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[MissLii]

I have a friend who has three female chinchillas, Molly, BingBing, and Bibit. Last night he noticed BingBing’s fur was very wet around her vagina and her legs. He described the moisture as pretty clear, maybe slightly yellow, and it had a bit of a fishy odor to it as well. Shortly after she became annoyed by it and cleaned the area. He assumed it was urine and eventually went to sleep. Today he was still bothered by the whole situation and wants to make sure she is ok. He posted a response on his forum and got pretty mixed responses, so I told him I would try to help as well. A lot of people told him she was probably in heat. However, when he went to check her today she was not wet, and it did not appear that her vaginal opening was very open. So, I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for me, or have been in a similar situation. Is it possible that she was in heat, and is no longer in heat?

I also wanted to mention that a few people on his forum had mentioned that it could be cystitis? The only thing is she is not showing any discomfort when she urinates. If it is fairly new, will she show any discomfort? I hate to ask so many questions, we just want to make sure she is ok. If anyone has any advice or ideas about symptoms we should be looking for, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for your help.
 

[Lori Ramsey Earle]

This could be a uterine infection(pyometra). I had a chin with similar symptoms once, and that was her diagnosis. This is a bacterial infection(hence the fishy smell). Your friend needs the help of a vet to deal with this. Generally, a hysterectomy is advised, as this infection reoccurs. My chin was elderly, so we gave her antibiotics - she survived, but passed away within a year.
My experience with kidney infections with chinchillas is that they lose their appetite and become lethargic, but I never saw any discharge of any sort in the vaginal/urinary area. Whereas with my chin that had the uterine infection, she was absolutely soaked in the vaginal area - it was very noticeable and definitely abnormal.
Please tell your friend to take his chin to the vets to get her checked out. This is something that will not go away by itself.
Lori