[CallaLuvsChins]

Hi there...

I'm wondering if anyone can give me any extra advice. My 4 year old chinchilla has been eating less for about 2 weeks now and her poo looks more skinny than usual. I took her to the vet today. She was weighed and had a scope in her mouth to check her teeth. The vet also listened to her heart and felt her belly. She said my chin looks healthy but may have some gastrointestinal stasis; meaning that her poo isn't moving to well. So she gave me a prescription for apo metoclop 3X a day for 3-5 days. It's a strawberry flavoured syrup thant my chin loves. The vet also recommended that I feed her only timothy hay instead of alfalfa hay. So I bought some oxbow hay for her. The vet said to just feed her hay for a couple of days and then introduce some pellets slowly, and also not to give her any sugary treats. Is there anything else I can do to help her digestion?

Thanks

[dianah]

when my chin refused to eat after surgery, i got him oxbow critical care for herbivores. it's a green powder you mix with water and he absolutely loved it - he was eating it off a spoon! that was after i had planned to put some on his lips so he'd have to lick it of and he nearly took my finger off - despite not touching any food whatsoever, not even treats.

he was very particular about how he liked it, he would only eat it warm so i mixed it with hot water (you only make a small quantity so it cools down quick) and he liked it mixed into a paste, not liquid, but he still liked it quite moist.

i got mine from vetuk website, i think standard delivery's free but i paid for special delivery.

[Moonlight]

You need to get food going in, I would go with a supplement like Oxbow Critical care (or similar).

I recently had a chin in stasis, I spent 2 days with him sat on my lap (nearly all the time), massaging his tummy (in clockwise circular movements)and feeding him soaked pellets with a spoon (when I started I had to use a syringe). I also gave him Fiberplex and a product we get here called Infacol (for babies with wind) and let him have a 10 min run in my bathroom 5x per day. It took 2 days before he started to poo again but he's now pooing and eating normally, although he's lots lots of weight.

The Metoclop may help (I've never had much luck with it myself) so you shouldn't need the infacol but I would definitely get hold of some Fiberplex if you can, it's marvelous stuff!