How Does a Death Affect Chinchillas?
It's been a bad week for chinchilla pet owners. We received two e-mails about chinchilla deaths.
Stephanie writes… I had two chinchillas, but one has just died. I'm not sure how, but I'm wondering how can I help my other chinchilla that is still alive from getting depressed on me and keep up with his hyperness and happiness so I don't end up losing him too? If you can please help me I would be so grateful. Thank you.
And Cassandra writes… I had two chinchillas and one died last night so I have one left.
Their cages were right next to each other and they would play through their cages with each other. I'm wondering if my chinchilla can die from stress of losing the other one? What precautions should I take and what I should look for? It would be great help if I can get some information on that please. Thanks.
Infolific answers… We've had one of our chinchillas die. It's hard to know how the remaining chinchilla(s) will react to the death. Our best suggestion is to spend time with your remaining chinchilla. Aside from providing comfort, you should also watch for changes in behavior. If your chinchilla continues to run around and play, then there is likely nothing to worry about. If, on the other hand, your chinchilla won't leave the cage and is particularly skittish for a long time, you may have to look to other techniques. What those techniques are, we can't say. Our chinchilla “moved on” on her own.
(7 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)
Loading...
we had 2.chincillas and the female gave to male
the father was chasing the baby
we spoke to a vet and advised us to sterilize the both
the father was 3 years and baby was going to be,2 years on Xmas day
we took the 2 to the vet.on Friday and they passed away on Sunday
the vet was not qualified to perform the procedure and I have been blaming my self
the bodies are by the vet for cremation and did the mum does not know and don't know how to.handle the situation
today I lost my Asuka, she was a beautiful white chinnie who lived with her sister, Rei. she had been to the vet for some tooth filing, and during recovery period, she died.
I'm gutted! nearly 10 (good) years together, and i still have Rei.
what can I say... I feel everyone's loss, and just because they are small and furry, doesn't mean we can't feel grief as we would anyone else. I am going to miss her very much, and so far I think Rei does too. Time will tell.
My chinchilla passed away yesterday, his name was Flash. My baby was only 1 years old, I am completely heart broken and am struggling with his death. He was at the vet 2 weeks ago for his dental surgery and when we fetched him he seemed fine, he ate critical care for awhile then went back to his normal food. A week later he was very skinny and lethargic so we took him back to the vet and they said they can’t find anything wrong and just gave us antibiotics. By then he had completely lost his will to eat and barely moved. I took him back 2 days later and they did x-rays. They found out he was swollen from all the gas inside his stomach and tried a drip to pass it through. The next day they told us it was getting worse and he had a blockage they needed to remove through surgery that he was too weak to make it through the surgery. His friend which he lived with is very upset, she won’t sleep and is very nervous around me all of a sudden. Do I get her a friend or not ?
We sadly lost our precious chinchilla. It was so sudden. We had two chinchillas who by the way were together in the same habitat for over 3 years. and I say habitat because that's what we had for them, a large home. not a small cage. we took them out last night to let them run around and play while we cleaned their home. about 30 minutes later we went to round them up to put them back in their home as they are fast and don't like to be picked up. One of the chinchillas was running and then just stopped in her tracks, stood there for a second, then fell over and laid on her side. she wasn't moving. my husband rushed over to pick her up and she began flopping around in his hands as if she was trying to jump but couldn't. My oldest daughter went to school to be a vet tech so we ran to her room to get her to come see what was wrong. By the time she came in (which was just a few seconds) our little chinchilla was gone 😥
There were NO warnings. Nothing at all indicating that there was something wrong. she was running & playing as normal one minute then the next minute,, she was gone 😥
She was only a few years old. around 3-4 years old I would say. we had her and her "sister" (not really sisters but they lives together for so long we considered them to be sisters)for almost 2 years now.
I am now afraid of how her sister will react now that she is alone.
Since Chinchillas are Nocturnal, she was up all night looking for her 😥
running around her home and standing up on the sides trying to stretch her head so she could see as far as she could to see if she could see her.
