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Constipation
Member's Q's[1]
can anybody give me some advice. my chin has had diarrhoea
for a couple of days now i dont know what is causing it .
i havent changed his food the only new thing i have gave
him is rasins
Summery of treatment suggested by Aileen and other members
Stop the raisins immediatly. They have a laxative effect if given too often. Instead. Get your toaster on and practically incinerate a piece of toast. Has to be really black/burned to work. Bearing in mind the size of your chinnies tummy a piece the size of a man's thumbnail is usually enought to get the droppings back to normal. Cut back on pellets too and give a higer proportion of Hay. Loose or small droppings are a sign that feeding is not right. A post here may help too Loose & small droppings
Once diarrhoea has stopped and regards treats, only give one raisin and not every day. Kat a member here mentioned a good tip a while ago about raisins cut them up into little pieces, the chinchilla then thnks it's getting a lot of treats. A small piece of apple, and I do mean very small is a treat also. Or a piece of rye crispbread such as Ryvita. This is better than a raisin as there is no salt or sugar added to ryvita
I only give my chinnie one raisin every other day. He is ok just eating his chinchilla pellets and timothy hay and alfalfa cubes. If taking away the raisins and treats doesn't work, also, what I understand is to take away their pellets and only have timothy hay available for them to eat with diarea. The pellets contain alfalfa which can make your chinnie go more. Also, it would be a good idea to wash out the water bottle and if it's glass, boil it in a pan of water to kill any possible bacteria. Use bottled water to fill it. It could be something in your water causing the diarea. You will also want to wipe down all of your chinnie's cage with heavily diluted cleaner. Make sure you wipe any cleaner residue off with just pure water and wait for it to dry before placing your chinnie back inside the cage. Please keep us posted on your chinnie's progress. Sonya
Loose dropping with a new chinchilla
Question [2] I'm confused a little bit and need some advice. Our new little girl's dropping our much softer then my males. I know the droppings are not normal, they aren't too running but are a bit too soft. Could she have been given something that she shouldn't have? Should I just keep her on only pellets for a while? Anyone have any suggests for me please. Haven't had to deal with this one. Otherwise it looks like the two of them are going to be good together._ Cherie
Treatment as suggested by Aileen
The breeder you bought her from will I hope have given you a supply of pellets and also a good supply of hay that they have been using. Also the name of treat if any they use. Make the change over gradually. slowly increasing your own brand of pellets and hay mixed in with the breeders supply. Sudden change in diet is often the root cause of change in droppings as is sometimes the water supply. Get back to me next week in case I forget to ask you in the chatroom about this.
An alternative treatment is our own uncooked Scotts porage oats[or Quaker oats], other products may come under rolled oats (not to be confused with oatmeal) I know they are freely available here in Scotland and also the rest of the UK however I am not sure about other countries
This is a common ailement in 'pet' chinchillas. Most commonly caused by too many 'treats'. Droppings will vary from moist to runny and shelves and blocks and so on will soon become a mass of trampled droppings hard caked to the shelves. The chinchillas fur will also be badly soiled.
I have a tip from a breeder of long standing. have never had to use it as my chinchillas are fed on a fully complete diet with only minimum treats.
In severe cases
I am told it works a treat and the chinchillas also like it. It can be bought at a chemist, the treatment is called Kaolin and Morphine. This is a very gentle medication and can be give two or three times a day if needed. Administered in an eyedropper and is sufficient enough to clear up the problem.
You must of course change the chinchilla diet back to a more suitable one and avoid this occuring once more. As I said above, too many treats are the common cause of Diarrhoea. Give plenty of clean fresh water to keep body fluids up. Some recommend dry well burnt toast. Of course, neither of these remedies should be needed if the chinchilla has a proper balanced diet.
Chinchilla dropping should not be soft or mushy. A healthy chin has dropping which are rounded and oval shaped. as in the link below.
please give me the courtesy of ask permission before copying this information.
An old fashioned breeders remedy is Kaolin. bought at chemist drug store or at vet sometimes. 1.3 ml daily for only a few days. Do not continue too long as the opposite may happen and chinchilla will be constipated. (as recommended by vet)
Question.
From parasites from mice, now I'm concerned about Kirby's droppings. Some are smaller and hard while others are longer and moist, but still in a pellet form. I stepped on one of the moister ones and it did flatten. Yes, I sat and watched him one day pooping because I
wanted to see what he was producing. (Lucky can say, "Eww," at this point). I haven't noticed any sticking to his fur and his cage isn't a mess from it. I don't give him that many treats. Maybe three raisins per week if that. Does he have diarrhea?
Kirby is probably okay Sonya. It's when the poo is soft and messy. ie sticking to the shelves and so on and you have to scrape it off to clean the shelves.
If you give him plenty of hay and an occasional raisin or shredded wheat. He should be okay. You say it is still pellet shaped, that's okay. nothing to worry about
To clean Fur if very dirty
Baby wipes are great for small areas, if really bad though best way is baby shampoo diluted with plenty water. wash area and towel dry then carefully dry on low setting of hair drier kept not too close to chinchilla.
If someone can keep him wrapped in a towel while you wash it this makes it easier
If anyone is still worried about this subject
please add a post to the probems message board HERE 
