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[BuckaChin]

Dear friends, for last few days we are having the battle for life or death with out loving chinchilla.

Is there anything we can do to help her.

It' female chinchilla six years old, saved from a chinchilla farm. She is with us since then and never had any healt issues till now.

We have notice that she is getting big under her neck and front legs, at first we thougt it is fat because she is eating much but it seems that it is not.

Also we noticed that she is not peeing anything and also doing just a little poop.

We took her to vet, but all vets we have here have no experience with chins, they do an x-ray and said that she has enlarged heart and edema in neck area with suspicious in liquidotorax.

They threat her with edemid 40 mg, two times daily 1/8 of the pill.

You can see an x-ray picture in the attachment.

[GrayRodent]

I'm very sorry you are going through this. I don't think there is anything that can be done but there are others here who are more experience and may be able to provide answers with more information. You need to get this one assessed for hydration by the vet. If there is no urine you're probably looking at severe dehydration that will require intensive care and proper treatment. Synringe feeding will be necessary if she has gone of her food per your vet's instructions. I recommend critical care. However unless there is a way to diagnose the problem and treat it I urge you to set your limits on how far you wish to go in advance. I think there are a number of symptoms that are pointing to heart failure and I've never heard of that being managed in a chinchilla before.

1. How old is she?
2. What was her diet like before this?
3. Has the vet made any comments about the teeth? I'm not an expert but it looks like there are considerable abnormalities in the skull.
4. Have you given this one supplements such as salt or minerals?
5. Could the chinchilla have been poisoned by something perhaps gotten into something outside of the cage? Or electrocuted?
6. How long have you noticed this? How quickly has this progressed?

[BuckaChin]

First of all, thank you for taking time to read this.

1. We saved her six years ago from chinchilla farm (they kept her for her fur), don't know how long she's been there.
2. Mostly pellets and hay and some treats
3. He said that there is nothing wrong with her teeth, but considering that he is no expert for exotic animals don't know is he right about that (we don't have any experts in country that can deal with this kind of animals)
4. We give her hydration salt twice a day by vet recommendation
5. No, she never chew anything but real food
6. This is second week that we are dealing with this, day after tomorrow we are going to the vet again and see what to do next.

[GrayRodent]

Sounds like you're doing a lot of things right. If it were diet related you probably would have seen issues years back. If it is age-related that is harder to say since you don't know the age. The x-ray is a little hard to read since the technician's hand is under the head and it wasn't set up to get a good image of the skull. If you have a good head xray please post.
From a purely practical standpoint chinchillas are not usually treated for internal problems which makes it difficult to find information. Most people will not go through the expense of managing an internal problem long term. It is definitely internal and it is most likely going to require blood tests to make a diagnosis. The best thing you can do is have your vet consult with another exotic vet who has experience. Your vet may be able to do the tests and have the other vet interpret the results.
If fecal and urine output are still low you will need to syringe feed per your vet's instructions. The breeder may be interested in the results as well if it turns out to be a genetic defect. It is extremely dangerous for chinchillas to not eat. Their digestive system is very sensitive and it can shut down easily.
In your case it may be a symptom that your pet is actually dying of organ failure so consider carefully how aggressively you want to treat this ahead of time. I'm very sorry to see this but I hope your pet will get better and not worse.

[BuckaChin]

We have been to the vet again, get better x-ray of the skull. There is no change in her behavior, still don't eat alone, we feed her by the syringe. The vet said that her  breathing way is little bigger comparing the pictures with last xray and water under her neck and belly is little lower.

[GrayRodent]

There may be someone who is willing to comment on the skull xray. I'm not an expert on this and I could be wrong but I think there's evidence of dental malocclusion. The root under the orbit seems to be growing into the orbit. Is it possible this could be an abscess?
Has there been any attempt to biopsy the lump and check for cancer?

[BuckaChin]

Our loving chin is passed away.
Thanks GrayRodent for your comments and support.

[GrayRodent]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Sounds like you've done your best. God bless.