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[KilalasMommy]

Hi.  I don't post on here very often, but something curious happened with my chinchillas this afternoon and I figured I might get some advice from some experts.

I own two chinchillas; a grey female (Kilala), and a black female (Luna).  About an hour or so ago I looked into their cage and found blood on top of their hide-a-way.  It seemed dry, but I was very concerned, so I quickly checked both chins over.  Luna was completely clean, but when I checked Kilala I found blood between her tail and privates.  Upon closer inspection, I found that she didn't seem to have any cuts or wounds on her, just blood in her fur.  I used rubbing alcohol to get most of it out, and then soapy water, and I held her for a while to let her dry before letting her go about her business.  I watched her hop around and take a dust bath, and she seems to be acting completely fine.

I really can't for the life of me figure out where the blood came from.  It was a pretty significant amount too, enough to worry over.  I thought maybe the chinchillas had gotten into a fight and someone got hurt, but I can't find any injuries on either of them.

I have 3 cats, and I'm going to check them over to see if maybe the chinchillas bit them or something, though it's unlikely...

Has something like this ever happened to anyone else?  Chinchillas don't menstruate, do they?  They don't bleed, right?  I've owned chinchillas for 9 or so years now, and this has never happened before.  If someone could reply, I would greatly appreciate it!  I just don't know if this is something to be worried about or not...

Thanks!

[dianah]

you're right, they don't menstruate. they go into heat about once a month but there's no blood, just sort of mucusy type of discharge which they normally clean off so you don't really notice.

is luna definitely a female? is there any possibility kilala's pregnant? is she pooping normally? does her bum area look normal?

i would take her to the vet. if it's nothing, it's nothing but you'll be worrying about it and if there is something wrong then the sooner you get it, the better.

in the meantime, if there's more blood, i'd advise against using rubbing alcohol as it's a little harsh, warm water (you can add a bit of salt) should work on blood just as well.

[KilalasMommy]

That's the thing with Luna, I've been wondering about her since I got her.  I adopted her from my brother's friend who is a chinchilla breeder (her parents are, not her really.  She's only 20).  I asked her what sex the chin was, and she said she's almost positive it's a girl.  I found Luna trying to mount Kilala a few times in the past, but Kilala seems to do it right back (she gets behind her and almost hugs her).  I've tried sexing her, and every time I'm pretty sure she's a girl.  She's rather small though for a female.  Kilala is almost twice her size.  I was wondering, are black chins normally smaller than standard grey ones?  Luna looks a great deal like my male chin Zel, who passed away some years ago.

My dad doesn't want to take Kilala to the vet.  We don't have much money.  But we'll look after her, and she's been fine ever since the incident.  There's no more blood, but she's been sitting on the top of her wooden hide-a-way pretty much the whole night.  She's usually always inside of it until night time...

I'm thinking maybe I should check her over to try and see if she's pregnant, since Luna is a mystery.  Or perhaps I could take a picture of Luna for you guys to look at?  Then you can hopefully give me your input!

[dianah]

you cannot check her over to see if she's pregnant, it's extremely un-obvious even when you know what you're looking for until about a week or two before they give birth. checking for babies should be left exclusively to a vet, you can cause significant damage and/or death to the kits and mum if you don't know what you're doing.

but, chins do come in different sizes, you can have a very large girl and a very small girl, same with boys and it's dependent on colours too. i have three beige girls and one is absolutely tiny, the other two are massive. it really depends on the individual. and girls mount as well.

can you post a picture of luna's 'bits' for us and we can sex?

