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[Bekatarian]

So I have two nearly five year old chinchillas. One female and one male. I've had them almost two years now, so long enough that I should know the answers to my own questions, yet here I am. First off I should say that their last owner did not take even decent care of them and I'm worried that some of their current health problems may be because of her treatment. We believe that the male, Sid, is blind. We've done various tests on him ourselves (to save money) and all signs point to blindness. Recently, as in the last couple weeks, I've noticed he is losing very small bits of hair around his eyes and I'm worried that might be because of the goop forming around. I've tried to carefully wipe it away but he keeps thinking I have a snack in my hand and will just nibble on me instead of letting me help him. So I'm not positive if the small bits of hair loss is from his eye goop? Secondly, the female, Cas, is losing large tufts of hair along her right side. This wasn't happening a week ago. She's typically pretty abrasive and it's hard to get a good look at what exactly is going on. I read things about females chewing their hair from stress especially during a pregnancy. I felt her belly and it was harder than it usually feels but I'm not positive if she is pregnant. I'm also not sure if chins can get pregnant at as old as 5. The two chins have been together since they were one year old and to my knowledge have never had babies. It seems unlikely to me that she would suddenly get pregnant after 4 years. I'm really not sure what to do. I'm trying to avoid the vet as long as I can. I can barely afford to send myself to the doctor and i have insurance. Of course, if need be I will take them in, just holding it off as long as possible. So what should i do?

[GrayRodent]

No one is going to know everything about chinchillas, not even the vet so I wouldn't be to concerned about not knowing what to do. I know more than the basics but don't consider myself to be an expert. I highly recommend locating a veterinarian that specifically treats chinchillas even if you aren't planning on taking your chinchilla in just in case there is an emergency. The next best thing is a vet that treats rabbits. Cat and dog vets are usually not helpful.

The chinchilla with eye goop may have some kind of eye infection or scratch on the eye which is not uncommon in chinchillas. If that eye goop doesn't go away in three days you'll want to see a vet because it probably needs antibiotics and cannot fight it off on its own. The biggest potential threat is a respiratory infection being the cause and those are very dangerous but usually eye infections are caused by things that are non-threatening and go away on their own.

The hair falling out is likely caused from it rubbing its eye on something. Check its food intake carefully. If it stops eating or starts acting depressed that would be an emergency. Also check carefully for drooling or matting of the fur on the back or under the chin. Those are also signs of serious problems that sometimes present with watery or goopy eyes. Lastly check the food for any signs of mold or dampness or smell of mustiness and that the bedding is changed at least once a week. Chinchillas are very sensitive to mold and sometimes that gets overlooked.

Blindness is less common but not unheard of. Usually it's caused by cataracts and you should be able to see them by shining a bright light at the eye. Usually you'll see blue hazy areas on the cornea. If it's not that then I don't know but I can't think of any life-threatening causes of blindness that don't present with other symptoms off the top of my head.

Loose tufts of fur are indicative of fighting. Unfortunately chinchillas can breed pretty much until they're dead. I'm not aware of them having menopause (but I could be wrong. Maybe someone who knows will comment). Five is not very old considering they often live to be 10-15 years old. It is possible one or the other is sterile though for unknown reasons but it's also possible you'll get kits when you least expect it. Separating a breeding pair is usually not advisable because of the psychological trauma it causes to the animals and neutering is ridiculously expensive and often life-threatening. So there's not much you can do about that. Pregnancy can be very hard to detect and even experienced breeders can get caught by suprise. If you suspect your chinchilla is pregnant be very careful with handling and do not put pressure on the abdomen.

The best way to monitor your pets' health is to weigh them once a week and keep track of the trend. If you see weight loss approaching 10-15% then you know it's time to get them to the vet. Sometimes by the time you see outward symptoms like depression or anorexia it is too late to save them because chinchillas hide sickness well to the end. So, if in doubt, see a vet. If it were my chinchilla I'd wait up to three days from the onset of the infection and if there are no signs of improvement or any signs of drooling or discharge from the nose I'd take him in.