She was however still eating,, we gave her some apple pieces and some dried strawberry snacks. she ate all the apples and most of the strawberry pieces. she even went to the bathroom in her potty. By the time 8-9am rolled around this morning, she went into her little house (bed) and has been in there ever since sleeping on & off. but now & then you hear her moving around in there as if she can't sleep very well 😥
This breaks my heart so so much! 💔😥
I pray that she can move past this on her own.. We will be observing her behavior over the next few days. if she seems "off" we will have to get her a new bonding buddy. & hope that she accepts it.
On Wednesday, we lost our beautiful chinchilla Custard. Custard had three lots of dental treatment in his life, he was only 4. His jaw was so bad, his teeth constantly needed work, he had several teeth removed so went under anaesthetic. We took Custard to the vets on Monday, he was lethargic, non responsive and thinner than normal. His breathing was also very rapid. The vet didn’t want to xray him, because he was too weak to go under again, so gave him antibiotics. He seemed ok that evening and Tuesday, not his usual self but ok. Wednesday morning, my partner took him to the vets becaue his breathing wasn’t improving, Custard passed before we made it to the vets. Reading these comments has highlighted that there seems to be a common problem in chins? Anyway, his brother Rhubarb is now left on his own. With only being 4, we are worried that he has his whole life to live but on his own now. Rhubarb is very dominant and seems ok at the moment, still playing and eating. Would introducing a new chinchilla be wise at his age?
Under rough circumstances I had my chin girls homed at a friend of my boyfriends. I thought they would be in good hands. Tina and Louise. Yesterday Louise got out of the cage during feeding (so I’m told) and crawled down into the newly uncovered A/C space. We have searched 2 days cutting up the house and we cannot find her. I moved her sister home. They’ve been together they’re whole lives while they’re only 2 I’ve only had them just a year this month they had one previous owner but I had no intentions of being without them. We had purchased a new cage for them a few days back (should’ve brought them home then) since I have Tina with me now and the new cage was prebuilt when we brought her home we just made that up for her. Now she’s showing severe anger. She was always my calm quiet one. Louise was the boss but they both loved each other very much. She is shaking the cage door, trying to chew through it (the cage is made of wood), biting me, becoming restless and very mean. I’m so worried about her. Obviously I have high hopes my Louise will magically return but I need to get my Tina situated in the mean time. With the behavior she is displaying I’m worried she wouldn’t take on well to a new friend. I’m okay with this option I will be hesitant from a personal level because it is not the original 2 I started with :/ what do I do? I’m so lost. I’m beating myself up over losing my precious girl. I don’t know what happened to her. Is she loose outside, is she still in that floorboard? Has she become overheated and exhausted and passed away? My mind is endless with possibilities and on top of that my Tina is just not herself. Please help. Will she come around? Does she need a new friend?
Hello everyone. I am so sorry for everyone's loss. I had a beautiful chinchilla for 10 years, passed away a year ago. Today, I decided to get a new one at Pet Smart (I should have read here first, I guess...). She seems playful and happy, but we only wanted one and had to take her alone without her friend. I am hoping to God she doesn't get depressed because we immediately fell in love with her. Any advice is highly recommended!
My baby just died a few hours ago had her 4 years from petsmart will never buy from there again I am heartbroken she was not alone she took her last breath in my arms
I have 2 chinchillas. A standard gray, named Ash, and a pink white named Tiki. Even though Ash was a couple weeks older than Tiki, so Tiki had been with Ash his entire life, even staying in the same cage and everything. My breeder did that for me so they would be bonded together when I got them, so they could stay in one cage, and be best friends, because one male would become dominant, if I tried to introduce them at a later stage in life, and try to fight the other. Unfortunately, Ash passed away the other night. The night before, I had Ash and Tiki out together, running, playing, jumping off my walls, and just being the little hellions they always are, and the next morning, my boyfriend rushes in our room to tell me my little Ash is passed. It's been 2 days, and I can't get Tiki to eat, come out of his cage, or anything. He sits in his little house, and just does nothing. When I open his cage, he just lays there. Even when my cat, and little kitten jump around his cage, he does nothing. I talked to my breeder about possibly getting a new buddy for him, and she thinks it's a good idea, since chinchillas are very social creatures. Tomorrow, I'm going to pick up a baby standard gray for Tiki, and I'm hoping this will help him heal. Any suggestions from you guys?
