bloated chinchilla

This has been the most emotional few weeks of my life thus far. Mishti is still alive, but just barely. Her hospital bill was $1300 and they didn't find anything, so they sent her home. And then at home we noticed how badly she'd bloated, so we took her to another hospital in Baltimore, which is quite a drive, and apparently she really is dying. All because of gas. All because four experienced exotic veterinarians can't tell when a chinchilla has a relatively harmless gastrointestinal condition. And look where it is now.

If you want to see all the x-rays they've taken of here, they're on Kaiser's site here. They're neat, but since I now know what's wrong, it's heartbreaking.

Kaiser and I feel so stupid. We should have caught on. We should have figured it out early. The only reason we know about this now is because of the kind members at Chins n Quills. I owe them so much. I wish I'd asked them questions so much earlier. No chinchilla should ever have to die because of gas.

I really hope our baby makes it. She means the world to me.

to add insult to injury

Our baby chinchilla, Mishti, is really sick. I don't think she'll be able to make it. I'm devastated, since we raised her from the time she was just three months old. She's not even an year old yet. This shouldn't be happening.

I don't want to eat or sleep. I just want her to get better.

it comes in waves

We lost our baby boy parakeet, Proud-Feather, yesterday. I thought I was ok this morning but I'm crying again. It's especially sad because our remaining keet, Penelope, keeps looking for him and doesn't trust me. I really wanted our kids to meet Proudy. I hope that I'll feel better about his passing soon, because all this crying is giving me a permanent headache.

In other news, my priorities are all wrong, I've been listening to a lot of old Focus, and the kitchen is halfway clean.