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[Abby W.]

Unfortunately, I have very sad news   ...Rebekkah had complications after her C-section, she ended up with a full intestinal "prolapse" on our way to the vets, despite our efforts to keep her calm and immobile.  Her intestines had worked their way out through her sutures, so almost her entire tract was hanging out (sorry if I am grossing anyone out).  We placed her in a very small carrier on newspaper so she wouldn't get anything stuck to her and she couldn't move around much.  The vet did another emergency surgery on her to stitch her up but the trauma of the prolapse and all the commotion of the past 48 hours was just too much for her and she passed away     She ate very well the night after her C-section and was friendly and alert, so at least I know she didn't spend all of her last hours feeling miserable.  We were able to hold her and say goodbye when she died, so I feel sad but at peace with it. 

On the happier side we do still have the kits, so I at least still have some part of her.  Cybil has been fostering them, since her kit was the closest to weaning(and she is an AWESOME mom).  I did things a little differently to get her smell on them because I had newspaper down in her cage and she had peed on it, so I didn't want to place the kits on that, and I didn't have anything else with her smell on it.  So I wrapped Cybil snuggly in a towel and then placed the kits on either side of her and held them for about ten minutes like that, then tried them in a small carrier cage together.  There was some initial hesitation on Cybil's part, but I snuggled them up underneath her to nurse, and she seems to have accepted them as her own.  They are nursing like crazy and sleeping under her just like normal kits.  As of this morning they are both up 2 grams from yesterday evening.  She has accepted them so well that when I tried to rotate her biological kit in for a little mom time Cybil peed on her!  So I am still hand feeding a kit, but this one is almost one month old, and had already been eating a good amount of solid food prior to separation.  So milk feeding is being done about every 5 hours, and I am leaving alfalfa hay and a small amount of pellets in her cage along with a bottle of the milk for her.  So far she has no interest in the water bottle but has taken to the syringe feeding whole heartedly.   

[Misskitz]

    Very sad i just lost my chinnie too,  Rebekkah will be deeply missed.     Very cool that you still have a kit, She will be very much loved! 

[Jo Ann]

Hi Abby,

    I hate to hear you lost Rebekkah, but she is in chinnie heaven and no longer in pain or under stress.  You do have two of her beautiful kits to remind you of her, at least they can console you and you them. 

    Glad to hear Cybil has taken the two kits, but her own kit was only 3 1/2 weeks old, that's awful young to be permanently removing a kit from her mom.  How long was she away from Cybil before you tried to put it back in with her?  Why didn't you put the new kits with Cybil's kit to get Cybil to accept all three of them?
     
     How are all the kits doing now?  Rebekkah's 2?    Cybil's 1?  and Jamie's 1? 

 
Jo Ann

[Abby W.]

Jo Ann,

Yeah, I did try to put all three kits together but Cybil's kit, Paige, got a little aggressive with them, and I am terrified she might hurt them.  I am bottle feeding Paige which she seems to be doing well with.  Paige was only away from her mother for a couple of hours (2-3) before I tried putting her back with Mom, but by then Cybil had already bonded with the new kits and rejected Paige.  Paige was already eating a fair amount of solid food though, and she is continuing to gain weight, so I feel confident she will be ok.  The orphaned kits are doing OK, the sapphire on ehas gained a fair amount of weight, but the little standard kit has actually lost a little bit more.  I am taking the larger kit out for an hour several times a day to let the standard have some time with Mom.  I am also supplementing her with goat's milk.  Hopefully she will not lose anymore ground.  the standard's eyes are starting to open up, so that is a good sign.  Jamie and her kit are still doing beautifully.  Jamie took her first bath since delivery yesterday and boy was she happy.  Her kit, Andy, is almost to 100 grams and a total handful. 
In addition, Pepper had two beautiful beige kits on August 15, a boy and a girl.  And they are doing great as well.   While I am sad that we lost Rebekkah, I do feel pretty optimistic about her kits and the way things are going with them.  Thank you so much for your support. 

[Jo Ann]

Hi Abby,
It's easiest to answer in a different color. 

...Yeah, I did try to put all three kits together but Cybil's kit, Paige, got a little aggressive with them, and I am terrified she might hurt them. I am bottle feeding Paige which she seems to be doing well with. Paige was only away from her mother for a couple of hours (2-3) before I tried putting her back with Mom, but by then Cybil had already bonded with the new kits and rejected Paige. Paige was already eating a fair amount of solid food though, and she is continuing to gain weight, so I feel confident she will be ok.
That's very unusual, especially in that short of a period of time.  If her kit was pestering the little ones, she could have been protecting them rather than rejecting her.  She should make a good foster mom for the future.
 The orphaned kits are doing OK, the sapphire on ehas gained a fair amount of weight, but the little standard kit has actually lost a little bit more. I am taking the larger kit out for an hour several times a day to let the standard have some time with Mom. I am also supplementing her with goat's milk. Hopefully she will not lose anymore ground.
You might consider supplementing the larger kit with the goat's milk and keep her tummy full so the smaller one can have the natural chinchilla milk, which she needs more than the larger kit.
...the standard's eyes are starting to open up, so that is a good sign.

