Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Health => Topic started by: Mrsodell on October 15, 2013, 09:24:27 PM
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My chinchilla, Biscuit, has been having soft sticky-ish poops the past couple of days. They are still a dark, normal color and normal pellet shape and consistent size. Not runny, just soft (if he steps on one it will smoosh). They have been sticking to his ledges, wheel, and even his fur. It almost looks like there are parts of raisins in them that may be causing the stickiness. I never give him more than 2 raisins a day and lately I have only been giving one in the mornings. If I do give a second its in the evenings. Anyone have any ideas what this may be from? Could it be the raisins? Are there certain raisins that are better than others?? I just don't want it to become a bigger problem or have Biscuit get sick because of it. :-\
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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I recommend you stop giving raising for a about 48 hours. If there is no improvement then you know it could be something else going on besides the raisins. I'm going through a similar problem myself and it's been going on for about five days. At first I suspected it could have been caused by sour hay but there has been no real improvement after I replaced the hay. I will be taking my chinchilla to the vet today. The longer it goes there are risks of complications especially if it is an infection that requires medical intervention.
Also smell his hay and pellets and check them for moisture and clean his water bottle just in case.
What is his diet like otherwise?
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Really I only give him timothy hay and pellets for a regular diet. Other than the raisins I haven't really tried any other special treats. I technically just stopped the raisins today since he got one yesterday. So I'll see how his stool looks this evening during playtime. I hope that your chin is improving and that mine will too!!
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My chin is now on antibiotics. I recommend that if you don't see improvement in 48 hours get a fecal exam done by a veterinarian who specializes in exotic pets, and preferably a vet who sees a lot of chinchillas if possible. If this persists for over a week or gets to the point of being liquidy you could face potentially fatal complications especially if it's an aggressive infection. With that being said sometimes these kinds of things will come and go and should not last for more than three days. Usually this occurs during periods of stressed or lowered immunity.
If you start antibiotic treatment I cannot stress the importance of making sure your pet eats a normal amount of food through the course of the treatment. If he stops eating for more than 24 hours straight he could die from complications and it happens quite often like that. Have a recovery diet on hand and be prepared to syringe feed.