Print

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

[jkuetebluengus]

I have had both of my chinchillas, Blue and Gus, for close to two years now.  Two boys, both very active.  Recently I have noticed that my quieter male, Blue has lost weight.  He isn't lethargic (actually is still super active), he isn't drooling, his fecal matter looks normal, and he is still eating and drinking, but he is definitely losing weight.

My question is: is it possible that my dominant male, Gus, is starving him?  They have two food bowls, two hay nets, and two water bottles in separate parts of the cage.  The cage itself is six feet tall by three feet wide by two feet deep, with several different platforms and plenty of room for the two of them to jump and get away from each other if needed.  I have had issues with my dominant male chewing the whiskers of my submissive male before, but I need to know if something to this extent is a possibility.

I'm hesitant to separate them if that's not the case.  Either way, my little boy is losing weight and I'm a little at a loss as to what to do.

There is one vet in the area that takes chinchillas, and he looked at my boys once as a general checkup when I purchased them, but I'm not sure if he will know either. 

Please help!

[GrayRodent]

The best thing you can in the short run is observe the situation and see if it's a problem with the other animal driving him away from food. But IMO because of the noticeable weight loss I think you should see a vet ASAP because it could get serious very quickly if there is an underlying health problem.

[jkuetebluengus]

Thank you for replying.  I did take him to my vet.  Apparently he is not losing weight, he just looked skinny because he was losing his fur in places.  He was still over 500g, so his brother Gus is just an oinker compared to him I think.  He is currently on an antibiotic to possibly treat a skin infection, and I tried to separate them because the vet was thinking the hair loss could be contributed to Gus "overgrooming" Blue (or basically taking advantage of Blue feeling under the weather).  I spent all weekend trying to split the cage in two so that they were seperated, but they've been distress calling to one another.  Yet another heartbreaking (and, yes, annoyingly loud) thing to get used to for a little while. But thanks again for the advice.

[GrayRodent]

Did your vet think it might be ringworm? It is a common problem with chinchillas and it is very contagious to you and other animals in the house if it is. It's not dangerous unless it's allowed to get very advanced but sometimes it's hard to cure it because it's easy to re-infect.