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[kaliboo]

So here's what's happening with my girl:

Early in July my chinchilla got sick. One day I noticed she had hardly touched her food from the night before and when I went to scratch her I noticed her chin was wet. When I picked her up her whole tummy was wet. It wasn't as thin a liquid as water but not really thick either, just slightly creamy. I panicked and called every exotic vet in the area, but no one could see her for a few days. One vet who isn't an exotic vet offered to see her anyway in case he could offer any help, and I took him up on that since I really didn't want to wait (I had another chinchilla who died very quickly after showing signs of pyometra and this was looking familiar).

So I took her to vet #1. He did an x-ray and said it looked like she had a bladder stone and probably a UTI and explained that the wetness was probably urine or maybe a bit of discharge caused by the UTI. Gave me an antibiotic and painkiller and sent us home.

A couple days later there was more discharge and I was feeling doubtful of the first vet's diagnosis so I took her to vet #2 who claimed to be experienced with exotics. He did x-rays, but the white spot that looked like a stone was gone. He suspected urinary sludge. He also took a swab for a culture and called me back a few days later saying that she had an infection but not pyometra and that the medicine I had for her should take care of it.

And it did. Within a week the discharge was gone and she was eating and hopping around like normal. After the full course of antibiotic I figured we were good! But then a few days ago she had some discharge again so it was off to another vet.

I decided I wanted to try yet another vet (vet #2 was fine but hard to understand and SO slow) and I'm so glad I did because this guy seemed way more familiar with chins and way more thorough with his examination. When I took her to vet #3 he felt her tummy and said it didn't feel like her uterus was swollen, but looked at a sample of the discharge under a microscope and said there were a lot of white blood cells which means definite infection and probable open pyometra, especially since she had taken a course of medicine and got sick again. He gave me another antibiotic to try but said that if it didn't work or if she got sick again, it's surely pyometra and a hysterectomy would be necessary to fix the problem.

BUT he also said he's never seen such an active chinchilla in general and he would never guess she was sick watching her scamper and jump around the exam room (called her "insane" and she wasn't acting scared, just acting pretty normal for her).

So here are my questions--

1. Have you ever had a chinchilla with pyometra who was still really active? He seemed to think this was quite unusual.

2. Has anyone had a hysterectomy done on a chinchilla around 10 years old? My girl is going to be ten in a couple months and I'm wondering how well they come through it, or if this is more likely the end of the road for her...

Thanks!

[GrayRodent]

That's an interesting presentation there. I'm very sorry to hear that you're going through this. It is not uncommon for chinchillas to be active until the very end and when depression shows up it's usually too late to save them which is why an early diagnosis of disease is always preferred.

I hate to be the harbinger of doom and gloom yet again but I don't think your best option is a hysterectomy. Most pet chinchillas live around 10 years although it is your pet and you should do what you think is best. Recovery from this kind of surgery is usually very involved, requires syringe feeding, sometimes overnight care, and usually repeat vet visits and sometimes emergency visits. There are numerous possible and common complications, especially respiratory and digestive and you will need to be prepared to handle them.

If you wish to move ahead with that consider it very carefully. Even with surgery from what I've seen it's about a 50-50 chance for a younger chin. I'm not saying not do it but the risk is very high and age does not help it any. I do think a hysterectomy is required to save this one since antibiotics cannot cure the infection.

[mb30]

I went through pyrometra with one of my females.
She had discharge and we got antibiotics. They helped. It came back about six months later. More baytril and it was fine. About four months after that I came home from work to a seriously ill chinchilla. She had the surgery after another week of baytril. She came out okay and was back to normal within two weeks.


http://www.chinformative.com/topic/4732-chinchilla-possible-pyrometra-again/?tab=comments#comment-38183


This is the thread where I went through it on a different forum
 It may help you out

[mb30]

Also, if you have anymore questions or concerns keep responding in this thread. I'll check it periodically. Stay positive. Try to get some baytril to kill the infection and then find a confident vet