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Author Topic: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink  (Read 21066 times)

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christa

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #30 on: February 25, 2011, 06:13:16 PM »

Ooooh,  i thought maybe you had chimps ;D  :D :2funny: rofl  :2funny: my husband and son and I had a beautiful Maine Coon cat and an American Eskimo dog,  then my poor hubby passed away in 2006 ::cry222:::  and I have added 2 more cats,  a Virginia Opossum,  a ferret,  Chinchilla so it is quite a zoo here, too :D :2funny:  Your dogs sound nice, and SIX chins,  and guinea pigs
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dianah

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #31 on: February 25, 2011, 06:23:45 PM »

sorry to hear about your hubby. that must have been awful.

i don't think it's legal to keep primates over here. and they probably wouldn't let me have an opossum either but i think they're lovely! and ferrets!

i started out with one chin. i wasn't working then and was pretty much nocturnal so i was always there. then i met my husband and he had a great dane and chinchi couldn't be in the bedroom and i was working so i needed to sleep at night anyway and he was getting lonely. so we got him a friend who was allegedly a boy. a year later we went to feed them and there was a baby chin peeking at us from the carpet and two more in the cage. we separated them and had chinchi neutered. unfortunately he suffered from complications and had to have another surgery and didn't make it. i was absolutely devastated. it happened in june last year and i still can't get over it. he managed to get fluffy pregnant in the few hours between her giving birth to the triplets and us finding them and she gave birth to luella. so that's fluffy + 4 babies and i got mae in october. :) i wasn't allowed another chin and she was supposed to be a boy and i can't have another boy anyway because i have girls and you can't have boys together if there are ladies around. a friend of mine was after a boy friend for her boy and i went to check to see if it was definitely a boy after what happened with fluffy and chinchi. and she's a girl and she was so ill, she's mine now :)
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christa

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #32 on: February 25, 2011, 06:28:16 PM »

Oh,  thank you,  yes, it was very traumatic, as I was only 46, and he, 50,   and wanted to grow old with him ::shrug::
Oh,  I see,  well,  it sounds like a nice zoo like ours--yes, I love the Opossum,  but they have VERY short life spans (ony 2-4 years)  so am dreading the inevitable---yes,  my Maine Coon cat took ill and did not make it thru surgery,  so I am like you,  cannot get over it, and must look to spiritual faith, as with my hubby... :::(((
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dianah

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #33 on: February 25, 2011, 06:36:13 PM »

it is very very hard. :(

oh i didn't know opossums only have such short lives! people are usually amazed when i tell them how long chinchillas live!
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christa

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #34 on: February 25, 2011, 06:40:18 PM »

Yes, Chins are like cats,  can live to 15-20---and raccoons and skunks live to be 15,  18, 20----so I was HORRIFIED when I got my baby Opossum (who I ASSUMED would have a life-span close to a cat,  the breeder had lied and said, "Oh about 10 years" :flames:) and joined a forum where people who had been rescuing and raising Opossums for decades said 2-4 is IT,  older than 4 is virtually unheard of.  :'(  She is one,  but I know she will not last more than another 1-3 years  :(
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dianah

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #35 on: February 25, 2011, 06:46:37 PM »

it is awful but if she has a great life with you then at least you know that she's had the best life she could have. my guinea pig died in august last year, he was five and i always thought that if they die of old age, i would cope with it better than when i lost chinchi. but it was absolutely awful. his partner (he has a new friend) is old as well and is losing weight which they do when they get old so... it does make you wonder why we put ourselves through this! but then i wouldn't want to have something that would outlive me because i'd be worrying what's going to happen to it when i die!!!

i'm off to bed now. snooooze!
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christa

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #36 on: February 25, 2011, 07:33:36 PM »

Good night,  and yes,  the loss is always awful,  but I suppose it is the price we pay for the joy of loving them.  Night.  :)
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dianah

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #37 on: February 27, 2011, 07:05:38 AM »

how is he? any news? will you be getting him back today?
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christa

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #38 on: February 27, 2011, 07:27:16 AM »

Hi--Thanks for asking !  Rodney is still at the Exotics Veterinary hospital---the vet phoned yesterday to say that the bloodwork and X-Rays do not show malocclusion or any specific illness,  but that he is undernourished (likely from the owner,  and then weeks at 2 different shelters  :::((()  and that his GI is moving slowly.  They have filed his teeth,  given him painkillers and antibiotics,  and are giving him subcataneous fluids and round the clock Critical Care syringe feedings.  They do not want to release him until he is having better droppings.  They think probably tomorrow----the only thing that scares me,  is the thought of having him home without his being OK---I do not mind syringe feeding (altho I get a bit nervous I am not doing it expertly)  yet I want him to eat on his own,  and do not want anymore bloat---I just want him to be happy and OK  - ::scaredspeachless::
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dianah

