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[mrpicklesmom]

Hello everyone.
I am a new chin mom of about 3 weeks now and have been bonding great with Mr. Pickles, but I wanted to know if this behavior is normal. When I reach my hand in and rub him under his chin he goes into this trance. He closes his eyes and lifts both his front legs. Don't get me wrong it's sooooo cute! Just wanted to know if this is a normal chin behavior? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[chinclub]

Yep, totally normal!!

[mrpicklesmom]

Thank you so much. I'm having a great time with him and it seems as though he is adapting nicely.

[jmdebb]

wow, you are lucky that after only three weeks he is like that.. enjoy it!!

jean

[chinchillacity]

Wow that is awesome that he lets you give him scratches in only 3 weeks!  Congratulations on your new friend

[dianah]

awww that is so sweet go around his jaw line, see what he does mine tilt their heads so you have better access! he may be a bit surprised to start with though.

[Deeliteful]

Both of mine do that and I usually rub the chest then .

[mrpicklesmom]

Thank you all so much. I'm having a ball with him. He does seem like he is gaining quite a bit of weight. How much should a grown chin weigh?

[dianah]

it very much varies, depends on the chin. i had a boy who weighed 780g, i have two who are just over 500g. what's his diet like? if he only eats pellets and hay with a very occasional treat and can run around then i'd say his weight is what it should be. if he's eating too many treats, i'd cut down. how old is he?

[mrpicklesmom]

 Thank you for responding. He is 10 months old now and he gets pellets and hay. Sometimes a raisin, maybe 1 a day.
He does get a lot of excercise though. So they do self regulate?

[dianah]

i probably would not give more than one raising a week. there's always a discussion on here about raisins and other 'unhealthy' (i know, raisins sound healthy to me! but i'm a human and not a chinchilla ) treats. there are people who would not give them at all, mine get it very occasionally, a couple times a year perhaps. sweet treats like raisins can cause health problems like gas build up - my rescue chin nearly died of this and consequential stasis although it had nothing to do with treats.

does he ever get rolled oats or rosehips? these are good healthy treats. some people give shredded wheat, i've not tried that. i do like to give mine chews rather than treats, they last them (slightly) longer and they're good for them rather than naughty.

they do self regulate but that is presuming there's only nutritionally balanced food available, same as other animals in the wild, you very rarely see a fat one and if you do, it's most likely related to a medical problem.
if they eat food that's high (higher than hay in any case) in calories, is sweet and yummy, they'll eat that. if they eat such things on a regular basis in high quantities, it causes problems because they cut out the foods they're actually supposed to be eating a lot of - hay - to wear their teeth down. mae, the rescue girl who had gut problems, was fed exclusively on banana chips and chinchilla mix. well, that's what they were feeding her, i would imagine she was mostly eating banana chips. when i found her, she had about a week to live, she had teeth problems but the vet couldn't even do an xray because she was so severely underweight that she would not have survived anaesthetic, she has a chronic bone infection in her jaw which means that she has a tusk underneath her chin as the bone's extending as a reaction to the infection (and this cannot be treated so unless it miraculously goes away by itself, she's stuck with it), her poo was non existent and she looked awful. eventually she had her xray and dental and it was expected she'd need another one in 8-10 weeks - this was six months ago and her teeth are great. she's even eating wooden chews now! she went into stasis three times, the first time was the worst, she nearly died. this means we have to be very careful with her diet, introducing new foods etc.
i'm in no way saying that giving an occasional treat would result in this - absolutely not - she was just fed the bad stuff and no good stuff but it's a good example of what the results of a bad diet are. she's a very happy and affectionate girl

[AnnieHank]

That sounds really cute that he responds to affection like that. You're lucky. My kits seem to like being petted on their backs during playtime but won't let me go near them in the cage. Their mother hates any touching at all and will bark and run away.

Dianah, what does stasis mean?

[dianah]

Dianah, what does stasis mean?

sorry, i'm shortening. it's gi stasis or gastro intestinal stasis. this happens when their gut stops moving. it's an extremely painful and dangerous condition, if it doesn't resolve, organs start shutting down one by one. it often starts out with pockets of gas in the gut (sugary foods like fruit can create gas in the gut) and as chins can't burp or fart, it's difficult to get them out. another common cause is lack of fibre/roughage in the diet which slows the gut down or stops it entirely. some medications like antibiotics that kill the intestinal flora affect gut movement and so it's very important to provide probiotics when chins are being treated with antibiotics. sudden change in diet messes things up too.
it's treated with motility medicines, strong painkillers are also necessary (these also tend to cause constipation but what can you do...), lactulose, warm compresses on the tummy and tummy massages help greatly.
it's imperative that the chin is treated as soon as possible. the symptoms are not obvious, mae seemed absolutely fine the first time she had it but she didn't poo for a whole day. so we went to the vet and she ended up going for injections every day, she had 15 in a week alone. it was absolutely heartbreaking to see her like that, even with all the treatment and stronger than usual painkillers, she was very obviously in pain and there was nothing more that we could do. she got better when she got better, the vet said that it was amazing because all the vets that saw her (two er ones, two exotics, all at the same practice) thought she was going to die.
the annoying this is that i did notice that her poo was more scarce than usual the night before but she'd always had troubles with pooping due to her previous diet and the fact she didn't know how to eat hay (she does now but it took her four months!) so i didn't think much of it... i think perhaps if i took her then it wouldn't have got so bad.

i suggest you get into habit of feeling your chin's tummy just so you know how normal feels. when they're in stasis, the tummy's harder than usual. but each chin's different, mae's tummy is harder than the other chins' i've got so you can only compare it to the normal state of the particular chin rather than a different chin.
she suffered from stasis twice more but we caught it really early and i check her tummy every time i think her poo is not what it should be

[AnnieHank]

Thanks for that. So my initial instincts to keep an eye on their pooh is not crazy, it actually has a basis! Good to know!!

[dianah]

oh no! poo is very important remember they're prey animals and will do their best to conceal that there's something wrong with them, quite often when they look sick, it's too late. i'm now quite good at recognising when mae's sick but sometimes she helps me by making this little squeeky noise - this completely disappears when we're at the vets because she doesn't feel safe in that environment, unlike at home! still she's not feeling well just the same!