. I added the calcium supplement bowl since his stumbles and they both nibble away on it. The previous owner (bear in mind only the Mother and her companion were around then) had them living in 86 degrees for two weeks! Now they live in 64 to 68 degrees, depending on the time of day - and never in front of the air conditioner.
They have one chin-chiller stone in the water bottle and vitamin/apple juice water end of their cage, and the roof of their little chinchilla house is made of slate (which they seem to enjoy very much).  ::nod::
His Mom does seem to be intent on having him sleep under her most of the time, And I have noticed that when their room gets it's coolest (64 degrees - about 6 in the morning) she keeps him bundled in the chin house - behind and under her. Could they be too cold now :-\?
Also, I have noticed that since I brought down the temp, someone has been chewing the Little Mothers' fur! She now has a circle the size of a silver dollar on her right side, below midline. It wasn't there before! :::((( She had a similar patch further back, on her left side, when she came to us, but it was referred to as a "mating patch". I have had my hands so full trying to keep up with the day to day panic, I haven't gotten to figure this "mating patch" thing out yet. ::think:: But now I am wondering if she was fur chewing all along! I never see her do it, and I thought chewing was due to stress? I am beginning to wonder if I will ever be a competent Chin Mom! ???
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know! ::shrug::
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Debbie.nl.ca

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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2010, 09:53:31 AM »

Quote
I am beginning to wonder if I will ever be a competent Chin Mom

No one here can say they have never felt that way.
When something goes wrong we all second guess, but we all learn.

Your doing all the right things, research being at the top of the list.
I used to think I'd never get it all in my brain, and then I noticed when folks start asking questions I could go right into a sermon.  :D

I'll never know it all, but I'm still stuffing info into this brain. ;)
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1newChinmom1

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Re: unexpected, unprepared parent.
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2010, 06:44:57 PM »

Thanks Debbie! As a retired nurse who spent a large part of my childhood on a working farm/ranch, I thought I  would be just fine with any type of animal - that was my first mistake,lol :2funny: . I have since realized that  Chinchillas aren't just an animals, they are little furry babies with their own set of rules  ::nod:: . Now all I gotta do is find a way to resist the little furry bottoms!  ::) Our little Mother looks at me with those big chocolate eyes and I just melt every time.  :blush2:
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know!  :doh:
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