My chinchilla is really sick?

My chinchilla is extremely sick?

• My chinchilla started getting diarrhea a few says ago. then that caused his to lose a ton of weight and he's only fur and bones now. he's very weak and doesn't move much unless he's hungry. he eats all day like crazy when he does move but he's still extremely thin and frail. i brought him to the vet and he got probiotics, a fluids shot, an electrolyte shot, and some powdered capsules along with deworming meds. it's his second day on all that stuff and he's crapping at an incredible amount all day. idk if it's the meds cleaning out everything. his feces are are also very moist. and his energy hasn't really increased. Has anyone dealt with something like this before?

• Answer:

  First, I highly doubt he has worms. He's not a dog. Rarely, if ever, has there ever been a case of chins having worms. Second, find another vet. This one obviously knows nothing about chins. A chin should not be skin and bones after a few days of diarrhea. If yours was, then this has been going on for a lot longer than you think, definitely more than a couple days. He should have run stool samples to check for parasites. He should have done bloodwork. He should not have just shoved a bunch of stuff at you and sent you out the door. There are things you can do for diarrhea, but I'm just not sure they are safe in this case. Normally you would pull all pellets (and I hope they are good quality pellets and not pet store junk) and offer nothing but hay. You can offer bite sized shredded wheats dampened and coated with activated charcoal, as well as acidophilus (or a probiotic). In your case, with the severe weight loss, I would also offer Critical Care or Essentials for Life hand feeding mix. But with the severe weight loss you describe, she absolutely needs to see a vet that knows what they are doing. You need to find out what's going on before he gets to the point that you can't save him. If you need help finding a competent vet in your area, please visit http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com and we'll try and help you out. You need to be 14 to join the forum, but you can check out the vet section and see who is listed there, whether you join or not. If you can't find what you are looking for, and you are under 14, you can email me and I'll try and point you in the right direction. Good luck, and please, find a vet very, very soon. Your chin sounds like he doesn't have a minute to spare.