Chinchilla Nation » 2008

Archive for October, 2008

102 Chins Rescued from a Hoarder

October 31st, 2008

Last month, 102 chinchillas were rescued from a hoarder in CA. I read the story from here & it is so heartbreaking! Looking at the pictures made me mad .. at the hoarder. It’s so upsetting to know that there are people who would ‘adopt’ animals with the pretext of giving them ‘good homes,’ but they end up in the wrong situation. That is why I’m super apprehensive when it comes to other people taking care of my pets or giving me pets away for adoption .. you just never know how others are going to treat your pets!

Not many people know this, but animal hoarding is a physical manifestation of some underlying psychological problem. What might be the worse hoarding case was Barbara Erickson with 552 dogs found in her possession to be neglected. She had been charged before for hoarding 293 dogs, but the charges were dropped. People like Barbara Erickson are also responsible for selling these dogs to local petstores! Unbelievable isn’t it? That’s why I don’t like going to chain petstores & prefer to visit breeders at their homes (or adopt), to actually see the living conditions of the animals before they go home with me.

Too bad those chinnies are all the way in CA. If I were closer, I’d love to be a foster parent.

Posted in News, Rants | Comments (1)

Duckiesss!

October 28th, 2008

I remember during summer, I went shopping to this strip mall that’s located next to a small lake. I remember earlier this year, the lake looked clear & clean. Towards summer, the lake became green & looked dirty. I do hope that its location (surrounded by retails stores & located next to a highway) doesn’t make it a prime dumping place.

When I was leaving the strip mall, I saw the cutest sight ever: a family of duckies crossing an intersection! Looked like a large extended family of duckies; had several adults & lots of baby duckies. I had my camera phone, but since I drive an SUV & the ducks are short, my camera phone wouldn’t be able to get a good shot of them anyhow. I think the crossing lasted about 5 minutes & held up a few cars. I didn’t mind, since it was such a rare sight. It was amazing that everyone stopped; after all, it was during rush hour.

Since I don’t have pictures of that cute incident, I pulled up some videos.

Posted in Other animals | Comments (4)

Another Vet Visit

October 24th, 2008

Today, Winnie went to see the vet .. AGAIN! Good news though

From the last vet visit, this is what we’ve noticed:

The papaya enzyme tables that were supposed to help Winnie break down any build-ups in his stomach didn’t work.
What seemed to work real well is the fresh pineapple juice. Winnie has been given 3 ml of freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Apparently, it’s a homemade remedy for rabbits to get rid of hairballs.
Winnie IS getting better: he’s been more jumpy, has been eating pellets on his own, & doesn’t refuse treats

I didn’t take Winnie, but this is what I was told:

That Winnie is getting better & not as gassy. Yay!!!
He doesn’t need to go on any medications, except for the GasX which we’ll have to continue for the next 3-5 days.
Maybe with a little help of electrolytes, his poop will become better.
Winnie has lost quite a bit of weight, Winnie was 480 grams at his first vet visit & today he weighs 410 grams.

The vet is optimistic about Winnie’s outlook & I’m glad that we decided to wait it out before proceeding to surgeries. In the meantime, we’ll still have to keep an eye on Winnie for the next week & reduce his syringe-feeding to encourage more pellet-eating.

Tags: bloat, chinchilla, gi stasis
Posted in Chinchilla care, Chinchilla health | Comments (4)

How Does BH Get Out?

October 23rd, 2008

How DOES he?

Posted in Hamster adventure | Comments (5)

Tubby Sprayed Me!

October 19th, 2008

Tubby escaped out of his cage tonight when it wasn’t his playtime yet. So, when I managed to corner him under the TV, he stood on his hind legs and did this foghorn sound. As I was reaching to grab him, he peed on my hand!!!!!!!

Euw! After washing my hand, I tried to catch him again. Every time my hand got closer to him, Tubby did that ‘attack’ mode (standing on his hind legs & making foghorn noises) again. That seriously deterred me from grabbing him, for fear that he might pee on me again haha! For awhile he got his way, but I finally caught him & now he’s being punished in his cage.