...It is not unusual for preemie kits to be born with the eyes closed, but you want to get them open within the first 24 hours. I use a warm moist cloth and Neosporin (my good ole standby) and very gently pry them open. Keep checking to make sure they stay open. If they are left closed, the eyes will atrophy and would have to be removed.[/color] 

Jamie and her kit are still doing beautifully. Jamie took her first bath since delivery yesterday and boy was she happy. Her kit, Andy, is almost to 100 grams and a total handful. Great, I can't wait to see her.  Sounds like her son is just like her.
In addition, Pepper had two beautiful beige kits on August 15, a boy and a girl. And they are doing great as well.
Congratulations, Pepper!  They are beautiful kits ... I saw them on your web site.
While I am sad that we lost Rebekkah, I do feel pretty optimistic about her kits and the way things are going with them. Thank you so much for your support.

That's what we are here for.

Rebekkah was a black velvet/sapphire carrier, wasn't she?  What was her mate?

 
Jo Ann

[Abby W.]

Thanks for the info on opening the kits' eyes.  I was thinking I might try a very weak solution of boric acid like people sometimes do with kittens or puppies, but I will give the neosporin thing a try first.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Rebekkah's mate Isaac is a sapphire male.  So we ended up with a sapphire kit and a standard sapphire-carrier.  I am worried about the standard kit and giving her LOTS of extra care and attention. 

Jo Ann, I will send you a more recent pic of Jamie.  She is doing great!

[Jo Ann]

Hi Abby,
      I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's not to late to save the eyes,    that's why I mentioned it on the 18th.  Do both kits have their eyes closed, or just the one?  The reason I like the Neosporin is because it keeps the tissues soft and moist, which helps keep them from going back together, as well as doing the job of a topical antibiotic. 

      I had one kit the parents kept hid from me when it was hurt, and when I did see and tried to get, it I got sprayed by mom and nipped by dad trying to get it out, we're still up in the air as to if we are going to have to have the eye removed or not.  The vet thinks we may have caught it in time. The fur had it matted closed.

      I'd love to see pictures of Rebekkah's kits, also.   I think I've seen all the kits born recently, they are all up on your site, aren't they?  It will be good to see Jamie again, she is such a sweetie.  Her mom, Juliet, is pregnant again.  She and Little Buster give me about two litters a year, but Jamie and Janice were their first litter.   :-[  They were also the ones that tore one of her teats off fighting over milk  at two days old, and left her with only one side to produce milk.  Then they had to be fostered to Eileen till they were weaned. 

 
Jo Ann

[Jo Ann]

Hi Abby,

     Just wondering how the kit's eyes are doing.  Did you get them open?  Are they OK?

     How is Cybil's kit doing that you had to wean so early?  Who is she staying with?

 
Jo Ann

[Abby W.]

Jo Ann,

The kits eyes are open and seem to be just fine.  They are both navigating around pretty well.  The little standard kit is still not out of the woods yet.  She is gaining weight VERY slowly.  I have been syringe feeding her almost every thirty minutes and she still isn't gaining very well at all.   She is a bit more active today than yesterday, so that is encouraging.  but she is MUCH less mobile than her sibling.  Not sure what else I can do.    I am giving her KMR, slightly watered down, with a little nutri-cal and some baby rice cereal mixed in.  I have added those things very sparingly though because she seemed to have trouble handling the thicker mixture. 

Everyone else is doing great!  Andy, Jamie's kit, is a real handful!  I actually witnessed my first chin tantrum courtesy of him.  He was climbing on Jamie's head while she was eating and she nipped at him.  He immediately ran to the back corner of the cage, jumped up and down like a rubber ball three times, squawked and stomped his feet.  It was the funniest thing I have ever seen them do!    I wish I could have gotten it on tape for you all.    I have just gotten a camcorder so I have to figure out to post video clips for everyone.  Pepper's beige kits are growing like weeds, but still not very outgoing yet.  They still spend most of their time under mom.  Paige, Cybil's first kit is almost completely weaned.  Though I have not yet been able to get her to drink from her water bottle.  I added a small amount of cranberry juice to try to peak her interest, but no luck so far.  She is still getting milk supplement twice a day plus alfalfa hay and a small amount of pellets which she very eagerly munches down.  She is unfortunately in a cage by herself, none of the other mothers have kits big enough to be with her.  But she is getting LOTS of extra attention from the family.  She seems to have become quite a neighborhood attraction for the kids in the area, and seems to relish the attention.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions for how to promote weight gain more quickly in my little standard kit I would love any advice I can get.  Thanks again!