IF kilala's pregnant, blood is NOT a good sign, she should not be bleeding.

you say that she's been fine since finding the blood but you've mentioned a change in her behaviour. you need to remember they are prey animals and they will do a very good job at not showing that there's anything wrong with them, quite often it's too late when they show symptoms.

in my opinion, blood should always be investigated, especially in your case where there's no obvious injury AND it appears to be coming out of genitalia.

it really upsets me when people say that they don't have much money and so they don't want to take their pets to the vet. my rescue chinchilla is missing a leg and the people who brought her to the rescue did not even take her to the vet after she chewed her leg off. the didn't take her to the vet when she had a bone infection or when the spikes on her teeth were cutting her cheeks and tongue. she's ok now, her teeth are fixed (one had to be pulled) and she did a great job with the leg which thankfully didn't get infected but we can never hope to fix her bone infection which is now chronic. she's happy but she gets sick every so often simply because she's had all these problems.

i am not comparing these people to you, please don't think that - you're obviously concerned for your chinchilla as you're asking questions on here, i think mae's previous owners just couldn't be bothered with her rather than having money issues (i thankfully never met them)
i'm just saying that because they don't show pain and appear ok does not mean that they are ok. and it's up to you to keep them healthy, they cannot do that for themselves.

[KilalasMommy]

I wish I had read this sooner.  I just got done checking Kilala over and feeling for her nipples.  I was able to find them really easily, and they appear longer than usual.  I'm starting to think she's pregnant...


Here's Luna's naughty bits!

I agree that the blood is a cause for concern, and I'll call the vet, though I doubt they're open today since it's Sunday.  I'm not one of those people who neglects their animals.  I've worked in a veterinary office before and I studied for a little while to become an animal cop (though I changed my major to foreign language).  I care very deeply about my animals.  I don't want Kilala to be in any danger, like my other chins were.  They were a mother and son who died because we hadn't been feeding them the proper diet.  We had an outdated chinchilla book that the store manager had given us.  They had told us to feed them a mixture of parrot food and hamster food.  Luckily it wasn't too late to save Kilala, since she was still young when the other two passed...but I really miss Chichi and Zel a lot.  They were young when they passed.

So, do you think Luna is a boy?  I'm still pretty sure she's a female...but I could be wrong!

[dianah]

no, luna's a girl. hmm.. how long have you had them for? is it possible she could have got pregnant before she came to you?

i wasn't suggesting you neglect your animals. and lots of people who don't take them to the vet don't neglect their animals either, they just happen to think that they're ok when they are not. with chinchillas especially, it's very difficult to tell. i have dogs too and it's extremely obvious when they're unwell.

sorry to hear about your boy and his mum. i lost one of my boys a year ago and it was heartbreaking he had complications after neutering (his friend was supposed to be a boy, turned out to be a girl) and had a reaction to anaesthetic when he had surgery to remove a puss capsule. thing is, without having to take medical care of him for two months, i would not have been able to save mae. so he saved her life and i am now the chinchilla person for the local rescue (we only have one on the island and they don't get many chinchillas, thankfully) so perhaps i can help more.

[dianah]

oh, and don't panic about checking her over. as long as you were just gently stroking her tummy and didn't do any pushing or squeezing, it should be ok!

[KilalasMommy]

I had a feeling she was a girl.  I'm happy she is  

No, Kilala hasn't been around any other chinchillas besides Luna for years.  She DID have a playmate for a day last summer, but it was a baby girl so she couldn't have gotten pregnant from her.  So I'm ruling out pregnancy.  I really don't know where the blood could have come from, but when I just checked her it seemed all cleaned up.  She and Luna have been cuddling all morning, just like they normally do.

I realized that the vet isn't opened today since it's Sunday, so I'll have to try and make an appointment for tomorrow or Tuesday.  The problem is that I'm leaving on vacation soon, and I'm leaving my brother to watch the chins, so I want to make sure everything is alright before then.  My dad is also going on vacation, and he's leaving earlier than I am, and I don't drive (I have severe anxiety issues).  So we need to get her in as soon as possible.

My dad just brought up that he thinks it could have been from a slight cut we found on her back leg.  It was nothing deep, but there was a tiny red line horizontally aligned with Kilala's foot.  I don't know how she could have cut herself though, but maybe that's where the blood came from and she sat on her house all of yesterday, so the blood seeped into her fur.  I'm thinking that's what happened.