Chinchillas are prey animals and one of their defence mechanisms is this spraying tactic. The females are more known for spraying and apparently they’re pretty good at aiming, too This was the first time Tubby every sprayed me & I was really surprised! I hope that he won’t do it again. Looking back at it, I think it was a funny experience

Posted in Chinchilla adventure | Comments (6)

New Photos

October 17th, 2008

I just uploaded some pictures from my Nokia phone. Check them out!

Next thing to do: try to figure out who to convert a 3GP video to a compatible format I can upload on Youtube .. I still haven’t figured that out yet.

Posted in Chinchilla pictures, Hamster pictures, News | Comments (6)

Let Me Out!

October 14th, 2008

The Robo girlies & the Russian Campbells don’t really like to play in their Run-About Balls as much as the Syrians do. I think it’s because the balls are too heavy for them & my floor is carpeted.

Puuhhlleeasseee! Let me out!

Posted in Hamster adventure | Comments (6)

We’ll See ..

October 10th, 2008

Another quick Barium x-ray this morning. The x-ray picture was more promising today than yesterday’s. The vet said that she could see nicely formed poops in the x-ray picture and the poops look bigger than the small hard bead-sized ones that have been coming out of Winnie. The vet also felt Winnie’s tummy this morning, which was much less gassy than how it was yesterday. So, we’ll see this weekend how Winnie is doing with the pineapple juice, which I have a feeling has something to do with the bigger poop & the less gassy tummy

I really do hope that we won’t have to go ahead with the surgery .. not only that it’s dangerous for Winnie, but it’s also dangerous for my wallet T.T

Tags: bloat, chinchilla, gi stasis
Posted in Chinchilla care, Chinchilla health | Comments (4)

To Operate or Not ..

October 10th, 2008

Winnie was dropped off at the vet this morning for an upper GI Barium study. Winnie was at the vet for the whole day.

When I talked to the vet, she explained that during the first hour, everything was passing through normally through Winnie’s gut. It was only later that the Barium seemed to have slightly disappeared, but vet could still see a little bit of illumination. That’s why she suspects it’s more likely a case of hairball (rather than virus). She gave me 2 options: surgery to remove the hairball OR continue on the medications & just wait it out.

If we go ahead with the surgery, there’s a 50-50 chance of Winnie surviving the surgery Even if Winnie makes it through the surgery, recovery is also a critical period. BUT, continuing on the meds (taking into consideration that Winnie has been sick for this long .. 1 month this week) can take a toll on the liver Seems like a catch-22 .. if operate, 50-50 chance .. if prolong medication, liver problem & maybe even death, too ..

I’m going to need the weekend to think about the option of undergoing surgery or not. Tomorrow, the vet will be doing another Barium study.

Right now, Winnie’s back on the Metoclopramide. She also suggested that Winnie takes some papaya tablets & given fresh pineapple juice, because those have enzymes can help break down & lubricate the hairball. So, I went to buy a fresh pineapple, pureed the pineapple, & strained it. Winnie seems to really like drinking the pineapple juice out of the syringe

Tags: bloat, chinchilla, gi stasis
Posted in Chinchilla care, Chinchilla health | Comments (4)

Winnie’s Oral X-Ray

October 8th, 2008

My vet still couldn’t figure out why Winnie’s stomach is so gassy & she wanted to rule out any teeth problems. So my vet referred me to a dental vet. Even though my vet has x-rayed Winnie’s teeth when she was x-raying his stomach, my vet doesn’t have a special oral x-ray machine, so she wasn’t able to take pictures of the roots. Also, Winnie hasn’t been eating on his own & he’s not a big chewer in general (compared to Tubby). As a result, his molars were overgrown a little & my vet managed to trim Winnie’s molars.

The dental vet explained to me the worse scenario: Winnie’s upper tooth root overgrown, to the point that it can protrude to the eye (can cause vision loss) or the brain.

Good news though!! The dental vet said that Winnie’s teeth are healthy & as trim as they can get.

Can’t remember what picture this is, even though the dental vet explained it to me 0_o

View of the top incisors. Check out the large vestibular system (the 2 whitish oval shapes on the right), which is responsible for chinchilla’s great sense of balance. The dental vet said that chinchilla’s vestibular system is very large for its small body.