Print

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

[Joyce]

We took one of our chinchillas to the vet today.  He had loose poos for a few days and it was not clearing up with the hay diet, burned toast, and home remedies so I began to get concerned.  He does have a history of loose poops & GI issues.
They got a poo right from the hatch and looked at it immediately!  Thank goodness it was negative for giardia, he had battled that one before and it was no fun.
The slide showed that he has "CLOSTRIDIA".  Apparently this clostridia is a normal bacteria in their GI tract but he has a wonderful overgrowth of it and needs to be on antibiotics.  If left untreated a chin will become septic and die they told us.
They gave us DOXYCYCLINE.

Anyone out there ever deal with this problem?  Have you ever treated a chin with this antibiotic?

[ChinchillAZ]

I've never dealt with it myself, but I found this information on the Veterinary Information Network:

Chinchillas rely on a complex balance of microorganisms in the digestive tract to ferment non-digestible fiber. Any disruption in this system can change pH, interfere with motility, and promote bacterial overgrowth. Gram-negative bacteria and clostridial overgrowths can lead to diarrhea, enterotoxemia, and death.

Doxycycline is a safe anti-biotic for chinchillas.

[Joyce]

Thank you so much for your help.  My hubby got on a few vet sites & medical sites tonight to read up on this condition.  I also wrote to Lani Ritchey for her words. 
We gave him his first dose of medication tonight and it was a piece of cake!  He absolutely loved it, no problem, thank goodness!  Poor guy, he has lost some weight already.  I just worry about him.  He is such a sweetie. 

Just goes to show if your chin has loose poop or softer poop than normal.....DON'T LET IT GO!  Especially if you have already done the burnt toast and no pellets/hay only for a couple of days and it did not help firm up the poops to normal again.  Please have it checked out by a good exotic vet.  Your chins life may depend on it.

If any of mine have loose or softer poop than normal for more than a day or 2 we always take them to the vet!  Better safe then sorry!

[Jo Ann]

Thanks for sharing!  New information on chinchillas comes out constantly.  The more we know, the more we can help our chinchillas.   
   Did the vet, or any where the information came from, say what would cause it to multiply to a dangerous level?

 
Jo Ann

[hope]

I hope he is soon feeling better.

[Joyce]

Hi All,

Here are some facts about clostridia.  The first one is YOU NEVER WANT TO GET IT!
Clostridia is an anaerobic bacteria, normally found in the GI tract of humans & animals. 
Usually clostridia overgrowth is caused by killing the gram possitive bacteria in the GI tract with antibiotics.
It can also be caused by GI tract disturbances like colitis and enteritis. 
When the normal bowel flora is imbalanced by colitis & diarhhea clostridia can overgrow.  This in turn causes even more diarhhea.  If it is a strain of clostridia that produces enterotoxin it can cause toxemia and rapid death. 
Doxycycline is the antibiotic of choice in chins because they CAN NOT TAKE PENICILLIN AND CEPHALOSPORINS (choice of drug for other animals)

In my chinchilla's case he has a history of colitis that followed an episode of giardia a year ago.  He has had a few benign bouts of colitis since then.  Unfotunately this one developed into clostridia. 

[Lori Earle]

Hi Joyce,
I hope your chin feels better soon, he's been thru alot, tummy-wise.
My guess is that you're already doing this, but I'll mention it anyway. This is an example of a time when it's extremely important to supplement with a probiotic daily. Did Lani Richey have any advice for you that might be helpful to mention here, in case others run into this situation? Just curious...
Best wishes for your chin!
Lori

[Joyce]

Hi Lori,
Thank you, I hope he gets better soon too.  You are right, he has been through it all!
   Poor guy, we think this is why his old owner gave him up!  Sad huh?
I am taking him in for a recheck on Monday.  I spoke to my vet today and we thought this would be a good idea. 
Also Lori, thanks for the reminder about the yogurt    We are giving it to him. 
  Thank goodness he is such a little piggie and takes everything!  Never been a problem with this guy.

Below is the exact reply I recieved back from Lani.  I sent her the exact same thing I said in my original post.

Yes, they are right that this bacteria is normally in the gut. Our golden has reeled from a stripped gut (no bacteria and lots of diarrhrea) to various overloads that have required different antibiotics. I have a whole arsenal of antibiotics and a case of Ringers Lactate to pump into her. This last bacterial overload was spirochets. She had puddles of  black(blood) goose poops. Yucky conversation to have with the vet- "what does the poop look like today".
 
Trying getting down live culture yogurt down the chin or get some of the freeze dried bacteria packets and roll a raisin in them. It is worth a try. The golden didn't like th Russian or Greek style live culture. And forget buttermilk culture.

[Summer]

Hope he feels better 

[Lori Earle]

Joyce,
Since this is a more serious case of stomach problems, you might want to buy some probiotic in capsules at the drug store, and empty the contents of one capsule into the yogurt you feed your chin. It would boost the level of probiotic in the yogurt, which would be helpful to your chin. It might also help to feed the liquid hay/oats drink that I mentioned in a previous post - that would be great for his tummy as well...
One vet site that you might find helpful(I have on several occasions, especially with meds) is Veterinarypartner.com. I did a real quick look on clostridia there - one interesting thing I read was that it's also treated with Flagyl(if you ever need to try an alternative).
So glad to hear your little boy has a great appetite, that's a great signl Wish him bon appetit for me,
Lori

[Debbie.nl.ca]

The poor little darling, and his owners
Another new one on me, thanks Joyce for sharing, it's not always easy.
It' so hard to see them ill, some folks just can't handle it. Sad 'cause they think all chins are a bothered, and that's not the case.
I often wonder how many folks "turn against", for lack of a better term, chins as pets because they ended up with a special needs chinchilla as their first encounter. We're addicts with ,multipals we expect Murphy's Law to play a role.
He's so lucky to have found his way to you.

Thank goodness he is such a little piggie and takes everything!  Never been a problem with this guy.

I would say that has much to do with his ability to cope and survive as well.That and his new owner can do!
All are not as adapting either.

I so hope he continues to do well.