Rush and get a little buddy today!! This happened to me and my Chilly Willy accepted the new baby within 48 hrs and he is back to his ol self!! He was very sad at first too. I put baby in the bottom of the cage and Chilly on top. (my cage divides in two so they can't touch each other but can smell eachother.
I lost one of my two chinchillas passed away last night. He was 15. It looks like he lay down in his house and went in his sleep. He was loved and I will miss him.
I'm sorry for your loss. I just had my chinchilla pass last morning.
Well, it is a sad evening in our home. Unfortunately our young Tilley the Chinchilla had passed away while we were at dinner.
Today was an even more active day with Chilly and Tilley and our 9 year old daughter. Morgan our daughter had the chinchillas in our outside portable pen and played with them like she has before, except today is a Sunday so there was probably more play time than normal, while the main in house multi story cage was being cleaned by mommy, Morgan and the chinchillas were able to experience some play time in natural sunlight out back.
Now, we were quite surprised to see Tilley calm in Morgans hands and lap later in the day, however just thought she had finally got her chinchilla whisperer in effect, as she does spend a lot of time with them. After all I had even petted Tilley and she was breathing and twitching her nose and allowed us to massage her head, cheeks, hands, shoulders and chest which we have been able to do with either her or Chilly on other occasions. Just this time, she stayed much more calm. Morgan said one more good bye and laid her in the cage before going to dinner. As usual, when we get home, Morgan runs to the tall cage to see how her little friends are doing and brings them out for a little loving. Unfortunately this time, Tilley was not moving, Morgan had picked her up slightly, however left her in the cage until I had come over. I could see that something was very wrong, and that there was no movement and mild rigamortas settling in. It is obviously very sad to loose Tilley, however it was equally difficult to see our Morgan process the loss and asking for confirmation of my diagnosis, then disbelief, then just sincere sadness.
I'm disappoint that we just did not know leading up to our loss, today was the first time to see the long played calmness that we did, although questioning it a little, we just thought Tilley was finally enjoying all th attention. So hopefully this experience can alert others. While looking for answers I came across this website, so decided to share. Still have not found any solid information that could explain our loss, however think we may take Chilly in just in case to make sure we are not missing something there. I have seen a few comments about Chinchilla mates losing a partner, still not sure what we will do. They are young, and Tilley was a recent addition to Chilly and they used to sleep laying on top of each other, not sure if we need to go out and hope for another friendly mate replacement. Open to any experienced feedback or suggestions. Thanks
I just lost a chin to pyometra and it was a similar process.
My chin passed similarly today. Just yesterday morning, all was well - he and his bonded mate played and had their dust baths, all seemed normal until last night, when Gus was calmer than usual. I held him and thought, maybe he’s just really relaxed or tired from playtime, hmmm. This morning he was totally lethargic so I took him to the vet, and he ended up passing away so quickly. He was older so the vet believes it was from age, but I can’t get over how just yesterday morning he was playful and seemed fine. Guess I’d thought there would be more of an indicator if he was to suddenly get sick or just pass like that - one day to the next.
I just lost my baby boy Smokie. He was a 6 year old male. He stopped eating and drinking water for three days so I took him to our vet to see what was wrong and we found out that Smokie had undeveloped kidneys. We did everything we could to help Smokie like feeding him critical care fresh water and Timothy hay and his favorite apple. Late on February 26 2017 at 10:45pm, Smokie died in my arms. I'm singing to him as he looked at me and gave me this look like saying thank you for being my friend and for all the love. I will miss his Beautiful Spirit and the joy he brought to me. On February 27 2017 with his two Daddy's by his side we buried Smokie with his favorite toy, a sweater that he loved of mine, a photo of happier time spent with us and a thank you letter to Smokie for bringing me joy. All through the six years I spent loving Smokie I'm grateful that Smokie chose me to love him and that I will always do.
