You and your vet can find a world of information at the California Chins website. It is a research group in California for Chinchillas. They often do do consults with vets. You can find them at:
http://www.cachins.org/ They also have information and several recipes for chinchilla supplements you may find very helpful.
A chinchilla's health is often directly related to the health of it's teeth and it's digestive system. The teeth are the instruments for the ability to start the digestive system. When they are not able to be used normally, for whatever reason, your help, as their chin parent, and your vet's experience and help will probably be needed for him to survive. Tooth problems may be what is called malocclusion, or something stuck between his teeth or even a cracked tooth or spur on the tooth. An X-ray should tell you this if the exam cannot. If he can not chew his own food, it's up to you!
Here's a recipe I have used many times for my little ones:
Homemade Critical Care
1/2 cup ground Alfalfa Hay
(Timothy or Meadow Hay is OK, but Alfalfa is the richest ... whatever you can find that is fresh and crisp)
1/8 cup rolled oats
(Not the kind with the Quaker on the box ... the natural ones that came from a field
... they can be found in a feed store usually or from someone that raises horses)
1 capsule acidophilus (found in most health food stores) Keep bottle in refrigerator once it has been opened!
5 or 6 drops Pedialyte
(I use Gerber baby food apple flavored individual size bottle because pedialyte
is only good for 24 hours after opening.) The rest of the bottle I use in the water
bottle 2 ounces at a time. Empty, wash and rinse between filling.
2 small air-tight containers
Instructions:
(1) Grind the alfalfa hay and the rolled oats in the blender or coffee grinder (Wait for dust in container to settle before removing the top or you will have a green dust cloud floating in the room.)
(2) Allow powder to cool in refrigerator for about 15 minutes before adding acidophilus!
(3) Empty one capsule of Acidophilus into the powder mix.
(4) Use a table spoon of mixture with a few drops of the pedialyte to moisten it.
(5) Form little 'foot balls' about the size of a raisin.
(6) Give your chin 2 or 3 at a time at least 4 times a day. More often, if he will eat them.
(7) Store extra 'footballs' in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
(
Store left over powder mix in another air-tight container in the refrigerator.
(9) Store Acidophilus in Refrigerator at all times after you open the bottle!
The necessity to store in the refrigerator is because the acidophilus contains the flora needed to keep the digestive system working properly in order to keep it working as needed. Acidophilus must be kept refrigerated to remain viable.
Your chin's poop/feces should always be oval shaped, moist and firm ... and allot of it ... not small, not hard or dry, and not mushy wet either. When a chin is sick or having problems, I keep a layer of white paper towels or butcher paper as a lining in the cage ... check it to see any changes in the poop and change the paper daily. This can be a constant check on the digestive system. When the poop/feces changes, your chin's health is changing. There should be lots of poop ... a decrease in the number, size and/or texture of the poop usually means there is a problem. Poop can be one of the first signs of illness in a chinchilla. This will be obvious long before you may notice any other sign in time to help him get well a.s.a.p.
If a chinchilla's digestive system is not working properly, he can get stopped-up or constipated. For humans, this is uncomfortable and can cause pain ... for a chinchilla it can kill. When a chinchilla gets stopped up, his system makes him feel full ... because he is ... full of not digested food. He thinks he is not hungry because his tummy feels full, so he does not eat ... when he does not eat he gets weaker and weaker. A chinchilla's digestive system or "gut" must remain properly active or it can kill him.
I am not a vet, but I have been raising and breeding chinchillas for over 20 years and have had over 200 at any given time during many of these years. I still have several that are living from the original 10 that I started with. They are in their 20s and are in their senior years.
Your love and dedication to your chin is needed for them to survive. The rewards they give you are multiplied many times over ... they can make you smile and laugh at the end of even the worst of bad days for you. This is called chinchilla love! Keep your little one happy and healthy and he will do the same for you!
Hope this helps! Keep us posted!
Jo Ann
Luv 'N Chins