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

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

1

Health / Re: Chin is ill and now possibly a broken leg!

« on: January 19, 2014, 11:38:01 PM »

Ok thanks so much for your reply its definitely helpful.

We are taking him to the vets in 3 hours as there is nothing we can do before then.

With the hurt leg, we are having an x ray of that tommorow, and I don't think it is a full break because you would be able to hear that right? I've heard a bone break before and it's audible and painful so for him to not make a sound and to hear nothing break it seems like it's either a sprain, some kind of dislocation of minor fracture? What dyou think? I might be wrong as I've never heard a break in a small animal before.

Also you mentioned toxicity, we've noticed in his play area they are small bits of paint chipped of the wall, tiny, maybe like 1cm2 in total. And we think that him and his brother have done this over the last 4 months. We noticed this about 4 weeks ago and then we covered it up. It was such a small amount and the vets didn't even mention it so we didn't even consider it. I feel terrible now, could it be that? If he ingested it?

His sibling was having a check up on his teeth, they did some minor work, but from what I could tell they didn't think it was serious, but we didn't go to hat vet again as they weren't that great, didn't seem to care that much about him. Took them 3 hours to do x ray whilst he sat In a little cage all lonely

And if it helps he was eatin like mad just 2 days ago, just like normal it's only very recent that he's stop. He just looks to tired.

Also, is there a chance that this could be stress related? As in whatever is causing him to be ill simply isn't getting better because he's so stressed? That's what the vet keeps saying, we need to keep him calm and relaxed and don't bother him if he's doesnt want to be.

Sorry for the questions I just wanna go in prepared so we can get everything some and not miss anythig

2

Health / Chin is ill and now possibly a broken leg!

« on: January 19, 2014, 08:31:34 PM »

Hi, ok so if I start from the beginning it starts with the death of one of our 2 chins caused by pneumonia. He got the infection (we think) from some anathesia when we got his teeth checked. Just under a week later he had died.

But his brother, Neddy, was seemingly fine for about 5 days afterwards he was being mischievous and playful like usual, but then started showing similar signs. We took him to the vet and he got 3 injections, one a day for 3 days, of baytril. He then became himself once again, eating, drinking and pooing again, apart from 2 symptoms: sneezing and occasionally twitching.

The vet prescribed him a 2nd course of antibiotics which he was given for 6 days. He seemed to be getting better but then by the 6th day he was sneezing and twitching again and also slightly lethargic like he was at the start. We took him again and they said they'd try a different type of antibioitic just in case he'd gained an immunity to the baytril. He's had 2 injections of it and has not improved so they've said it could either be a stress related problem: losing his brother was hard for him and its very clear he's lonely in his cage and all these vet visits and medication/injections must be bothering him. OR it may be heart related. This seems less likely to me as his brothers heart was completely fine when he died, and Neds heart has been fine though out the whole ordeal so unless its extremely well hidden we thought it was best to focus on stress related things (we got told this yesterday btw) so we moved him into a quiet room where we could regulate the temperature at 19 degrees (which we read is about average for them) we also covered his cage apart from the front, so he had lots of nice dark spots to hide in. We also minimised how much we tried to pick him up as he became a bit aggressive when we reached into his hidey hole (he's never been aggressive before). We also got him a little heat able fluffy pad which he constantly lies on. We couldn't think of anything else to do so first question, what else can we do to minimise stress?

So the vet said if he doesn't improve from this 3rd course of antibiotics then it probably isn't an infection.

So now we are at the present. Tonight at about 11.35pm my girlfriend was watching him and he ran down from one of his shelves, slipped and she think he smacked his front paw on his little wooden house, since then he's been limping but she said when he did it he didn't make any pain sounds or hold his paw up as though it hurt. He just looked confused, and she didn't hear a snap either like you might if it broke.

So now, he's limping, he can move but it seems like it's a bit hard for him, so he went to his tunnel and is just lying there and looks sad.

It's too late (2am) for the vets and they open at 8.30 so we just need help and advice.

Is a break, fracture or sprain extremely serious? Is it usually fatal?
Can the fact that he had been ill mean that sedating him for an X-ray tommorow will be risky?
Has anyone had experience of a chin with infection like symptoms that doesn't seem to be cured by antibiotics?

After losing his brother we are terrified to death of losing him and the vet is already asking us to consider 'how far we want to go with this'.

We just need advice basically (even if its something we may not want to hear, if its in Neds best interest.)

Thanks

3

Health / Re: Chin in a lot of pain

« on: January 05, 2014, 11:00:15 AM »

hi thanks for the reply

yeah its a respiratory infection, they gave him injections of antibiotics once a day for 3 days and they said that should cover him.

its just strange because he seems to be acting his normal self, like jumping at the cage door to get out when i open it and running around and jumping on everything when he's out like his usual self. and he WAS eating fine but today and yesterday it doesn't really look like he's eat much of his food and i only noticed this because i noticed he wasn't pooing as much as he usually does.

so hes sneezing and whimpering, and he hasn't been pooing much or eating as much as usual either.

but he's acting very happy as though it doesn't even bother him, its confusing me and considering his brother showed different symptoms when he died I'm not sure whats going on

thanks

4

Health / Chin in a lot of pain

« on: January 04, 2014, 04:44:45 PM »

Hi
 
i've got a 7 month old chinchilla who's been ill for the last 3 days with an infection, i took him to the vet immediately and they put him on antibiotics.
he had a shot once a day for the last 3 days and today was his last.
 
he looked as though he was getting better. he started playing again and biting at us (in a nice way)
 
but now he's suddenly started making a lot of noises as though he's in pain. he keeps whimpering and flinching and sneezing.
its became constant and its actually heartbreaking to watch.
but he's still running about and being active and he's eating and drinking.
 
He had a brother who died of the same infection a week ago because we didn't catch it in time, but we took this one to the vets immediately the day he started showing symptoms so we think he's got a lot more of a chance.
 
so as its the weekend and no vets are open tomorrow, I'm hoping someone has some information that might help.
 
thanks