Question:
My chinchilla recently injured her hind leg in her cage! It got caught on the outer edge of one of the levels in her ferret cage and it was only a few seconds since I got her out right away but the vet says it's fractured and they might have to amputate!

I'm really worried for her, does anyone know how well chins can adjust to having only 3 legs? She seemed so sad when i brought her home, she can't put any weight on it, I decided to wait to do surgery since she still has blood supply/flow in her foot but the vet said there was no nerve function. Still it's been less than 24 hours so I'm really hoping it's b/c of the swelling she's barely 7 months old !!!!!

I feel so bad for her I love her so much and don't want her to be sad does anyone know if they can adjust well to having three legs?



Answer:
I have had a chin break is back leg. We cast it for 4-6 weeks.
It took some getting used to, and I had to wrap it up to keep him from chewing it off, but it healed.
He has a little turn in the foot, and the fur that grew back from the shaving looks different, like there is a line between the new and the old fur.
I have also read of several that had to be amputated with out serious problems.
The hardest thing is to stop them from chewing it.
If it hurts, or is soar their remidy is to chew it off.
If they can get past that and healed you should have no problems with a 3 legged chin.
I'm sorry to hear this has happened to her, but it can and does.
I hope she does well.
Do let us know what you decide and how it turns out.


Answer:
Hi debbie,

thanks for responding. i think my chin's injury is a little different from yours, since the bone was probably fractured, but not displaced, for my chin the xray showed:
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the broken part (which leads to her hind foot) was completely displaced from the rest of her body, but there was still blood supply/flow to her foot so it was alive. she wouldn't have to worry about anything in that aspect, the only problem is nerve function, she seemingly has no control over the foot at all, no feeling, nothing, i took her to the vets this morning all excited that she'd be able to keep it and then the vet told me they'd probably have to amputate and i was crushed. i left her there for the operation but when i got home and talked it over with my parents we decided it was a little rushed so we called them and asked themto hold it off, if theres a chance she could have kept her leg i dont want to have missed it for her

so we brought her home they put a new cast on that actually stayed on this time andi just lay with her while her anastethic was wearing off she's asleep right now and i think we'll leave the surgery until friday when the orthopedic-specialist vet is in and can do the surgery, that way any swelling she might have right now which would affect whether or not she actually feels her foot won't be a factor and I can have peace of mind I did all I could

Still...my heart goes out to her, she shouldn't be in pain since the splint is there and everything and she was even moving around a bit but still

SO expensive too, but im still gonna do my best to get her that insanely big 3x3x6ft. ferret cage i saw at superpet for christmas and maybe a friend. poor little trooper, she deserves it !!!!


Answer:
My first chinchilla broke her leg and had to have it amputated. All five of her toes were no longer connected to the rest of the foot. The vet gave us the option of pinning the bones or amputating. After much research, we found out that pinning did not have a very high success rate and could mean 6 weeks of hard recovery with no guarantee of success. The amputation on the other hand would be less painful and quicker to heal. We opted for amputation.
Tinsel did REALLY well on three legs and I think it was the best decision to make for her. Most people who met her couldn't even tell she was moving around on three legs. She hopped around like everyone else. She did of course need a bit of help sometimes but there was not a whole lot that could stop her. She adapted really quickly and could run around with the best of them. Chances are that your little one would adapt just as well.
Regarding the big cage, you might want to rethink that a bit for your chin if you decide to have her leg amputated...or at least make sure he cage is VERY safe. She will probably have a bit of trouble jumping for a while so platforms should be relatively low and not too far from full out platforms...and if you have levels you might want to make sure that they are connected with ramps rather than jump ledges. We had planned to get Tinsel a bigger cage too, but opted to keep her in a low one instead just to make it easier for her to move around and less likely for her to injure herself any further.
That's the advice I can offer off the top of my head, but please feel free to ask more questions or pm me if you need to. I'm more than happy to share tips and my experience with you.


Answer:
Thanks for the advice solarsis, I actually was doing research on the whole pinning vs. amputation thing and came upon your post earlier!

