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[Lizzies Gma]

Once upon a time our daughter met Lizzie, the chin (we call her a "chilla" thanks to a visiting youngster) at her high school animal sciences  (animal care, grooming, etc.) course.  Genny graduated and spent the next year attending community college, living at home, and visiting Lizzie each week.  When Lizzie's nominal owner graduated the following year, she gave Lizzie, cage, and all, to Genny.  A few months later, Genny went off to college, living in a no pets dorm.

For several years, all was well. This summer, Genny was home and noticed that Lizzie's tail was limper than usual.  The vet said that hubby or I may have (really, honestly) very accidentally pulled in when trying to catch her (we let her out of the cage daily to run around Genny's room). The tail was out of joint and, by the time Genny noticed it, it was too late to do anything about it.

Lizzie started chewing on her tail, to the point of having it bleed in several places.  The vets (we've been to all the vets at the Pender Exotic Veterinary Center in Fairfax, Va, where we live) said it is probably due to pain or discomfort from the tail. Her tail has been bandaged for at least 6 weeks.  Every few days, she gets the binding off and we have to redo it.  She's had a plastic "collar of shame" for about a month to keep her from chewing her tail.  It works, mostly, though she detests the collar, can't grip anything to feed herself with it on, and still gets the tail binding off every few days.

We are at our wits end.  The vets said we could have her tail amputated, though she still might chew the stub--or her rear.  We discussed giving her gabapentin, which my hubby takes for back pain and a cat (we have 4 rescue cats) should take for over grooming.  Everyone's been checked for ringworm and other options.  The vets can't find any info. on the reaction of chins to meds that might work, including gabapentin.  So, Lizzie is currently scheduled to have her tail amputated on Monday.

We've had a rescue house rabbit, gerbils, hamsters, and cats; we try to care for pets as family members.  I simply don't have, and can't find, information to help Lizzie.  We're told her chewing is likely due to pain or discomfort. We let her off the collar for about an hour/day (all we can manage because we have to watch her constantly to see if she's chewing on herself).  We don't dare let her run around the room anymore.  With her collar on, she gets very frustrated because she can't jump; with it off, she hides and chews on her tail.  She could be bored--but we don't know what to do--we used to let the cats in the same room (though not when she was loose).  Lizzie obviously liked to taunt them.  We haven't been doing that because she seems very agitated now when they are nearby.

I hope you have advice or resources we can check on.  I haven't found any chinchilla health researchers to ask about drug possibilities.

Thanks for your time and attention,

Sue Marcus

[Jenova]

To be honest from my experiences the collar should not be used a lot. Cheech had one when her leg was in a cast it it stops them acting like a chinchilla and makes them miserable. They can't use their hands/ arms to eat or clean and get messy etc. If it's out of joint, I would go for amputation if there is no other option. My Cheech had a drug called Meloxicam (either called Metacam of Loxicom) as a pain killer and this agreed fine with her.

I just hated to see her in that collar. I'm sure your chinnie would learn to cope and balance without some of the tail. It's probably irritating her as it's flopping about. Just my opinion though. Good luck with whatever you decide.