Daddy Benjamin/Ian
My Chinchilla "Speedy" just died today (May 4, 2017). I believe he was somewhere between 7 -8 years old. I was his 2nd owner and I had him for 4 years. He lost alot of weight over the past month. Took him to the Vet twice because he had severe diarrhea, so we thought it was a bacteria infection. Give him antibiotics and Critical Care. Throughout the month he seem like he was getting better, and the diarrhea stopped. But over the last 4 days it suddenly got worse. Out of 9 Chinchillas, he was my favorite. Yes, I have quite a few. He was the most active and would jump on my bed and then on my shoulders and head. I loved him so much and life wont be the same without him. Thanks for sharing your story. I think I'm going to bury him the same way.
I'm so glad that I've found this website. Only last week did we lose our beloved chin Nibbles. It was such a shock. Only 2 days before had we taken him to the vet, as he had a slight eye infection. We had been doing exactly as we were asked of the vet by bathing his eyes and putting the eye ointment on he had given Nibbles and even the following day he started to look a little better. The following evening when we went to do his eyes again, we found him cold and still and only a few hours before he had been fine. He's been survived by his brother Pringles, and now Pringles looks so lonely. I was devastated at finding Nibbles like that and the only thing I can put it down to was that he was either too stressed with having to have the ointment etc in, or he was more poorly than we thought. Pringles now seems to be a little subdued, and he's taking longer to come to me now, unlike before. I feel like I'm starting again with him, trying to gain his trust like we had to right st the beginning. Is this normal does anyone know? I know in time he'll probably be ok, but I am so worried that he will 'give up' now he's on his own, and I can't bare to lose him too. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated! Thanks all ☹️
I hope your chin made it through. He might like another buddy. Just a thought.
I'm hoping that someone can help me...My chinchilla, Moose, passed away tonight. He had bad diarreah for about a week. I took him to the vet, and she gave him fluids and ran a fecal test which I found out today tested negative for parasites. Tonight when I came home it was the same, he was barely able to hold himself up and he wouldnt eat. He fathered a young chinchilla named Maylin who is still doing very well at 5 months old. His partner Mtani, is also doing well. I have 2 problems: Mtani's vocalizations are becoming frantic. Im quite sure she has realized that Moose is no longer with us, as my husband and I brought him to get euthanized figuring that would be best for him due to labored breathing and no desire to eat. Other than being particularly vocal, her behavior hasnt changed much...however...she is pregnant and I fear this drastic of a change could affect her very roughly. Ive been comforting her every time she cries and she seems to take well to it, she snuggles and then goes about trying to explore my vanity as there are multiple computer stands and therefore multiple cables she THINKS she can chew. Is there anything else I can do for her? I have given both her and Maylin a small amount of the Bene-bac gel that Moose was prescribed to try to help in this stressful time. And id there anything I can do for Maylin? Again, he seems to be ok, and this seems silly, but I fear they believe Moose is coming home...and obviously hes not...Im simply not prepared to lose another chin. This has been a difficult blow for me... I dont believe I mentioned that Moose was only 2...
