Question:
OK, everyone something is terribly wrong and I am hoping someone out there can help me and sydney!
remember I posted that sydney was gaining a lot of weight last week and I thought that was strange being only 3 months pregnant but we just concluded that she was fine and might have triplets in dec.
well all was well and then last night she was not well. in the morning she was fine, she had eaten and drank her normal amt of water. when I went to get her at playtime, she didn't want to come out, she is usually at the door begging. at first I said, maybe she is a little tired b/c of the pregnancy. well, I called my fiance down to take her out while I played with boyfriend. she fought him and didn't want to come out at all. we finally got her out, we put her in the playarea, she had a big pee and did this weird stretching/sunken in sides things...it was very scary and it looked very painful. I called my breeder immediately and asked her opinion (she is my voice of reason). We thought maybe she had a breedback (somehow even though unlikely) b/c yesterday was 111 days since her last litter. WE thought maybe she was in labor. I couldn't reason it out that that could be the case so we rushed her the only animal hospital that would see her. She was down 5g from the previous night we weighed her and she had stopped the stretching thing. her stomach is very distended and soft. and sides are still sunken in. We took an xray just to look for the babies and there were NONE!!!! Her stomach looked full of food, not air and all the rest of her organs looked good. she was just very lethargic...she did have a few normal poos. she had no temp or any other sign that something was wrong (but I knew from the beginning something wasn't right). they didn't have an exotic specialist at this clinic so they really couldn't do anything. I decided to bring her home, keep her comfortable and we are going to specialist today. I stayed by her cage 1/2 the night and she didn't budge. she stayed in her tube all night, no eating, no drinking, no peeing or pooping. she just slept as she is doing right now on my lap. I gave her some pedialyte and trying to keep her hydrated. she has no discharge or any other symptoms of an infectioin. I was wondering if maybe she has an obstruction or is constipated now with the distended belly. I have been giving her papaya as her treat this week. I can't think of anything else! you can imagine I am a zombie this morning and I can't wait to see the specialist....i will probably start calling soon and leaving messages so I can get the first appt!
any other ideas would be very welcomed...please keep your fingers crossed for my baby...


Answer:
Amanda, I have little experience with chinchilla illnesses but I hope you get to see the specialist as early as possible! I am keeping my fingers crossed for Sydney


Answer:
Amanda, I can only imagine the angst you are feeling right now concering your little girl. I honestly don't know what the problem could be. I remember Jade (Steph) had a problem with her Elvis being bloated. We need someone that has had experience with this.
I will be keeping you and Sydney in my thoughts and prayers.


Answer:
I can't really help either, but I will keep you in my thoughts today.


Answer:
It sounds like she is bloated to me too. Let us know how the appt. goes.


Answer:
She sounds bloated. This happened to my friend recently. Fluids from your vet right away will help. They use Reglan and something else to get things going. I'm praying for her and will keep you in my thoughts


Answer:
whatever it is I sure hope that the specialist can get it figured out and help Syd soon!! good luck..
could it have been that she was pregnant.. and just reabsorbed the babies????? I dont know what happens at that time.. or how it happens. but its just a thought.


Answer:
She is more like 70 days pregnant, not really 3 months.
We took her to a specialist today. He didn’t see anything seriously wrong with her. He feels there may be an issue with the GI system. He felt feces inside and about 5 or so actually came out while she was there, a possible sign that things are starting to move along. He also said that the bones of kits usually don’t materialize until about 2 weeks before they are born, so not seeing them in an x-ray is normal at this stage. He feels that the pregnancy may be causing some discomfort or maybe a rear teeth problem that made her stop eating, and therefore stop pooping. He is going to give her fluids and critical care for the next 24 hours and go from there. He didn’t seem to think it was anything too serious.


Answer:
That's promising news. Keep us update.


Answer:
Amanda, that is good you have some type of diagnosis. Is he speculating it is a tooth problem? If it is, will he file her tooth down? I hope Sydney reacts positively to the critical care and she gets better.