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[KevinD]

My chinchilla Petey went to the vet's today, he handled her a bit rough, but not to the point I was scared. He examined her poop because I thought she had giardia, and he asked if the poop was fresh in her cat carrier, I said it was on the way here. He tested it, said he did not see any giardia, but did see a GI infection, so he gave her SMZ suspension he said it will kill both the GI and giardia, which I liked. She has been eating, but not drinking, and she has been licking the salt off my hand. I am worried, because I know with Giardia the Chinchilla will not drink. I put a piece of tape at the waterline on her bottle, to see if she drinks over night. Does anyone have any reccomendations? I am going to call my vet tomorrow.

[GrayRodent]

Typically a chinchilla that eats will also drink. Also most chinchillas don't drink much, if anything, during the day but will drink most of their water overnight. That is the case with mine. In addition to that you do have a little stress from the vet that might effect it some. Putting tape on the water level is the right thing to do. If there is no change by tomorrow morning you should talk to your vet.
With antibiotics and digestive issues be careful that your chinchilla does not stop eating and there is output each day. You might want to have a recovery diet and the means to hand feed your pet available. Although it's not always the case sometimes anorexia will result and if you don't catch it there is a chance of complications that can result in death if not addressed in the first couple of days.
Giardia is sometimes hard to detect but other types of parasites are also possible. The recovery rate for these kinds of things seems to be high but it may require trying different treatments.