Print

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

[GrayRodent]

Kulu may be threatening to get sick. His weight seems to be fine but his feces have become soft and stick to his shelves and wheel which is very unusual. It's starting to stain the shelves and get in his fur now and has gotten progressively worse over two days. He also seems to be eating little or no hay lately over the last 10 days.

I have changed his pelleted diet a couple of months ago and I'm not sure if it's a factor. Since that change he has eaten less hay and has had softer stools in general but not like this. Otherwise everything else has been the same including activity level and schedule, at least to my knowledge.
I have removed his pelleted diet as a precaution.

If there is no improvement tomorrow I plan on taking him to the vet. If anyone has any better ideas on how to handle this please let me know.

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

It's not watery yet, is it?
When we switched out Snickerdoodle's food last year, he ate less hay because he loves his new food. Maybe that could be a factor. As for the watery stools, I really don't know. Has K'ulu come in contact with any other animals? You mentioned that someone in your family has a bird, and birds can carry many diseases; perhaps he/she touched the chinchilla after touching the bird? I'm not sure if you want to try this because I cannot at all vouch for its effectiveness, but I've noticed that Doodle's poops get somewhat harder after he eats some rolled oats. Also, you know the burnt toast remedy for diarrhea (what is the amount? 1 tsp. or tbsp.?), so I'd keep that on hand just in case.
Also, just a suggestion: I've noticed that you are very (and admirably) meticulous with everything regarding your pet, from monitoring his weight, water... everything. Is it possible that you became somewhat overconcerned and that nothing is really wrong? I do not mean to sound rude, and as I mentioned before, I admire how thorough you are. Are you sure that something is different?
Best of luck to you and K'ulu

[GrayRodent]

It's certainly different. His poop normally does not stick to the shelf and streak on the sides of his wheel and is usually very dry. It has been that way since I changed his diet more than 8 weeks ago with the occasional poo that sticks very lightly.
This morning it was really bad like concrete and I was picking it out of his fur (causing him to kack at me while it pulled his hair out) and scraping it off the shelves. I had to use detergent to get it off the wheel. That was a first for me. There was a pile of flat poo in front of the wheel that stained the shelf green that was stuck to the shelf.  It's not watery but is definitely a softer consistency that makes a mess when he walks or runs over it. Its appearance isn't abnormal at a glance but when you step on it you can feel it is sticky. Yesterday it was like that too but I didn't have to scrub the wheel and shelves like this morning.

It's remotely possible he could have caught something or maybe had a problem to start with considering his history. He is shedding more lately so there could be some hormonal changes as well. I'm thinking about having him tested for giardia. He gets handled by other family members on occasion including our two year old but has been since we've got him. Our parrot is not housed in the same room and they rarely encounter each other. We are afraid our parrot will kill him as he has threatened to do that once. If it gets worse before tomorrow I'll try burnt toast. I've tried that with him before when I first got him and he was stressed from relocation. He had soft stools then but was not as bad as it is now. He wouldn't touch the toast. It cleared up on its own but it took about three weeks.

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

Is there a way you can douse it in apple juice? I'm not sure that's allowed though.

[GrayRodent]

That's an interesting idea but I'd be afraid apple juice might contribute to the problem.

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

Do you think it could be stress- related?

[GrayRodent]

Considering how easily chinchillas can be stressed I certainly won't rule that out. If it is I am at a loss to even guess at the cause but I'll be continuing to look for patterns.

[GrayRodent]

Kulu ate almost nothing since this morning which is unusual.
I went to give him extra hay for the night since I took his pellets away and discovered the hay smells damp and sour. Considering the moist climate here (Atlanta, Georgia area) I'm not particularly surprised but I don't remember it smelling like that when I first got it. I have had a (serious) problem with this before from a different retailer but caught it before Kulu got any. So now he is on pellets only until I can get some hay tomorrow. That is very frustrating.

I now suspect it is the hay that is causing the problem. It could easily explain all of this considering his hay and pellets were replaced at about the same time (with his diet change to Oxbow). I looked at the hay under a magnifying lens to look for signs of mold but I did not see any. Unfortunately mold can be microscopic so it doesn't mean there isn't any. It smells off and my mom confirmed it so I'm not taking any chances.

His fecal output is still normal in volume and color but remains abnormally (and annoyingly) sticky. I do not consider this to be an emergency unless it gets worse. And now that I have a probable cause I will postpone his vet visit and see how he responds to a new batch of hay. If there is no improvement by Monday I plan on having him examined.

[mb30]

Heya, i just want to say that i hope everything turns out okay.

[GrayRodent]

I think it will be. This morning it was much better than yesterday. There is still some sticking to the shelf where he tromped on it in front of the wheel but the wheel was clean unlike yesterday. The wheel count (using my home made digital rotation counter) this morning was very close to that of yesterday's and his water consumption and weight are exactly the same. There was a slight patch in his fur but I'm not sure it wasn't from yesterday. This is starting to look more and more like a contaminated hay problem. I'll know more when I get some new hay and see if he eats it.

[GrayRodent]

This morning he got worse again. It is about the same as it was two days ago and I had to scrub his wheel again. The good news is he is eating more hay since I got the new bag yesterday. Because of my attempts to get him to eat hay only followed by giving him pellets only (once I found the hay was bad) after he didn't eat for half a day may have set him back. The appearance of his poo has changed and you can see it is very glossy and somewhat rounder than normal. If there is no improvement by tomorrow morning I'm taking him to the vet or if there is no significant improvement in two days. I really don't want to put him on antibiotics unless it's absolutely necessary.

[GrayRodent]

This morning was about the same as yesterday with no improvement. I tried the burnt toast thing last night. It supposed to work in 24 hours if it's a dietary issue accoring to chinclub. Part of me wants to avoid putting him on meds, which pose a slight risk as well, and taking him to the vet where he will be stressed and another part of me is thinking if there's some kind of infection it could be causing unseen damage and needs to be stopped.
Considering the symptoms are not severe and have not escalated, and his weight, water, and food consumption are still normal, I will wait one more day to see if there is improvement.

[GrayRodent]

Tonight there is marked improvement in Kulu's fecal consistency. I also should have mentioned that he did eat the toast completely. He seemed to like it this time and it may be contributing to his improvement. The droppings are is still abnormal and it is a mixture of hard and loose but not near as watery at this time. This is better than what it looked like last night at the same time so I am very hopeful. Tomorrow morning I'll know more and reassess. His weight, water consumption, and daily wheel rotation count continue to be unchanged. He does seem to be favoring hay over pellets now.

[GrayRodent]

Good improvement this morning. It is still too wet but I didn't have to scrape it off his wheel. I'll give him another day. If it was caused by sour hay he has had less than three days to recover. If he'll keep improving I won't be too concerned.

[GrayRodent]

Yesterday evening it got bad again. This morning it was bad like it was two days ago with no significant improvement. I have made a vet appointment today. I supposed we'll see how well he responds to antibiotics. Phooey!