Where has the chinchilla gone?

Thea messing around with a hammock.
We had to get her out, because we had plans for the day. I'm not sure if she could get out on her own or not.

She's the only chin we have, that has this bad habit of destroying every thing she gets near, bless her.

Sexing 1 day old chinchilla kits

It's actually quite easy determining the gender of very young chinchilla kits.
The first couple of times can be a problem, but it becomes easier with time. The best reference is when you've seen both a young male and female.

 

As seen above, the male has some space between the anus and genitalia,  whereas there's no space when it's a female. Chances are it's a female, if you are not quite sure about what you are looking at.

If in doubt, wait a couple of days or a week, then there shouldn't be anything to mistake.

In adult animals, the difference becomes more evident. When the male becomes sexually mature his testicles will fall down, giving the impression he has some excess skin around his genitalia and anus.


Even though it should be quite easy to tell the sex after a couple of litters, every body can make mistakes. Therefore; be sure to check the gender around 10 weeks, because some animals do become sexually mature here. You should also check the gender yourself, when buying a chinchilla, and not only rely on what the breeder tells you.

Minipiv has passed away

As of now, I'm quite sure every diagnose she's gotten has been wrong.
To be honest, I think she had cancer.

None of the symptoms fit anything.

She gained a bit of weight, the she got a constipation, and dropped down to her low 440 grams again. After about 5-7 days, she had lost another 40 grams.
It was so awful to touch her.
We were going to get her euthanized, but she died in the morning, around 7. I'm kinda glad about this though. I really hate taking sick animals to the vet, just to get them euthanized at the vets. It should be done at home, when their time has come.

Anyway, I believe she has had cancer. She started getting these warts on her fingers. and the last couple of days, they came very rapidly. The last time I saw an animal with similar symptoms, was when one of my parents dogs had cancer.
So right now I'm getting her autopsied. I hope this will cast some light on the whole thing.

It annoys me so much, that there's really nobody who are going to learn anything from this, except me and Nick (the boyfriend).
Why don't they try and learn something from all of this mess?

Every thing had to go so fast when she was dead, that I took her to my ordinary vet. She should have gone to a university vet (not sure what the right term is for this) so that they could have learned something from her. But you tend not to think straight when you find your animal dead in the cage.

Looked like she just died in her sleep. Normally it's quite easy to tell when an animals is dead, but she was so thing and so cold before she died, it was so hard to tell that she was actually dead.
My poor little girl. I should have gotten her euthanized weeks ago

Minipiv

Guess I'de better update.

I got a bit frustrated with my vet.
Nothing showed up on her x-rays.
One said there was no point in doing any blood tests. When I called and asked them about checking her poop, I got an other vet. He didn't sound like he wanted to check her poop, but he wanted to check her blood.
After about 12 hours with a chinchilla that wouldn't come around, and he sounded like they probably wouldn't use gas, but do it the same way when taking a blood sample, I just didn't want to let them do anything.

So I called one of the best rodent and exotic specialists here. She thought the poop was a good way to go, especially with such a sick animal.
And I know they have the facilities to use gas and an oxygen chamber if the animals do not come out quick enough.

I went down to the vet, left a sample, and went home. This was wednesday. If they could check them on their own they would call around friday. If they had to send them to a bigger lab, I would get an answer around tuesday.

Friday around lunch she looked very bad, and after talking to one of the veterinary nurses I got an acute appointment.
I was told the rodent expert (Ingeborg) didn't have the time - she was totally booked up - but she was the one who looked at her anyway. That was such a relief. I've been down there before, where someone who didn't have a clue about chinchillas looked at my animals. It's quite annoying to have someone who doesn't know the first thing to look at your animal, not find anything out, and pay double for it -_- That's what happens if you get there after hours.

Back to Minipiv, Ingeborg did agree she was way to small. The scale said 440 grams, but it could be anything from 440-449. Not the best scale for small animals, but it seams like that's what all the vets here use.
Mini was outgoing and pooping like she should. Ingeborg took a sample, and said something about she'd might be looking at it, if she got the time.
Then Mini decided to pee. Ingeborg ran out of the room, and came back with one of those strips that test for all sorts of things.
Every thing looked fine. It even tested for diabetes, and it was negative.

We talked a bit about what to do. She didn't really want to do the blood tests before we got an answer about the poop.
She couldn't feel anything wrong anywhere, and everything looked fine. No sign of liver problems or an infection. Nice teeth, and she was eating like always.
She did get a vitamin shot though.
I wish my own vet had just given her a vitamin shot. She ate like a crazy when we came home, and seams a lot more lively, she even put on at least 5 grams over the weekend - yay. That's the first time we've seen an increase in her weight. It's been either steady or going down the last couple of weeks.

I'm hoping they are going to call me tomorrow. I'm kinda hoping she has some parasites. That would make everything a lot easier.
And I have to tell them about the impact of the vitamin shot.
I have been thinking that something might went wrong with her last litter, and she didn't get all she needed.
That could have cause a kind of negative spiral for her.

We just have to wait and see.


Oh, and one more thing.
I did suspect Madonna of being pregnant.
Yesterday I noticed how she was eating like a little pig, and looked like a pregnant GP >_< I'm quite sure she's pregnant, and she is going to give birth in a short time :)
I'm hoping for something chocolate ebony or homo pink white ebony :)

Thin chinchilla

We are in the process of moving, so I've been neglecting my chins a bit.
They've had all the food, water and hay they need, but I have not had the time to talk as much with them as I normally have.

I had noticed that one of our females - Minipiv - was a bit on the thin side, but I wanted to give it some time, and see if she could gain some weight on her own.
My mom has been looking after the animals when I've been to the new flat, but she doesn't really notice the small things. It's not something I blame her for, you really need to know the animals in order to notice the small problems.

Anyhow, when I got home last Friday, Mini was a lot thinner than I had expected, so I had to call the vet Monday. In the mean time I got some critical care into her, just to be on the safe site.
When I got to the vet, she could feel there wasn't really any food in Mini, and a weight at about 480 grams - way too low.
When looking at Minis teeth, the vet couldn't really see anything because of some food in her mouth, so we agreed I should come back today, so she could get a closer look at her.
The rest of the day we - Nicholas and I - spent a lot of time with Mini, warming her and feeding her some mush made of some Critical Care, boiled water and her pellets.
She must have been hungry for quite a while, because she ate like a crazy. I have been watching her though, and have seen her eating, but I guess she has had some problems grinding down the food and swallowing it.
She began pooping a lot, and got a lot more energetic, even though she never really seamed that low on energy.

Today the vet still had a problem seeing anything, so they kept her, and I have to call them back in a while.
I'm hoping everything went smooth, and there's nothing seriously wrong. I think it's a minor problem with her teeth, and hope it will be over today.
I am a bit worried though. It's never a good feeling leaving your animals at the vet.