[Linda]

She wasn't mated with another velvet was she?  They carry a lethal gene which will produce deformed or dead kits.  These will be eaten by the mother at birth as they do in the wild to ward off predators.  Any remaining kits or placentas will not naturally be aborted but will rot inside mum with fatal consequences, so if she was mated with another velvet get to the vet asap.  Good luck!!

[Abby W.]

No, she was a black velvet sapphire carrier and she was mated with a sapphire.  My understanding with the lethal factor though is that it won't produce deformed kits, but those eggs that are velvet-velvet or white-white simply will not develop into viable embryos.  Is this not the case?  I would never put these two combinations together, just curious. 

[Linda]

This may be right but I was informed otherwise.  Must read more about it.  I am new to this but have been in touch with a lovely lady from a rescue centre here in New Zealand.  I recently purchased 2 velvets (male & female) from someone who had them together for a year!!  Lucy ended up giving birth 2 weeks ago.  I couldn't work out why she was cleaning herself excessively so took some photos of her genitals and sent them to Sarah at Chinchilla Rescue.  She recognized the signs from the photos and said she had delivered in the past 2 days.  I took her for an ultrasound immediately but she's fine thank goodness.  Having these 2 chins together was really stupid.  Prior to this I had taken my black velvet in to be neutered to stop this happening again and ended up losing him.  For some unexplained reason which I am still questioning, he chewed his stitches once he got home and also chewed through muscle to the point where his intestines spilled out.  You can imagine my shock when I found him like this.  I immediately rushed him to the emergency vet at 11 o'clock at night but he died the following day.  I was devastated because he was such a gorgeous little guy.  Still getting over it and spend a fair bit of time crying.  Nobody seems to have any answers.

[Jo Ann]

Abby,
   

...  The little standard kit is still not out of the woods yet.  She is gaining weight VERY slowly.  I have been syringe feeding her almost every thirty minutes and she still isn't gaining very well at all.   She is a bit more active today than yesterday, so that is encouraging.  but she is MUCH less mobile than her sibling.  Not sure what else I can do.     I am giving her KMR, slightly watered down, with a little nutri-cal and some baby rice cereal mixed in.  I have added those things very sparingly though because she seemed to have trouble handling the thicker mixture. ...
 Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions for how to promote weight gain more quickly in my little standard kit I would love any advice I can get.  Thanks again!

Just repeating my suggestion from earlier:

Hi Abby,
You might consider SUPPLEMENTing the LARGER KIT with the goat's milk and keep her tummy full so the smaller one can have the natural chinchilla milk, which she needs more than the larger kit.
  Jo Ann

By continuing to supplement the smaller kit, it is not hungry when it has the chance to get the mom's natural chinchilla milk. 
Keep the Larger kit's tummy full of goat's milk so the larger one will leave the natural milk for the smaller kit that neededs it.

Paige, Cybil's first kit is almost completely weaned.  Though I have not yet been able to get her to drink from her water bottle.  I added a small amount of cranberry juice to try to peak her interest, but no luck so far.  She is still getting milk supplement twice a day plus alfalfa hay and a small amount of pellets which she very eagerly munches down.  She is unfortunately in a cage by herself, none of the other mothers have kits big enough to be with her. 

If she is only getting fluids twice a day and not drinking from her waterbottle, you may soon have trouble with her urinary tract or dehydration. Keep pellets and hay in her cage at all times, please.  Do you have a female that does not have any kits that will take her?  She NEEDS the comfort of another chinchilla to eat, sleep, play with, be groomed by and to groom.
 
Jo Ann

[Abby W.]

The only other adult female I have that is unpaired is very large and kind of mean.  I am really terrified of putting her with Paige.  I don't know what else to do, all my other non-pregnant females are with males and then I have one unpaired male, and a pair of male cagemates.  For now I guess she will have to settle for extra snuggling and attention from my husband and I.  I may be able to get Jamie to take her in, now that Jamie's kit is bigger, still smaller than Paige, but not by much.  I will try that this weekend.

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Hi Linda,

Nobody seems to have any answers.

If you mean why he chewed?
I have seen it many times.
It seems to be their way of dealing with an injury. Any discomfort relay. They will chew it, at it, and yes into it.
If it bothers them in any way, they will chew it.
I have a tail amputation years old, and I still have to keep the stump wrapped or she chews right into it.
She wore a collar for almost a year. Sometimes it's the only way to stop them from chewing a wound.
I'm so sorry you lost him like that. Must have been quite the shock.