I am so thankful I found this page. This is so helpful and comforting to get a better understanding of what was happening to my Chinchilla Pickachu. To see the other Chinchilla owners go through similar accounts as I did helps that I am not the only one who is going through this. The loss of my beloved Pickachu is extremely devasting. He was and always will be my "baby". I loved him so much and I always will. He was so sweet, funny, intelligent, and loveable. As he was dying and struggled to move, he would scoot closer to my face wanting to be near and close to me. He loved us just as much as we loved him. We are taking his death very hard. We will miss our Beloved aka "Baby" and "Ki-koo" Pickachu more than anything. He wasn't a pet he was and is family. :'(
This is such a difficult time.. we just lost our chinchilla Dennis last week he was roughly 11 years old.... having dental every 5 weeks bless him but he soilderd on.. he was cheeky and intelligent he also bounced around telling me he wanted feeding... and seeing him take his last breath and broke me?I'm more upset than any one else !! And now his cage and things are gone it's worse xxx devastated
This website/page/article is so helpful and comforting to read. My Beloved Chinchilla named Pickachu just passed away 2 days ago. I had the most perfect 14yrs with him. I took care of him the best I could and showered him with so much love. A month ago, I seen some changes within him. He wasn't as active, not eating as much, wanted to rest and be cuddled a lot more. His genitals kept coming out and his stool was abnormal, and he felt a little boney on his back. Also, his little mouth was getting stinky (which it never did before). I took him to the vet and the doctor was amazed of how old he was. He checked everything and said he was ok but to give him natural honey and yogurt with oats. 6 hrs after taking Pickachu to the doctor, he wasn't hopping as much and he wasn't hoping normally either. The next morning, he was worse. He couldn't move his legs and his body was limp. He struggled so much to want to move around. We took him to the doctor again. The doctor said it could be of his old age and could see he still had movement in his hands and feet. He gave him a shot for his bones and wait and see if it helps within the next 2 days. If not, I was preparing to him down because his condition was worsening and he was suffering in pain. My mom and brother tried feeding him but he wouldn't eat. He struggled to breathe. 5hrs after getting the shot, my Pickachu died.
aww! going thru the same thing with cheech who is 14 years. don't know what 2 do!? he just is happy 2 be pet but don't want him 2 suffer & wondering if I should just pass away peacefully at home or take him 2 the vets 2 be put down
I'm so sorry for your loss of your little friend, Pikachu! You loved him and took great care of him for his very long happy life! Im reading this because our chinchilla JuJu, also 14 1/2 at least, just passed away a few hours ago. It sounds very similar to your story. I noticed that she was slowing down a bit, but still happy and doing fine. Yesterday morning I noticed that she hadn't eaten anything and was breathing a little rapidly. Her mouth seemed a little stinky as well. This morning I put her on our screened in porch to hang out and watch the birds, like she loves to do. (because I had a bad feeling) I was going to call my vet but never had the chance. I picked her up, which was unusually easy, petted her, rubbed noses with her and told her that we loved her. I sat down with her on my lap. She just snuggled down and stopped breathing. I'm so glad that she waited for me to be holding her and that it happened at home. But we will miss that little spirit. She was a good girl for all of those years. It's comforting for me to read these stories.
Ive noticed after reading about the deaths of chinchillas that they all have something in common. They all seem lethargic, cant hardly move, are very limp, and many times seems to have twitches off and on. I wonder what that is coming from? Scooter demonstrated these symptoms and was also dehydrated. But, I didnt realize he was sick for a couple of days, because he didnt come to eat, but my chinchillas do that from time to time. So, I didnt think nothing of it until the night I went in the room and found him lying underneath the nitestand. When I went to pick him up, he didnt try to escape. i knew something was wrong once I picked him up. It seemed to me like he had nerve or muscle damage because he couldnt stand up. There has got to be a common denominator involving th deaths of these chins. I wish i could figure out what is happening!! what is causing the sudden deaths of these cute pets? I hope someday someone will investigate this problem and figure out the reasons why this is so common in chins...........
Omg ! I can't believe this is exactly how my Dennis was. Ate 2 syringe full of recovery food on Wednesday night then Thursday morning he had put him self under the blanket and had almost gone.. and then died not long after... he over the 2 weeks building up to his death had lost weight and was a little in steady on his feet and when I went to the cage he would climb out and want cuddles I'm so so upset x
I'm not a vet. But it's most likely some kind of infection that spreads to their organs to make them lethargic.
I started out with Polly and Nosy that I took over from a friend who had to move, and I later introduced Cheeky a baby chinchilla to the two of them.
When Nosy died (aged 10) Polly and Cheeky were both upset but they consoled each other and soon got back to normal. Polly lived to 15, she died 18 months ago. I was so upset but she had a long healthy life with only 6 hours of illness right at the end, though I stayed home from a friend's wedding because she was ill, to be with her.
