A few months ago, one of my chinchillas was sneezing alot. I took both chinchillas to the vet and she listened to the males chest and said it sounded like kennel cough. She prescribed baytril for him and septrin for the female (she was pregnant at the time). We dutifully administered the antibiotics twice a day for two weeks and a few days after the course of antibiotics, he stopped sneezing and we were happy enough he recovered. The female never sneezed but was treated as a precaution. During this, both chinchillas were active and droppings were normal. Feeding seemed unaffected so apart from the sneezing, they both seemed healthy and happy as normal.
The female gave birth to two healthy kits about 8 weeks ago and everything has been fine since. The odd sneeze from one of the four of them, which scares the life out of me but nothing like the sneezing attacks of before.... until yesterday. I'm not sure which of the kits is doing the sneezing but there is alot of it coming from their cage. I have an appointment with the vet tomorrow and I'm going to have to bring all four in groups of two. Apart from the sneezing, activity, droppings and feeding is completely normal.
What I'm asking is if anyone has had experience of this sneezing, is there any way it goes away by itself? Is there a way to diagnose them without bringing them to the vet? The task of bringing them to the vet seems to be a distressing event for them, not to mention having to force feed the antibiotics for 2 weeks. They both stopped trusting me completely after the last time and it took a good while to build up the trust again afterwards. The female still won't let me pick her up without a struggle. I love my chinchillas and wouldn't begrudge the expense of the vet if they truly needed it but I'm a student so this is going to be difficult.
Also, does anyone have any idea what causes this and how to stop it recurring? I don't have any other pets, and I don't come into contact with any other animals very regularly at all. The apartment is usually a comfortable 21C (I think that's about 69F) with no drafts. I don't spray any chemicals and I clean the cages and the items in the cage regularly. I can't think of anything else that could be causing this but I'm very upset that it's happening again and so soon after the last time.
I would appreciate any help and advice.
Thanks
Dee