With respect to the bigger cage I agree completely, that's why the one I've seen/looked at is actually 5 floors or so (I haven't checked it out in a while) but they are all full floors, that cover the entire room of the cage, minus a small space for the stairs to connect from the floor beneath. So from your description/advice it seems like it would still be safe but i will DEFINITELY take a MUCH closer look before I purchase ANYTHING. the LAST thing i want for my poor kuki is another injury

As for the pinning vs. amputation I really couldn't find all too much on the internet and I was way too upset/in shock when talking to the vet to think to ask specific questions about them. My only concern right now is if Kuki is in any pain, and she doesn't seem to be but all she is doing is sitting in her house and last night I woke up to her making a very high pitched scream-like noise. It tears my heart out but if she's screaming b/c of pain in her foot, perhaps she banged it since she that's the only time she has screamed, then it means there is a chance of saving it, and I would still like to attempt the pinning for her sake.

So far I've just lined the bottom of her current cage with soft towels to try and make her more combfortable, and removed her ledges so she can't climb. Poor thing didn't even finish/barely wanted the RAISIN I gave her to today which was the biggest shock of my LIFE. I'm waiting for the swelling to go down so when we take her in next to the vet, before saturday, and they test for nerve function I can have peace of mind for the rest of the time I'm blessed to have her (*prays for that 20 year mark* ) that I did all I could, and she didn't just not respond to their nerve tests b/c of excessive swelling/pinching of that nerve.

I'm not too worried about the pinning since this particular clinic has an "orthopedic specialist" or something of that nature, he specializes in bone kind of stuff for exotics.


Answer:
If you are confident in the orthopedic specialist and think she has a good chance of pulling through really well without too much pain then more power to you. It's ultimatel your decision as to what happens.
Regarding her refusing a raisin, is she eatin everything else normally? If not, you need to look into syringe feeding her to make sure her gut stays active.


Answer:
hi again,

she didn't actually "refuse" the raisin, again this was after we brought her back and I just lay with her. I'm assuming she was still really doped up on the anasthetic and was really "out of it" since she ate more than half and I think just forgot about the other half lol. She's definitely eating since I fed her a few pellets and then she went to the bowl on her own, no hay yet though,and i lowered her water bottle the best I could for her, in the morning ill try and bring it to her mouth for her see if she drinks

i jiggled her treat bag too and she poked her head out of her house! (good ol' kuki) i even got her to come out to get it but she went right back inside she seems to just want to sit in there for now, perhaps still doped up/tired from such a long stressful day or she's found a combfortable position so her leg doesnt hurt.


thanks so much again!


Answer:
Alright, just making sure. As long as she keeps eating and pooping normally you should be ok on the digestive side.


Answer:
Hey Solarsis, I was looking at something and read an earlier post you made:
"The bone will NOT heal by itself and your chinchilla needs medical attention NOW. If the leg is indeed broken then you are letting your chin sit there in pain and he could potentially go into shock and die. "

which really worried me. I've scheduled kuki's surgery for friday (early morning) and now it's 100% going to happen amputation or no, but now I'm worried of the stress she's been under since this happened. She's just been sitting in her house and I've tried to give her endless amounts of TLC I even let her up on my bed several times and just lay next to her she even ran around a little (actually, twice she jumped off the bed despite my best efforts to stop her!) but she didn't SEEM like she was in pain, is there any way to tell? After she jumped off she ran underneath and kind of just sat there, i've been doing my best to see if she's actually using the foot/leg or not. The VET said she shouldn't be in ANY pain (which she said was good news and I agree but..) the techinition said she WAS i mean obviously i'd believe the vet first but it didn't help much to hear it i just want this to be over I have a midterm on friday and as soon it's over i'm going to not sleep until i get her back and can smother her with luv !


Answer:
Just to add to that last post - She's also not eating/drinking very much but that's a side effect of the antibacterial medication she's on, i believe, but one thing i have noticed is that her droppings have been noticeabley smaller, way less frequent (but maybe due to lack of exercise or, again, medicine?) but my main concern being that I'm seeing her have a hard time eating her droppings (they have to digest their food twice, right?). If not maybe she's just cleaning down there and I've just imagined it the entire time since I've had her but i could have sworn i researched it and that's what came up. Anyways yeah she falls down whenever she tries but again the surgery is only a day away soo is it really a huge concern?