Cheeky really missed her and seemed very depressed for months. Now she is a lot more needy for attention from me, and will come and snuggle up with me when I let her out of the cage on a night. She never did that when she had Polly for company. Because Cheeky is 8 I can't bear the thought of getting a new friend for her and then seeing another chinchilla go through all the heartache again. I have taken on two dwarf Russian hamsters from another friend, also because they had to move, and Cheeky is incredibly curious about them. I often have Cheeky out loose and the hamsters in their ball (they are near impossible to catch otherwise, I sometimes let them play in the bath and fill it with loo roll tubes though). I have to take Cheeky to see the zoo vet every 3 or 4 months because her back teeth grow spurs that we need to keep on top of or she gets abscesses in her cheeks, other than that she is a beautiful healthy chinchilla. I swear she remembers Polly and Nosy and gets down every now and then though.
Chinchillas who are in bonded pairs can get very depressed by the loss of their companion. This does affect their health. Sometimes getting another chinchilla is a good idea, as you are used to caring for two and it can help with your loss as well as that of the surviving chin. But introducing a new chinchilla can be tricky, even under the best of circumstances, and, just as with people, each chinchilla decides for itself as to compatibility.
I'm so sad, I just put my mr Chinch down as he was sick now chilly his buddy of 6 years is definitely depressed. I want to get him a new friend how long should I wait?
It it typical for a Chinchilla to die unexpectedly? I've done a lot of research on them, and I know I'm definitely getting. I've been told that their lifespan is from 10-15 years, but is it normal for Chinchillas to die of no apparent cause? I don't want my future Chinchilla to die on me..
Not typically, a lot of these chins that people are talking about are on the older side and things happen. You just got to keep an eye out for your chin.
Soo..my chinchilla died last night. Her name was Amy. We took her to the vet yesterday because she was acting weird, and wouldn't eat, or move a lot. So they said she had skipping beats for the heart. So, they gave us medicine for her. While my mom&I fed her the medicine, literally 30 seconds later she died from a heart attack. She was very small when she was younger, and now we know why her heart had issues. I have another chinchilla, Tiki. She...keeps on scratching from Amy's death. Even though they didn't like each other. I...still can't get over Amy's death. I miss her so much, can i can't stop crying.
i know how it feels i lost my pet guinea pig,Julianna,and i miss her so... much i wrote songs about her and i can't stop crying and now i am gonna get a chinchilla so i can get my mind off of Julianna the vet said she had a kidney problem and she was not well at all and she would't eat or get up and move around like she use to and she would lay in one spot and the vet asked me what i wanted to do and i didn't want to watch her suffer any more so i said please put her down and after i left to say goodbye she tried to run to me and i couldn't help but cry i miss her so much and i will remember getting her in Canada and she was so little and i screamed and now she's gone and we use to say now we live in America again guinea la oink and now no more so yeah i am getting a chinchilla and i am happy but i miss Julianna so much and i will never forget her and the vet just send me roses because how many times we been there of all the pets i have and she was the first one the went to be put down and they gave me a poem of the rainbow bridge and i couldn't help but cry oh and i asked if she could be buried in the pet grave vard and they said what ever you want and i really really miss her i had her for 4 years and i will never ever forget her.
aw im so sorry to hear about your loss i so long for a relationship as good as that with mine but all mine want to do is run about when they come out lol and aren't interested in being fussed really lol. But you were truly lucky to have the bond you had and i feel a lot of sadness for you. I used to have a pair that shared a cage and my female died it was about 10 yrs ago and my other chinchilla became very close to me he was lovely he became my best friend and he would come to his cage and look at me when i was sad and he used to come out to play with and he was lovely. I have never had that bond since and hope that someday i will find a chinchilla that will. I really am so sorry for your loss i know how it feels and hope you still want to get another as they are all different and have great characters and are great to be around.
I do not recommend getting any pets for PetSmart. Every pet that I get from there gets sick and dies. It is hard b/c you want to rescue them from the small cages they are housed in, but all seem to have gotten sick after a short period.
I know what you mean. I ordered 2 chinchillas last year and when I went to pick them up they said one one was a little ill, but that their vet would help it get better. Instead it died. I didn't want to have just one, so they got me two from another shop that were much older. I was also told they were both female, but they turned out to be both male. A short time later one developed teeth problems and it had to have them clipped 3 times on the third time it had to be put to sleep because of a reaction to the anesthetic. I'm really angry with Petsmart. We are so sad and we now have to see if the other chinchilla can cope on its own or get it a companion in the near future.
