Hi everyone,
About two weeks ago one of my chinchillas, Jacob (who is two) suddenly started pooping a lot less. I mean it is about a third of what I would expect, plus sometimes they are very small and quite hard compared to my other chinchilla. I don't know if it is normal or not but a couple of the poos seemed to have some of his fur tangled in (I've only noticed this in about three poops). The reduced poop quantity started roughly the same time as one night where he got hold of a book that my partner had accidentally left on top of his cage. As you can imagine when I found it in the morning it was somewhat chewed, I don't know how much he ate. However, many of the people I have discussed this with, including an exotic vet, have said that this would not be the cause after this length of time, and I can't see how it is either.
He is eating (no dietary change for about a year) and exercising perfectly normally (and energetically), and his behaviour does not seem to have changed. Nor has his weight, which seems to be fairly consistent lately. He seems to have been consistently drinking about 17 millilitres a day which I have noticed is less than my other chinchilla, who usually drinks about 25 millilitres, or just over.
He seems to poop relatively normally when he's out for his exercise time, but then not a lot overnight. His shelves would normally be covered but lately there has been very little. He usually has an exercise wheel in his cage (except when it is too hot) so I can't think that lack of exercise is the cause either.
According to the advice of three vets, we were initially advised to monitor him which we did for about a week, but there hasn't been any change. I have also bought different types of hay and found a better one than what he had before. He's had some probiotic powder on his food a few times and a dose of infacol.
After there being no change for about 10 days, we took him to an exotic vet on Monday. He listened to his digestion and felt his stomach, and said that he was absolutely fine, that it could just be a little dehydration and that we could try feeding fresh grass or moistened hay (we're not sure if he is eating the latter and we haven't tried the fresh grass as we aren't sure what to give that is safe). So I can't see how I can make him drink more, surely he is drinking what he needs each day, and if he needed to, he would drink more himself?
However, I just can't understand why he would suddenly poop less, so what I am wondering can you think of anything that may be causing this to happen? I've been really worried about him and paranoid that there is definitely something the matter for him to suddenly have a reduced digestive output. We plan to also take him to another vet for a second opinion, but we are also asking about and looking for other avenues for opinions and advice, because we are stumped.
Thank you for reading, any help at all would be appreciated.
