Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[mojito]

When I was cleaning out our chinchillas' cage, I found what looks like blood stained on a small part of their bedding. I was concerned, so I checked around the cage and saw what looks like a smear of blood on one of the ledges.

It's worth noting that both chins seem to be eating/chewing normally and interacting normally (their usual behavior), and there are no signs whatsoever of a fight. One of them has a history of dry foot pads, so we checked that and his feet don't seem to be bleeding. There are no bloody paw prints anywhere on the wooden ledges. The bedding in their usual pee spot in the corner of the bottom pan was darkened normally, with no hint of any red coloration. As you can see in the pic, the bloody spot is not surrounded by any other moistened bedding, so I do not believe either chin is passing blood through urination. Their poop is normal as well.

They're playing now and their behavior is normal. There is no sign of blood on either of them. Anybody have any idea what this could mean, or where this blood may have come from?  The blood (if it's that -- it looks kind of orange) on the ledge is totally dry, and the bloody bedding didn't seem freshly stained either. The bloody mark on the ledge is roughly above the spot that I discovered on the bedding. Any ideas on what this might be from, or how to check for injuries we might have missed, would be greatly appreciated.

[kageri]

I did have a degu that seemed to have whacked his nose and caused the oddest blood pattern similar to that.  He bled in the bedding, streaked it on a shelf, but then he also looked to have sneezed it on the side of the cage.  It wouldn't really be noticeable in a wire cage though unlike the 4' aquarium they were in.  He was fine and normal.  There was just a ton of alarming blood.  I've also had guinea pigs bang their mouth, bleed all over, and then walk away to eat hay normally.  Sometimes you get a lot of blood from a minor injury.  Like I tend to suggest in most situations you should weigh the chinchillas frequently because that will show you problems the fastest instead of waiting to notice a behavior change.  Do look at their front teeth if you haven't.  It seems you've covered the feet and belly which is where injuries can also hide out.  If you can get them to hold still well enough try to take a good look at the tails.  A split or bite in the tail stops bleeding quickly and they act as if they don't feel a thing.  It's happened a couple times to ours.

[GrayRodent]

Here's another thing to consider as well. My mom's parrot has chew toys that have different colors of dye in the wood. He'll chew it up into fragments and dunk them in water. It stains his feathers and feet with the dye and sometimes we think he has bled out but on closer examination it's found to be dye. Although I don't remember this happening to my chinchilla there's no reason it can't because we use the same wood products. If it's dye it's probably a chewed fragment that got urine on it and the fragment may be hidden with the bedding.
If it is blood, and it's just a small smear, I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it happening repeatedly. Like kageri said, small cuts and things do happen occasionally, close up quickly, are otherwise harmless, and you'll never find the cause of the blood. Typically with chinchillas the cause of these is dry and cracked back feet. That might also be something to look into, especially if it happens again anytime soon.

[mojito]

They do have dry feet, but we have been putting balm on it. It could be the red loofah we gave them, but its hard to say. They act totally fine so we know one of them didn't do it to the other. I will keep a close eye out for the next few weeks and see what's happening. Thanks for everything guys!