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[Lauren_201]

I am having a problem with Chloe. She has had rapid weight loss. Her weights are as follows:

Nov 3  493g

Dec 3  489g

Jan 6   486g

Jan 11  474g

Jan 12  464g

Jan 13  462g



She is eating a little less and has small poos. She also doesn't want any oats, but she took a piece of bran flake from me and ate it. On Wednesday night she had stringy poop. It wasn't slimey at all, more kind of dry. Her activity level is normal. She acts completely fine other than the above. She comes out for play time and bounces off the walls and torments Berry like normal. I am thinking it might be a mild impaction. But I have no idea.



I took her to the vet yesterday, they did not do any xrays. They gave me albon which I'm supposed to give her twice a day for seven days, also they prescribed critical care and acidophilus. They did do a fecal and it was negative. The vet listened to her heart, lungs looked at her teeth (yes, I know just looking doesn't tell us anything about the back molars & roots) she felt her jaw, and put pressure on it. She said she didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, she also felt her tummy.



I plan on taking her back on Monday to have her gut x-rayed, but I was hoping someone here would have and idea, and be able to help me get thru the weekend. I am extremely worried about her.

[Joyce]

That is a good amount of weight to lose in that period of time.  One of my chins had a similar experience recently with weight loss.
I'm glad you are going for x rays, if there is a partial blockage it will probably show up on film as a distended & gassy area before the area that could be partially blocked.  If she were completely blocked she would not be pooping.  We have a chin that survived a complete blockage last year, but it was touch and go for a long time and involved LOTS of around the clock medicines and medical care!  Two of the meds that saved her life were Reglan and Cisipride, medicines that increases GI motility.  She needed several other meds as well.
Is Your girl taking a raisin or a piece of dried papaya cube from you?  We give our chins these when they have small dry constipated looking poops.  It usually works if the problem is simply constipation.
Has your vet looked at her back molars to make sure there are no spurs/points?  Why did they give you Albon for her?
When you say her poop is stringy, explain what it looks like.

Critical Care is a good idea, we gave this to our boy who had lost alot of weight and our girl with the blockage too.  He has finally gained the weight back!!!!  Is your girl taking the critical care OK?
Make sure she is getting enough to drink.  Maybe put an EXTRA bottle of 1/2 water and 1/2 cranberry juice on her cage, or a bottle of gatorade or Pedialyte (straight).  We also hand fed ours with a dropper with pedialyte in it, sometimes gatorade he liked that!

[Lauren_201]

She will take a raisen from me, but I am trying to stay away from too many sugary treats. She hasn't been put under yet for molar xrays. I am going to have them xray her mouth if her gut is clear. They gave albon to her because it is a very mild antibiotic and sooths the intestinal tract, it is good for a mild infection of the GI tract or for irritation. They think her GI is possibley irritated. The stringy poos was 3 dryer poos attached to each other by a very fine piece of poo (looks like a string but is not and can be broken up) It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. I have ordered the critical care, I hope it gets here soon. The vet was all out.

I resorted to hand feeding her. I wanted to make sure she was getting enough food in her, and I was not comfortable with the amount she ate today. So I hand fed her the following:
Ground pellets-measured out 30 grams, I cut some timothy up with scissors, about 18 grams or so and ground to a powder, and I mixed in baby food apple sauce, some molassis. I also added acidophilus, vitamin c and a pinch of calcium. I made it into a "milk-shake" and syringed about 8 ml to her. This was per Dawn on the other forum. She told me to feed her 4-6 times a day.

[Jo Ann]

 The 'stringy poo' almost sounds like she may have fur in her digestive system ... I would try a little Petramalt ... in the cat section of the pet store ... used for hair balls ... I would give her some, about the size of a pea.

Pedialyte will help hydrate her faster than regular water ... Gerber puts out a little single-serving 4 pack that is apple-flavored.   Once pedialyte is opened, it is only good for 24 hours ... the single-servings save on waste. 
Do not mix anything with the pedialyte.

Ocean Spray cranberry juice (not cocktail) mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with water (like Joyce said) is often used to coax them to drink more fluids.

An extra bottle of plain water is good to keep up at all times.

I make a "home-made critical care" ...

Healthy hand full of Alfalfa hay
2 Tablespoons chinchilla pellets (Mazuri, preferably)
Place in blender high-speed, until in a powder form.

Add: (found in health food store)
1 capsule acidophilus (Refrigerate after opening)
1 teaspoon Raw wheat germ (Refrigerate in airtight container)
1 teaspoon papaya powder (optional)
Mix. Store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator.

Methods of feeding...
1) Mix with water and feed with syringe or glass eye dropper.
2) Mix with Nutra Cal (cat/dog section of pet store)
about the size of a pea, making mini footballs the size of raisins.
3) Can be used as a supplement when you add whole raw oats.

 
Jo Ann

[Lauren_201]

Thank you all so much! I will go tomorrow and buy the ingredients for the homemade critical care. She seems to be doing okay. She takes her syringe feedings like a trooper. After she eats I let her run around, and she's 100% her normal self when she's running around. She wall surfs, popcorns, bounces around on the bed and pillows. Everything! All though, now I am seeing a decrease in poops. Which is scary.