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #39 on: February 27, 2011, 08:29:00 AM »

that's good news :) i think it's the same as mae, she was undernourished too and all her problems pretty much stem from that.

it is important that he eats proper food for his teeth but in the meantime it's important he has the right nutrition gets the right amount of food. mae was on critical care for a long time and i did worry about it.

i'd recommend you weigh him at the same time each day. get a scale that weighs in grams - i have a postal scale and find it helpful to stick them in a box to do the weigh in to keep them on the scale and reasonably steady. mine are ok without the lid but you can always stick them in a carrier or something like that. few grams lost is no big deal and you will find that he may lose a little bit of weight when he starts pooing properly so don't panic if it's only like 10g.
you will know how he's doing, his energy levels and if he's chewing on other stuff. try to hand feed him nuggets or pieces of hay, he may take that from you and start nibbling on that.
i did wean mae off critical care rather than just stopping it because she was on it for such a long time and she had a lot of problems. so i just increased times between feedings and gradually stopped, making sure her weight wasn't going down dramatically - it took about a week. some chins also get very used to being hand fed and mae is starved for attention. so i still handfeed her pellets a couple times a day. just hand one over to her, wait til she eats it, give her another one. she eats in her own time as well but she's still getting the same sort of attention from me as when she was being handfed all the time. i also thought it may help her understand that this is what she needs to eat now.

also, you may find that he will eat critical care off your finger. it's very palatable (not to me, i tasted it once, it's rank!) and chinchi ate his straight off my finger (in fact, he bit too hard so i fed him off a spoon, just made sure he couldn't bite into the metal). mae didn't like the taste of hay to start with so it was syringed first, then she was eating it off pellets  i held for her (they're half moon shaped so worked like a scoop) and in the end she just licked it off my finger. i found it better as there's less risk of them gulping air that way.
standard critical care clogs up a syringe regardless of how watery you make it. you can grind it in a coffee grinder - i bought one when mae didn't eat it and had to wait for the fine grind delivery. seven 1-minute grindings makes it fine enough for a syringe.
fine grind is great but it only comes in a small pouch so get a couple if you have to use that but i'm sure the vets will tell you what they've been using.

if you have to syringe feed, 2.5 ml syringes are best. make the critical care as thick as you can but thin enough to get it into the syringe easily. it does get thicker with time (quite quickly) so you may have to add more water after filling a few syringes. i have a little mug, i mix it, keep the hot water running, fill a syringe, stick it under water to wash off the outside that's covered in critical care and repeat and repeat and repeat. they for some reason don't like the critical care to be on the outside of the syringe.
critical care lasts 24 hours after being mixed but i did find that mae didn't want it unless it had been in the syringe rather than in a cup and sometimes she refused to eat it unless it was freshly mixed. she definitely liked it most when it was fresh, maybe because it's warm.

if you feed off a finger, a 30 ml syringe is great, you can syringe small amounts onto your finger. the pressure is higher in this syringe but it doesn't matter and that's why i don't think it's suitable for feeding but as you're just squirting onto your finger, it doesn't matter.

if you feed off your finger with standard critical care, mine liked it made into a paste rather than liquid but it had to be rather moist - you will work out what yours likes best :)

also, this may be of interest:
http://chocolatechinchillas.com/id6.html
i ordered this for mae after someone on the forum recommended it, dawnna was really great and express shipped it for me. it's got all sorts of good stuff, prebiotics and probiotics and it stimulates appetite. i think it tastes nice as well because when i sprinkle it onto pellets, they eat those first. it's very good for use with antibiotics as well - i'm giving it to the boys now and thy have had no change in poo at all.
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christa

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #40 on: February 27, 2011, 08:33:29 AM »

Wow,  THANKS SO MUCH for that link---I will order along with the BeaPhar pellets--and thank you so much for all that information,  I am taking well under advisement! ;)
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dianah

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #41 on: February 27, 2011, 08:54:00 AM »

oh, when you get him back, ask which critical care they've been feeding him. he may not be fussy but even when mae started to eat it off my finger, i tried to give her normal critical care rather than the fine grind and she wouldn't touch it. she's picky though :)
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christa

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #42 on: February 27, 2011, 09:00:29 AM »

Oh, good point,  I will.....Yes,  they sure can be picky-----they said he was eagerly taking it from the syringe,  but when they put a dish of it in the pen,  he would not touch--I wonder why????? ::shrug::
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dianah

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #43 on: February 27, 2011, 09:04:56 AM »

oh, none of mine ever took it from a dish. ever. it goes a bit stiff when left in air to be honest, maybe that's what it is... if he likes it from the syringe, there's a good chance he'll have it off your finger!
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christa

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Re: Rescue Chin will not eat or drink
« Reply #44 on: February 27, 2011, 09:12:46 AM »

Well,  will be happy to feed him off my finger !!! ::silly:: ;D  Once more, thanks for all your really helpful info;  most appreciated!!!
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