[Bekatarian]

Thank you for your help! I'm fairly certain that the male has been blind since I took him. I contacted the last owner after the first couple weeks when I realized he would be missing the cage everytime he tried to jump back in and ran into everything. She said she knows he wasn't but she also told me a great many false things about chinchilla care and the chins themselves. I did a test with the flashlight and his eyes were extremely hazy. If i avoided his whiskers, he never knew my finger was there until I would accidentally touch it. His eyes have always been fairly gunky at least in the two years that I've had them. I've checked the food and just got them a brand new water bottle and food bowl. I change their bedding about every 6-8 days since I have a very very small bedroom. It might be that he's losing hair around his eyes or that it's just very very matted down from his eye problems. I just want to make sure that it won't potentially hurt him or make him lose tons more hair. He already has enough problems being blind and slightly overweight I don't want to add to it.

As for the girl, she won't let me weigh her. She's always very fast, jumpy and mean and I can't usually keep her in one place for more than a second. She doesn't get along with me very well and never really has. She barely let me get close to her to examine her missing hair and she if her belly was big. Is there another way I might check? I know the male isn't neutered but I'm not sure about the female. There were two owners before me and I never knew the first ones I'm not sure if she was neutered or if she has bred before. I've also read a lot of things about hair loss from fungus and I'm not sure if there's a way to check at home for that especially if you have a somewhat unfriendly chinchilla. I've never seen the two fight and I know that the male is super docile and calm and I've never seen him show any sort of aggressive behavior at anyone. So I'm thinking it's either self inflicted or because of a fungus. I'm hoping that I can keep the hair loss problems from spreading.

[Bekatarian]

Also worried if her hair loss problem could be contagious but I would like to avoid separating the two. Sid doesn't do well if he's away from her for too long.

[chinclub]

Cataracts in chinchillas are not that uncommon and blindness is actually no big deal to a chinchilla since they run by memory instead of sight.  (Chins with perfect eyes will run into furniture if you rearrange their playroom) However, cataracts at a young age are rare.  I did have a chinchilla many years ago that turned blind in her first year of life.  It turned out it was glaucoma.  Generally, it is no real threat however, my vet warned me that eventually pressure could build up in the eyes to the point that it caused pain and the eyes would then have to be removed. (The procedure sounds worse than it really is).  Hopefully that is not what is going on with your chinchilla but it is something to consider if he is suddenly wiping at his eyes.  If they have always been goopy then it could be a sever case of dry eye where the eye just doesn't make enough tears and instead a mucusy film begins to collect. This can also cause discomfort and cause pawing.  I haven't seen this chinchillas, myself, however I have seen it in dogs.  It just calls for some daily eye drops to help lubricate the eyes.


Ok, enough with worse case scenarios.  The blindness could have been a birth defect or a result of extreme kit fighting when he was born and may not have anything to do with the current hair loss.  Do you live in an area that gets very humid this time of year?  It could just be basic fungus, which is a pain, but it would be your best case since you don't see a vet for it.   Do you have a way to taking a picture for us?

Fungus often starts on the face and around the eyes (although it doesn't always have to).  It usually starts in a small spot and then grows outward much like a ringworm fungus does.  The skin inside the area will loose all hair and the skin will be red and flaky.  The fungus will release spores which can jump to other areas of the chinchilla and to other animals and people.  You can tell fungus from fur biting and normal slipping because non-fungus areas will begin to show new hair growth within a few days and the skin will be normal.  Fungus areas will not have any new growth and the skin will be affected.  When fungus is just starting out it may not look like bald spots right away because there is so much hair around the area/s.  You have to part the hair and actually look down to the skin.

Treatment is simple but methodical.  Visit your local drug store and get athlete's foot powder.  (Dessenex or Tinactin) Add a heaping teaspoon to one cup of dust bath and dust them daily.  You will need to remove all wood from the cage and keep cleaning the cage and the dust container and using new dust.  In about a week you should start seeing some new hair growth which means it is working.  You can then drop to every other day.  Wash your hands and arms after you handle them and shower after you dust them.