I'm really sorry to hear about your daddy chinchilla.  But he seems to have been a very good daddy if he gave his life for his mate and her babies.  I'm sure he's watching over his family in chinchilla heaven, just as Chichi and Zel are up there watching over me <3

[dianah]

what about her nipples though? you should definitely not be able to see nipples! how weird! i every so often do with mae because i need to massage her tummy every so often and i can feel small bumps every so often but that's all.

a cut could definitely explain it. you never know, she may have got scratched by accident (i've bled from chinchilla scratches - mae really does not like me giving her baytril!) although not significantly but then i'm not a chinchilla.

chinchi was a great daddy. he could not be in with them for the first six weeks and when we put him back in, the babies were always with him (fluffy was taking deserved time off i guess!). we took him and the babies for a checkup together and the vet said that you would not have many species with a male and babies in the same carrier without the male attacking the babies. he loved them. i miss him so much. bizarrely, one of his babies, ffynn, has suddenly started to behave like chinchi towards me. he used to be really skittish and now he wants to be stroked and he grooms my hands and pulls them towards him just like chinchi did. it's great

[KilalasMommy]

I've always been able to locate Kilala's nipples pretty easily.  I used to check Chichi over to make sure she wasn't pregnant after we discovered her son was indeed a boy.  I guess Kilala must just have long nipples or something!  I really can't explain it.

I'm so relieved it wasn't anything bad though.  And Kilala's foot seems alright because she was hopping around just fine on it yesterday.  Now that I think about it, Luna might have scratched her by accident.  She was really long, sharp nails and she cuts me every so often.  She's a little brat!

Awww!  Chinchi sounds like he was a sweet heart!  I'm glad that your other chinchilla has started acting like him.  I usually find that that happens with animals...When I lose one, the next animal I get somehow takes on a little bit of the personality of the one I just lost.  For instance, Luna is very wild, crazy, and bratty.  She acts a lot like my cat, Rukia, who I lost last year.

Thank you for all your help!  I'm no longer worried about my chinchillas, and I'm glad I was able to stay calm throughout this.  My dad and I really wouldn't be able to deal with losing another chinchilla this soon.  Kilala still has a long life to live, even though she's a couple of years old already!

[dianah]

he was the sweetest most gentle little (well actually quite large) boy. i've had a very hard time accepting he's no longer here, it's been a year now and it's still just as awful.

keep a close eye on your girl, hopefully it's just the scratch!

[KilalasMommy]

I will keep an eye on her, thanks again!

I know how you feel.  I lost one of my cats and both my chinchillas in the same year and spiraled into a terrible depression.  Then just last year I lost my dog and another cat.  I've had so many animals and lost so many of them...I'm deeply attached to each one.  I'm happy with just my three cats and Kilala and Luna now though!

[dianah]

i think it was worse because i felt that it could have been prevented. fluffy was sexed by two breeders as a boy and i trusted that - everything i've read about sexing said that it's very difficult and i looked myself and was convinced she was a boy. now i know it's very straightforward when you know what you're looking at. but you know, now i have his lovely babies and mae would have been dead by now if i didn't gain all the medical experience when trying to get him better.

but losing any hurts. i lost a guinea pig two months after losing chinchi and i had always thought that it would be different because they're old and it's a natural progression. but it was horrible, just the same. i've got twelve pets and i often wonder why on earth do i do this to myself.

i really like rats and would love to have some but they have such a short life span that i just don't know if i could cope with that.

[KilalasMommy]

It's very tough dealing with the death of an animal.  I still think about my cats that have passed, and oddly enough, I see and hear them sometimes.  I honestly believe their kitty spirits are haunting my house!  But I don't mind.

You should only have as many pets as you can handle.  If rats don't live very long and you'll get very emotionally attached, I wouldn't get one.  I mean, you always could get one and shower it with love every day of its life, so that when it passes you'll have tons of happy memories to remember.  That's how I try and think of things.  I try and remember all the good times I had with my pets, rather than when they were sick or hurting.

[kneesaa]

Hi,
We too have lost a lot of pets in these past months. Now I found out that my Bengel Tyg has bone cancer and it is the worst form a cat can have. I don't know how long I will have him. The vet said there is nothing he can do, it's when he stops eating from the pain to bring him in to be put down.  So I understand very well about loosing a lot of pets in a short time.  I agree with you KilalasMommy I'll remember the good times I have had with them all. Shannon