Bouncer was born on 1st July 1977 on a chinchilla ranch in Nottingham owned by Mr. Sweeney. [The owner] purchased him when he was 12 months old. He has had quite an uneventful life (perhaps this helped towards him living to such an incredible age). He has moved house with [the owner] twice and coped well with the upheaval, and he has never been to the vets. This caused .. some problems with his record attempt, it was difficult to prove his age as no vets had any details of him. Bouncer is not so fast on his feet as he used to be and no longer lives up to his name but apart from a cataract he is still fairly healthy. His secret to old age could be down to the fact he has never been overly pestered or over fed, he eats his routine pellets and hay and gets a treat of a couple of raisins most days. He has always been very good natured and handles well too.

Chinchillas4life (bottom of the page)

I do believe that pets are part of your family and I do hope that Tubby & Winnie will live up to ripe old ages of 20-somethings. S0000 I guess I have to cut down on their treats & they’re going to hate me for it!

Compare the above picture with a picture of normal poop. Because chinchillas poop constantly, Winnie kept stepping onto his own poop & smeared the wet poop everywhere; it was such a mess.

When the vet performed a gram stain on Winnie’s poop, the vet said that the ‘bad’ bacteria outnumber the ‘good’ bacteria; the ‘bad’ bacteria have always been present in Winnie’s stomach, but because of the apple skin, Winnie’s stomach got upset. Here is a detailed timeline:

• 5 April: started on Baytril (0.2 ml twice daily for a week) & Bene-Bac (a pea size, approximately 1 gram, once daily for 2 weeks).
• 7 Apri: I started to syringe feed Winnie with Critical Care because the Baytril reduced Winnie’s appetite.
• 15 April: no improvement, so the Baytril was discontinued & Winnie was prescribed another medication that’s labeled as “SMZ/TMP Ped Susp” (0.25 ml twice daily for a week), which didn’t help much.
• 19 April: started on Doxycycline (0.2 ml tiwce daily for a week), which was given alongside the SMZ/TMP. Winnie’s poop improved considerably.
• 26 April: the course for Doxycycline & SMZ/TMP was over, but Winnie still continued on the Bene-Bac.
• 9 May: Winnie finally finished his course of Bene-Bac & was diarrhea free!

I always made sure that after being in contact with Winnie while he was having diarrhea, I would wash my hands before touching Tubby. But I guess that wasn’t enough, Tubby eventually fell ill too; I have a feeling this was a parasitic infection that was easily transferred from my clothing because I didn’t change my clothes after being in contact with Winnie. Tubby’s poops were soft, but not as wet as the photo above. Tubby saw the vet on the 28th of April. Because Tubby’s poops weren’t as bad as Winnie’s, the vet didn’t want to prescribe Tubby with antibiotic that would kill the ‘bad’ AND the ‘good’ bacteria. Instead, the vet wanted to try a more ‘natural’ approach, by encouraging the ‘good’ bacteria to multiply. Tubby was prescribed Diarysanyl (a pea size, approximately 1 ml, twice daily for 5 days) & Bene-Bac (a pea size, approximately 1 gram, once daily for 2 weeks). Unlike Winnie, Tubby’s initial recovery as much faster. But the strange thing was that Tubby’s poops would get better one day & the nexy day he’d revert to soft poops. This continued even after his medication course was over. Tubby didn’t return to the clinic though, I just kept an eye on him & eventually the soft poops didn’t return.

*sigh* The troubles my animals went through just because I gave 1 chinchilla a fruit treat .. I’ve learned from my mistake & I no longer give in to those sad-looking eyes that seem to say “Puuhhhllleeeassseeee give me something sweet!”

Tubby was violated .. 4 separate times:

21st of October 2009

22nd of October 2009

1st of November 2009

5th of December 2009
Since I hadn’t cleaned Tubby’s penis in awhile, this fur ring is quite thick

A common problem in non-breeding male chinchillas is fur ring, which is when fur is caught inside the sheath of the penis making it uncomfortable for the chinchillas. I noticed that one day, as Tubby was cleaning himself, there was a black-looking thing around his penis. I suspected fur ring & in order to confirm my suspicion, I had to (literally) violate him: I had to hold him still, retract the sheath of his penis, & pull his penis out. I sure did find a thick fur ring (1st picture). It must have been super uncomfortable for Tubby.

The next day, I again noticed a black-looking thing around Tubby’s penis has he was cleaning himself. He wasn’t happy when I had to clean him again; fur was slipping everywhere as he was trying to escape my grip & by the end of it all, I was covered in grey fur. The second picture shows a dirty-looking fur ring because I had to use petroleum jelly. Just as male humans may need lubricants to prevent dryness, chinchillas do too (sorry to be candid, haha!).

After the second try, I did not want to bother Tubby anymore, for fearing that he may distrust me (chinchillas can easily distrust their owner, especially after experiencing two horrible, traumatizing incidents). I noticed that his penis was slightly red (the skin was probably raw from all that cleaning) & I wanted to give him a break .. which only lasted for a little over a week, when I had to clean Tubby for the third time (3rd picture).

Not all non-breeding male chinchillas have fur rings. For instance, I have never noticed fur ring on Winnie. And some chinchillas are just better than others in cleaning themselves, while some are hopeless & need help from their human companions. As the weather is getting colder, chinchillas’ fur are becoming thicker, so fur rings may be unavoidable.

The following third party video is a guide on how to remove chinchilla’s fur ring (except it doesn’t tell how to handle a super hyper chinchilla like Tubby).

Proof:

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.

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

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

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.

Winnie’s mouth from the right side. Dental vet said that this is the trimmest teeth a chin can have.

Winnie’s mouth from the left side.

]]> http://www.chinchillanation.com/2008/10/08/winnies-oral-x-ray/feed/ 3 http://www.chinchillanation.com/2008/09/27/gassy-winnie/ http://www.chinchillanation.com/2008/09/27/gassy-winnie/#comments Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:47:44 +0000 Ippo456 http://www.chinchillanation.com/?p=170 Another trip to the vet this morning.

Winnie is not out of the woods yet. Since he’s been taken off the Bene-Bac on Monday, it seemed as if he was getting better: his poop was oval & black (like how normal chinchilla poop is supposed to look like), but still small. A couple of days later, his poop returned to how they were before: small, bead-sized, & very hard. I also noticed that during feeding time, I could feel and hear popping noises coming from his stomach!

From 2 weeks of not chewing pellets, the vet suspected that the molars were overgrown & needed trimming (maybe another reason why he doesn’t want to eat on his own). When Winnie was under sedation, the vet could see that the molars were overgrown, but not too bad.

As for the popping noises, the vet said that the noises are gas moving around in Winnie’s digestive system. Vet doesn’t know what’s causing so much gas build-up. The reasons could range from: bacteria producing the excess gas, to air that was trapped in the food syringe. With all the gas in Winnie’s tummy, it just makes him feel bloated & full, hence another reason why he doesn’t feel like eating on his own. I’m still syringe-feeding him, because he wouldn’t touch his pellets! The strange thing is, he eats hay & grapes.

Now, he’s back on the Bene-bac, he’s still on the motility medicine, and on GasX (medicines for human infants to get rid of gas). I’m also reducing the amount of food I give him, hoping that he’ll get a little hungry to encourage him to eat on his own.