Yes I agree pets mart is a terrible place for animals. We had bought gizmo there and 3years later he died from teeth problems. He was our world and its been 4 months now and we still miss him. So we adopted 2 from a rescue and they r healthy and doing fine. We r very happy with them. It's best to buy from a breeder.
I am so sorry to hear this news. I purchased both my chins at Petsmart and have had great luck. They were not too knowledgeable on the animals themselves, but I learned a lot from sites like this. Vanilla, the old one was about 3 when I introduced Villy, the baby. They got along great very quickly. Villy was purchased as vanilla was lonely. I have had great success.
Kendra,
Nothing you can do at this point. I'm sure you realize now that ferrets and chinchillas don't mix. Ferrets and anything smaller them don't mix really.
yeah one of my degus escaped from its cage into the ferrets and was badly biten it died from shock a few days later :(
I got two "male" chinchillas from Petco, we finally got everyone sexed (hopefully in a proper way) and separated. Two weeks later another baby was born. It quickly learned to escape from the cage (squeezed between the bars) and would run around the room. One night we checked, Goose was in the cage and so we let the ferrets out to play for a while. About 10 minutes later there is horrible scream and one has the baby (it's about 8 weeks old now). It jumped away and I caught it. Held on to it, which was weird because it normally didn't like being held. And it started convulsing on my hand, and had trouble breathing. In a last ditch attempt to see if it was okay, I let it's mom out of her cage and she completely ignored the baby. 2 minutes later the labored breathing stopped and it was dead. It was being kept with mom and a sister from the previous litter. Now the two of them wander around the cage and look out watching like when it had escaped. I'm worried about them becoming depressed over the situation.
Any suggestions??
Thank you
Pamela,
We're so sorry to hear about your loss! We've had to deal with the death of a chinchilla too so we know a bit about what you're feeling. But at least it does sound like you had some quality time with Gizmo despite his life being cut short. Take care and we wish you luck with your search for a new friend!
Our family has suffered a great loss of our young male chinchilla today...Easter Sunday. We came home from church and breakfast and he ran to his cage and jumped up onto the wire door for his normal kisses and pets. I took him from his cage, placed him on a small blanket and promptly brought him to our room. This was a new habit for us as we only had him a short period of time. My husband and I planned on watching a movie and so did with "Gizmo" our wonderful little loving chinchilla. He was fine and nestled in my neck and chest area and did so for about 2 hours. Now and then he made noises and such like normal. He behaved normal for we'd been having longer and longer snuggling sessions over the past week.
Well, later, he hopped around our bed and such and we put him back in his house so he could get something to drink or eat in the event he was hungry or thirsty. It was nearly 15 minutes later and I noticed he was laying on his side near his door. I ran and picked him up and nearly lost control. He begun having seizures in my hands when I picked up his near lifeless body. He held on for nearly 10 minutes more and we tried calling vets around the area. He ended up taking his last breath in my husband's hands. He did twitch a few more times and my husband said he seemed to have a hard time breathing as if he was trying hard to breath but couldn't get enough air. We only had Gizmo for about 2 months and we loved him infinitely.
The symptoms he suffered have been documented as we've looked online and it may have been from poor breeding and he may not have ever truly had a chance. Our lesson here is we will take our next chinchilla to the vet for a wellness check up and will purchase from a reputable breeder instead of PetSmart. It appears we had quite a great relationship with ours. He loved attention especially mine. He loved being pampered. Our family will heal but the loss is greater than ever could be expected.
I had two chinchillas one died yesterday June 10 2019 From the heat me and my family went to a meeting and when we came back my mom said oh look pancho(the name of the chinchilla that died)pancho is sleeping I went to check on him then I touched him to wake him up he felt heavy and then I knew he was dead now we only have his son I also have a bunny but I dont know if I should put them together to not feel lonely what should I do.