|
Miscellaneous |
Toffi-NutWarning to everyone who does not supervise their pets when they are out playing - especially when there are other chinchillas in other cages nearby! I have eight chinchillas and they are all split into three very large cages, but of course, like all chinchillas, large cage or not - they need their outside exercise on top. That means to me anyway, one hour each group, each day, and as I cannot be there all the time (3+ hours) I have a 'system' where the other cages are boarded up while the playing group are out, so that there is no contact with the 'enemy'! This particular night, I had a lot on my mind and forgot to board one of the other cages up 'properly' while Garbo and Toffi-nut had their playtime. Leaving them to it for one hour, I then returned to find Garbo in the cage looking her dopey usual self, and no Toffi-nut! I eventually found Toffi (and blood) inside one of their playtime carpet tubes looking rather hurt and upset, panicking, I looked all over Toffinut to find where the blood was coming from, her toe had- what I thought at the time, a very deep cut in it, I realised that she must have climbed to the top of the other chins cage, caught her foot through the wire and the other three chinchillas 'had a go' at her ( I have a sneaky suspicion I know which one of these did it- but they are not letting on! ) with advice from a breeder I know, I armed myself with clean water and a good powdering of 'ster-zac' (ster-zac is for nappy rash but excellent for deep wounds on chinchillas and other small pets, killing all infections) after three hours Toffi was banging around the cage as if nothing had happened, so relieved, I left it until next day to see how she had fared. The following day she was her usual naughty self and the 'toe' part where the cut was, had dried up into a flat shape, so more ster-zac was applied. The day after, she must of chewed off the end bit of her toe that had dried up that night (I guess that's naturally what they would do in the wild anyway) and all that was left was a stumpy bit end, I was really surprised at how much of her toe was missing the bone part included!- goes to show how our little furballs can be vicious little monsters when they get going - never under-estimate chinchillas, that fluffy ball is deceiving - and always supervise them, especially when there are other chinchillas in other cages nearby. This taught me a lesson to be more careful and taught Toffinut not to go having adventures into forbidden territory! I've enclosed a photo of Toffi's missing toe! impossible keeping her still but the raisins helped - note the raisin box(-:
Received by e-mail 22nd November 2003 I have a chinchilla who now has a missing toe: I attend school in Boston (PharmD) and need to stay overnight sometimes to study. During these times I have someone at my house feed the chinchillas. I have 2 that are now just over a year, and have lived together since they were a month old, 1 male and 1 female. Just a couple of weeks ago I needed to stay 3 days in Boston. When I came back, I noticed the male chin missing part of the middle toe of his front left foot. There was no evidence of recent bleeding -- although I know it did happen during the 3 days because I always look at them when I am home (so I would have noticed it before). I don't know how the toe was lost: whether it was a hazard in the cage, or it was the female who bit it, but they seem to get along very well and snuggle together when sleeping. It has really bothered me because I always loved how the front feet look like hands when they ate (almost human-like), and just to think that there might be some danger that I can't find. |
Linda from the     Copyright © chinquest.co.uk 2000 - 2009 chinchilla.quest@btinternet.com
|