the places a chinchilla will go...

Well. I don't know where to begin. I don't even know if I should really begin. She's alive, and not just barely. She's almost her old self again. I owe so much to Chins & Quills. I really, really do.

We managed the bloat pretty well with the help of the second animal hospital we took her to. We had to get her out of there after a couple days, though, because it was not a chinchilla-friendly environment. Even though the bloat was much less pronounced, her breathing was in tatters. It was really painful to watch. We took her to another vet, who thought that Mishti probably had an upper respiratory infection and needed antibiotics. We didn't like the idea because she'd been on three the week before, which is what caused her massive near-fatal bloating. But when we brought her home it became more and more apparent that we needed to give it a shot. We had chloramphenicol on hand, so we gave her a dose, went to bed, and hoped for the best.

When we woke up, her breathing was normal.

And since then, it's been steady progress. We still have to feed her with a syringe because she has no appetite (probably an antibiotic side-effect), but she's gaining weight steadily and gaining energy. You have no idea how happy Kaiser and I are about this. I think elated would be an understatement. She's our baby girl, and she's going to be ok.

This whole ordeal, as well as Proud-Feather's death a few weeks ago, has been really bad for me academically. It's been much harder to concentrate and keep on-task. I already have ADD, and huge emotional ordeals on top of that make me sort of scattered. Hopefully I can get myself organized for the next two weeks, because this class is almost over and I really want to do decently in it.

I promise more future updates for my 2 readers!

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.