Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Q & A => Topic started by: Harmaa on September 22, 2013, 02:30:37 PM
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We have a 9 month old chinchilla that is acting really weird. She can't seem to stand very long and when that happens she falls on her side. She has tried to pull herself through the shavings while on her side. She acts normal at times but she is usually a hyper chinchilla and she isn't really doing anything. She acts like there might be something wrong with her back. She hasn't made any noises like shes in pain. We can still pet her on her back and on her back feet.
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Sounds like its time to see a vet. Could be seizures or it could be dying of something. If it were an injury I doubt the chinchilla would act so calm while being touched. Is there any indication of what caused it? Could she have been electrocuted, mishandled, or poisoned? How has her food and water intake and fecal output been to this point?
Here's another question- could she be overheated? If so soak her in room temperature water immediately, dry her off with a blow dryer (no heat) and then see the vet. Be careful to not change her core temperature too quickly and make sure to dry her off real good and carefully to avoid chilling.
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If its her back we think its from her flipping on the shelf. She likes to flip on her back to chew on the bars of the cage. Shes been doing that for about a month and nothing has happened. We can't seem to get her to stop doing it. We noticed this morning that she couldn't really walk, falling on her side when she tries and that something is wrong with her. She was in a cage with another chinchilla. We put Neeka (The hurt chinchilla) in a separate cage when we noticed something was wrong. I dont know if the other chinchilla did something to Neeka or not.
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sorry I forgot to answer stuff. We gave her some water through a syringe but we haven't really seen her eat, but she ate a banana chip but not her food. It is only 67 in our house so she isnt overheating. I'm not sure about her fecal output right now.
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Like I said, if it were an injured back I would expect her to be agitated, defensive, and vocal. This is more like seizures or dying of something, at least in my own experience with animals. I don't think flipping on her back is a problem. My chinchilla does that too. Sometimes he likes to get under his wheel and push it around on his back. Unless she fell or got smashed by something I don't think it is that.
Could she have ingested a large quantity of powder coating or paint from the bars?
If she was seizing she probably would have choked on the water you gave her. I highly recommend an emergency vet visit.
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She flips on her side because she cant really walk. Right now she will sometimes walk to the other side of the cage, which isn't too far. We only gave her a little water and that didn't hurt her. This started before we gave her some water. There isn't a way to ingest a large quantity of anything from the bars. she has been in the new cage for a little over 2 hours and there hasnt been any fecal output. She did just scratch her face with her back foot.
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Does she allow you access to her front feet?
Is she capable of moving them?
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We haven't tried touching her front feet but she can move them. It looks like the issue is at the back of her. We can touch her back feet and she doesn't care at all.
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You need to take it to the emergency vet asap. These are neurological symptoms.
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Another possibility could be an inner ear infection.
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How is she doing?