Common Chinchilla Ailments

Chinchillas, are great at hiding their declining health and any health concerns they may be having. I mean, in the wild it was necessary to be fit and healthy or else be something's dinner. This doesn't change in captivity.

Watch your chinchilla(s) closely for signs of illness, and take him to the vet at the slightly sign of something is wrong.

Learn about common health concerns for chinchillas, so that you know what to look for and how to prevent mishap.

For more information
CLICK HERE

Chinchilla Health & First Aid

If you have or are interested in getting a chinchilla, you want to make ure that you are fluent in all aspects of chinchilla care, ranging from housing, diet, to health care. You will want to make sure that you know how to provide temporary health care when a chinchilla is injured or ill.

So for more information about chinchilla health care and chinchilla first aid, CLICK HERE

Loss

I've dealt with a lot of loss this year- from the loss of a boyfriend for several months to the loss of a dog, hamsters, geckos, and a chinchilla. Today, another chinchilla passed away.

This past Tuesday, Roxy, the hamster, passed away, but I assumed it was due to age as she was about a year and a half or so. But, yesterday, I found Cheech curled up toe Chiko trying to help him stay warm as he was loosing body heat.

I took him to the vet as soon as I could. The vet could not diagnose anything, as he hadn't shown any signs except for the current lethargy and labored/shallow breathing. Chiko was given a shot of B12 and Dex. The B12, like in humans, was a pick-me-up, so to speak; it was to help him feel better. Dex was to aid with circulation, breaking apart clusters of bad cells (as bad cells tend to cluster in one spot) and pushing through more good cells.

For a short time, it seemed to help, but Chiko quickly began to fade again. I was giving him a diluted apple juice mix every hour or so to help him with his sugar levels in attempts to give him a little energy to help fight the illness. It seemed to help for that brief moment, then he would regress back to lethargy.

Throughout the night, I constantly checked on him and tried giving him the apple juice/water mix. He stopped taking the apple juice at 2:00a.m. He died between 6:45ish and 7:30ish this morning.

I took him to the vet this morning for an autopsy. Dr. Hall is going to check for tumors, bleeding, clots, etc. Things that are somewhat basic and visible. If he cannot find anything visible wrong, I agreed to paying the additional fees to have tissuesif not the entire body, sent to Tifton. I want to make sure that whatever happened to Chiko will not happen to Cheech or my rats.

As, earlier this year, Chong passed away without showing any signs of illness. His autopsy showed nothing more than lung tissue damage, as the tissue were decomposing rapidly. He passed away on a Sunday, and the vet was not opened. Chong's autopsy was not performed until Monday afternoon. I still believe, to this day, that something was wrong with him, due to the fact that he was only 3 and a half, or so.

Because chinchillas are social animals, depending on what the vet or Tifton has to say, I may attempt to find another chinchilla to adopt. One that is around Cheech's age, 4 or 5 years. This would give him the socialization that he needs and is used to, and will help an older chinchilla in need of a home.

My chinchillas are housed in a 48T"x30W"x18D" cage with two balconies and a full level. They are fed Mazuir Chinchilla food and timothy hay, and housed on Aspen bedding. They receive nothing less than the best that I can afford. Weekly, bedding changes. Fresh food and water. Chews and treats galore.

Dealing with loss can be a hard thing to handle. And if you know someone that has lost a pet, provide sympathy and a loving heart and hand. If a child, ask they would like to have a funeral. Get all dressed up, have a service, and a proper burial. This will help the child's grieving process. It, also, shows the child that you DO care. Don't just flush his pet fish down the toilet, even a simple goldfish to a 5 year old is important.

It may take a long time for a child, or even an adult, to finish the grieving process, but throughout the entire process, as a friend or loved one, you should be there at all costs.

I can say from personal experiences, after six months having lost my dog to theft, I was still grieving over him. In order to push along the grieving process, I had to purchase another dog of the same breed, American pit bull terrier. Having entered my life, MIA has helped so much with the loss of Chance. Although, I still love and greatly miss him, she has helped fill the void. This may be an option to help aid someone's loss, but do give them plenty of time to grieve before trying to fill the hole. Sometimes this may be perceived as replacing the lost pet, but it's really filling a hole left behind.

What? You want a specialty animal?

Specialty animals include:

• Birds
• Reptile
• Ferret
• Rabbit
• Small Animal

Thinking about getting one? Read the following article:

Things to Consider Before Buying a Specialty Animal

Chinchillas

Chinchillas are very close to my heart. I received my first chinchilla for Christmas one year. He was so cute! And, I didn't even expect it. I had done my research, and asked, and got a semi-yes. But nothing definate. At this time, I volunteered regularly at Petsmart, and saw that they had one male chinchilla. I asked for him, and my parents didn't seem too keen on the idea, as it had been a while since I'd taken care of a furry pet; plus I already had a few reptiles and a dog in the house.
The next day, we went back to Petsmart, to get something that I had forgotten, crickets, mealworms, or something... I saw that the chinchilla wasn't there anymore, and began asking for a hamster. Turns out that the previous day when my mother picked me up, my dad was in the parking lot (supposidly at work). He ran in and bought the chinchilla, since they can't put anything on hold. He had already gotten approval from my grandparents, that they would house the little guy until the following weekend, which was Christmas. I had absolutely NO idea!!!
Luck for me I had done my research, or I would have been in for a huge RUDE awakening! But, at the same time, I was still surprised by somethings, such as how much they actually liked to chew! I expected some chewing, but I didn't expect to walk in my room one day and have the front of my ferret cage falling off because they had chewed the pieces that held the cage together off. Oh, and I say they, because in April, of the following month, I went back to Petsmart and got another chinchilla, and we purchased a bigger cage, a ferret cage.
But anyway, I have created a basic chinchilla caresheet for those who are interested in owning a chinchilla.

Did you know it takes OVER 150 chinchillas to produce one chinchilla fur coat?? Did you know that Jennifer Lopez has well over 10 of these coats? That means well over 1,500 chinchillas had to die in order to make Lopez a fancy coat. I am very fond of my chinchillas, and will never understand why someone would want one of these coats.

Chinchillas are very sensitive, cute, and furry creatures that are now found in homes across North America versus solely in the Andes Mountains of South America.

If you're thinking about getting a chinchilla, you should read the article below. It consists of a few tips and things that you may want to think about first:
Chinchilla Basics

Animals

I have too many... Ha... Well, it's true.

I have had dogs all my life. My experience with dogs ranges from volunteering weekly for 5 plus years are various dog rescues. Dog training for over a year. And just plain personal experiences.

As for my experience with reptiles; I have been researching reptiles for over 7 years, and have owned them for over 4. I have a small hobby business breeding leopard geckos, african fat tail geckos, and crested geckos. goreptiles.com

My experience with small and furry animals goes so far as 10 years off and on hands on experience and research. I was the certified specialist for a retail petstore, as well.

The list of my zoo inludes:

REPTILES

• 12 leopard geckos
• 5 african fat tail geckos
• 2 crested geckos
• 2 bearded dragons
• 1 ball python

SMALL AND FURRY

• 3 rats
• 2 chinchillas
• 1 hamster
• 1 mouse

DOGS

• 1 yorkie (mine)
• 1 pit bull (mine)
• 1 mutt: hound/heinz 57 dog (partially mine)
• 1 dalmatian (cute dog at the house)
• 1 st bernard/collie mix (my mother's)

Please take everything written in this blog as personal experiences unless otherwise said.