[Chins To Love]

I hope she is feeling better soon, My thoughts are with you guys.
Julianne

[Lauren_201]

Okay so they didn't x-ray her. I saw another vet this time. Because she has gained and her poos are normal, they didn't want to put her under. Okay?  I was told to keep up doing the albon twice a day until it's gone, and keep hand feeding her for the rest of the week and see how she is. If anything changes I'm supposed to take her back for the x-rays. Basically the vet said they didn't want to stress her out and cause any more issues. They took her temperature, listened to her heart and lungs and they looked at her poop again. They think she had a mild blockage that has passed thru. She is eating pellets and hay on her own periodically between hand feedings. Now what? This is supposed to be one of the best exotic vets in Reno. I'm puzzled.

[Jo Ann]

I would do as the vet says and keep a close eye out for any changes. 

If she is gaining and the poops are looking normal now, I would not want to stress her more either. 
Any time a chin goes under anesthesia, you are taking a chance. 

Sounds like she is on the way to getting back to her old self.  We'll say a little prayer and keep our fingers crossed.

Keep us posted!


 
Jo Ann

[chinchillagrl06]

That's scary. I'm glad her poo is getting back to normal. (only on a chinchilla forum can you have a conversation about poo LOL) I hope is feeling all better soon. 

[Jo Ann]

Hey, Lauren,
    How's your little one doing?  Everything still looking good?

 
Jo Ann

[Lauren_201]

Hey JoAnn! She is normal in everything but her eating. She refuses to eat more than a bite of her pellets. Every once in a while she will munch her hay. She chews all of her sticks and what not too. I am trying to get some money together to get the x-rays done... I had it, but now some major life stuff happened. Short version Vince is leaving me and I have to find a place to live that allow the chins, and the bills have piled up. So as soon as I get the money together she is going back for her x-rays. I have care credit but cannot add another bill right now. I am not sure if she just likes being hand fed and is being stubborn or if it's her teeth. She will be getting these x-rays soon... a few of the members on the other forum actually donated some money to go towards her to get them. I am waiting on the vet to call me back with my second estimate. I was thinking about going ahead and charging it to the care credit, and then use the money to make payments, and then I was thinking about saving up more money just so I have a "cushion". Not sure right now what to do.... and waiting on the vet. It's really frustrating. I never thought he would actually leave me. There's been a lot of drama here. He's very angry/jealous that I took my "worthless rat to the vet because she is probably going to die anyways." I am having the worst couple of months. Sorry this is so long... I am just pretty upset over the whole situation. 

[Abby W.]

Lauren,

I am so sorry to hear about your situation.  Life can be so hard sometimes.    We are all here to listen whenever you want to talk.   Just keep your chin up and remember that things won't be bad forever, they always get better somehow.

[Lauren_201]

Thank you so much for listening. I am having a really hard time will all this. The situation really sucks. I've been with this guy practically my whole life... I know I still have my entire life a head of me, but it  just came to a screeching halt. It's just weird. Never thought I'd be without him, then there's poor little Chloe.

[Jo Ann]

  Hi Lauren,
Glad to hear Chloe is doing better, maybe she does like those hand feedings  ... also, chinchillas are very a-tune to a person's feelings ... she could be sensing your need for her, also.  You can help each other.   

This may sound harsh, but it is true.  The only things certain in life it self, is that you are born, you breath and you die ... what happens between the first and the last is what we make out of it.  Men are one of the nice things in life as long as they are nice ... (same with women for men) ... when they are no longer nice, or things no longer work the way they did, despite how hard we may seem to try ... we don't need any additional stress in life, so we walk away, if we are smart.  No, it's not easy, but the best and the worst things in life never are.  It took me a devastating 2 marriages and 43 years to find what I believe is my own true love.  I hope and pray it is ... it's still going strong after 14 years.

Just recently, a family friend and his wife, of over 20 years of marriage, headed for divorce court.  The hardest thing to do was to explain things to their young teenage kids why, in a way that the kids would know that they (the kids) were not at fault for the parents splitting.  The following explanation was given to the kids by the parents:

Love is like a fire, to keep the flame from going out, both have to work at it, to keep it burning strong.  When they don't keep working at it, and begin to ignore it, which is easy to do ... the flame gets smaller and smaller until it goes out.  Once the flame goes out and there is no more fire to kindle the wood, it becomes cold and dark and you can no longer find each other and have to go your separate ways.

In the beginning, their love was one that no one thought could ever end, but with time it did.  Now, they are each looking at life separately and will find out what it has instore for them next, as individuals.

Two people can be strong together, but so can one be, that stands alone.   
You just have to plant your feet a little firmer and put one in front of the other, one step at a time ...
to find a new frontier to conquer ... new life to enjoy ... just in a different place and time.

 
Jo Ann

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Awww Lauren
Things will get better, some things are just not meant to be.
Dust yourself off and get on with it, is what works best for me.
Good friends and a close family always help, and the pets.

Most of us have loved and lost, it is harder when you've been together for so long.