Post by blujem on Nov 10, 2011 15:02:45 GMT
Hi Everyone,
I am a new member but have kept Chins and Degus for several years.
We have 3 male chins who all live in separate cages next door to each other. Rupert my rescue chin has always been slightly sickly and has ongoing, but only mild at the moment, teeth problems.
Rupert is about 3 1/2 years old and last week at feeding time, we were extremely alarmed to see him lying at the bottom of his cage and twitching. Previous to this he was just sitting on his shelf, there were no falls or anything unusual that would have alarmed him beforehand. I immediately rang our Vets emergency number as it was 8.00 at night and the on call Vet talked me through what may be wrong.
He said that he could have a calcium deficiency which may have caused a seizure but thought this unlikely from his notes on Ruperts health on his screen, he may have liver disease but again, unlikely because this normally causes weight loss and symptoms over a period of time or he may have Hypoglycemia. He advised me to give him something sweet like sugar water or honey to try and bring him round.
By this stage Rupert was dragging himself to the back of the cage and one side of his body was not working properly, it almost looked like a stroke. He started to eat his dinner -Science Selective chin pellets - but was still a bit woozy. I gave him the honey on a spoon and he perked up considerably.
I took him into my exotics Vet the following day, he is very good and has saved several of my Degus life's over the years because of his knowledge, experience and academic interest in them. Thankfully I have never needed him to see any of my chins before now, in an emergency.
He examined him and found nothing wrong at all, his teeth are fine, his heart rate, poo's, temperature etc. He said that the concerning thing is that we don't know what caused it. Did the honey bring him round from his seizure or was he going to come round anyway? That was the question the Vet spoke out loud.
I can't think of why he would have a Hypoglycemic attack as he is fed as regular as clockwork, I never mess with feeding time for any of them as their routine is so important.
He has been fine ever since and back to his usual sweet self. I am keeping a close eye on him but dreading it if it happens again as I feel so helpless.
Has anyone else had a similar experience and found out what the problem was?
Thanks,
Jo
I am a new member but have kept Chins and Degus for several years.
We have 3 male chins who all live in separate cages next door to each other. Rupert my rescue chin has always been slightly sickly and has ongoing, but only mild at the moment, teeth problems.
Rupert is about 3 1/2 years old and last week at feeding time, we were extremely alarmed to see him lying at the bottom of his cage and twitching. Previous to this he was just sitting on his shelf, there were no falls or anything unusual that would have alarmed him beforehand. I immediately rang our Vets emergency number as it was 8.00 at night and the on call Vet talked me through what may be wrong.
He said that he could have a calcium deficiency which may have caused a seizure but thought this unlikely from his notes on Ruperts health on his screen, he may have liver disease but again, unlikely because this normally causes weight loss and symptoms over a period of time or he may have Hypoglycemia. He advised me to give him something sweet like sugar water or honey to try and bring him round.
By this stage Rupert was dragging himself to the back of the cage and one side of his body was not working properly, it almost looked like a stroke. He started to eat his dinner -Science Selective chin pellets - but was still a bit woozy. I gave him the honey on a spoon and he perked up considerably.
I took him into my exotics Vet the following day, he is very good and has saved several of my Degus life's over the years because of his knowledge, experience and academic interest in them. Thankfully I have never needed him to see any of my chins before now, in an emergency.
He examined him and found nothing wrong at all, his teeth are fine, his heart rate, poo's, temperature etc. He said that the concerning thing is that we don't know what caused it. Did the honey bring him round from his seizure or was he going to come round anyway? That was the question the Vet spoke out loud.
I can't think of why he would have a Hypoglycemic attack as he is fed as regular as clockwork, I never mess with feeding time for any of them as their routine is so important.
He has been fine ever since and back to his usual sweet self. I am keeping a close eye on him but dreading it if it happens again as I feel so helpless.
Has anyone else had a similar experience and found out what the problem was?
Thanks,
Jo