Yesterday morning after I dusted my chinchilla, K'ulu, I noticed an abrasion on one of my chinchilla's back toes. Apparently he got it caught in something and there was a significant gash on the other side that was seeping but scabbed over so it probably happened the night before when he was bouncing around in his cage.
I strongly suspect it got caught between the wire floor and the metal tubing of the cage along the floor. Exposure to these edges was minimized by partially flooring the cage with wood and leaving the wire area under a shelf so he couldn't land straight down on it from up high. The partial wire floor was nice because he typically urinated there and not on the wood. It also made it easy to sweep the stuff from the shelves down into the cage tray.
The floor is construction cloth stretched under an open frame constructed of metal tubing and wired tightly to the tubing using bailing wire. The original floor was for parrots and had bars with 1" spacing which is super dangerous for a chinchilla so I removed that. I made sure that all cut wires on the mesh floor were carefully filed smooth so I don't think it was sharp edges that did it.
I think my chinchilla will heal up on his own although I am watching him closely for signs of infection and inflammation. He is acting normally and still gaining weight as he is a growing 4 month old. I can put him in a smaller cage but I don't want to stress him and interfere with his growing trend. I removed the upper shelves of the cage to minimize physical stress to the foot for now.
I have covered the floor over completely now with wood until I figure out what I'm going to do to fix the cage. To reduce urine on the wood I have added a pan of pine chips that I will replace with clay litter next time I'm in town. Needless to say I am not a happy camper and could be facing a vet visit if the wound infects. I am contemplating a new design to fasten the wire floor to a wooden frame using staples and add that to one side of the floor. This design should make it easier to secure the mesh solidly and eliminate the chances of a foot slipping between the frame and the floor.
So now I can say that simply wiring construction cloth to the bottom of a cage with a steel tubing frame with bailing wire from underneath the tubing is not good practice. It is too difficult to eliminate flexible gaps between the tubing and the wire mesh.
