Question:
I got an email from a young man the other day about 2 chins he bought from a petstore that passed away very recently (from what I understand he bought them very recently too). He described the symptoms to me and I couldn't pinpoint what was wrong with the chins so I thought I would put it out here and see if anyone had further insight. It might not be enough info and no autopsy was done so we might never know what caused both chins to die. I think curiosity has gotten the better of me though. Here are the symptoms described by the owner:

"The first chin I had was kinda lazy and
didn't
move much if any except for when he was out of his cage. Then the day
he
died he kinda sat there so I got him out to check his eyes and nose and
he
started throwing his head back like he couldn't breath then he started
bleeding from the mouth. The second one
I
did not see but my mom said it was kind of the same manner only it was
his
shoulders thrusting and not his head. He did not bleed from the mouth.
He
died the day after"

Any ideas or could it be alot of things????


Answer:
Choking? Poisoning?


Answer:
Other than the bleeding from the mouth it really sounds exactly like how things went for Moya. She was fine the day before, that night she was a bit quiet and lazy, the next morning she wasn't moving, barely breathing. Once we started handling her to check her over she was stretching and basically spasming in pain, within a minute of that she was gone. She died of compaction in her intestines. Basically her days worth of poos (and we all know how much that can be) had compacted in her intestines and was building up. It built up to the point that fluids had leaked into her abdominal cavity and she was pretty much poisoned from the inside.


Answer:
I am sorry Tanya you had to go through that with Moya.

Do you think that both of his chins could have died from impaction though? They were both petstore chins and the petstore has claimed that it was not the owners fault but it must have been genetic but I don't know. According to the owner, the pet store has haulted buying any chins from the breeder until they can figure out if more of the breeders chins will die from this (whatever this is).
I definitely thought of impaction but couldn't reason why they both would die of the same thing so close together. Or is there a genetic disposition for getting impactions (small intestines etc)?????

Thanks for the input!


Answer:
they should've had an autopsy done...and the petstore should have paid for it.

Unfortunately I have no idea, sorry....


Answer:
I can't say for sure. It's possible they may have both chewed on and swallowed the same thing. Moya's was caused by a rupture in her intestine that closed off her intestines as it healed. I do know of someone who lost a chin from eating their bedding. They hadn't been on bedding before. I'm not an expert though, we've been incredibly lucky (knock on wood) when it comes to stuff with our chins.


Answer:
As Tanya said, we lost 2 chins that were on bedding for the first time ever. Depending on what the pet-store used and what you used that could be it. The ones we got had always been on wire, when they were in quarantine cages they were on bedding. They appeared fine until the day before when they were slightly lethargic and then we would find them all but dead, barely breathing.
Injesting bedding can cause an impaction and you really dont see signs until the end.


Answer:
i know this is terrible, but this is why ppl should not buy or sell to pet stores. I do understand that a person (if a breeder) has to sell their kits but petstores do not have the knowledge or the time to do any type of reseach on the animals they buy.
Pet stores in my eyes are as bad as puppy mills. They buy from anyone, make a huge profit and give very little recourse when something like this occurs.

I feel badly that this person had to go through this

Pixy


Answer:
Good breeders do not sell to pet stores exactly for the reason that you mentioned, pixy.

I also thought impaction when I first read it. Perhaps it was something sharp, like plastic, that ruptured or cut the intestines? That could cause blood.