We sadly lost one of our chinchillas today we noticed she was ill last night & also that her sister was going the same way we took them to the emergency vet last night who was lovely & said it could be low glucose levels. They stayed overnight but this morning one of them passed away. the vet, a different one from the one we saw last night was a real cow & said we had basically been starving them. She had an exotic pet book which had completly different advice on care of a chinchilla than the dozen chinchilla care books we have. This vet had no experience with chinchillas so I'm hoping I can get some advice. We feed them every day with charlie chinchilla and give them hay. They live in our living room as we tried to put them somewhere quieter and they just stressed out. They are given fresh water every day & a dust bath every week. We have 5 chinchillas all together and have no problems with the others apart from the one remaining sister. The temperature of the room they live in is 21 degrees C. Are we doing something wrong we have followed the advice in the books that we have and have had 3 of our chinchillas for 2 years with no problems. According to the vet we should only be giving them timothy hay every day and just a few pellets and that they should be kept really cold as they are meant to live in conditions as low as 0 degrees. So I'm really confused and would appreciate anyone who has chinchilla expertise giving me advice on where I'm going wrong.

You say your chin was unwell but can you explain in what way she was unwell as that does not really help anyone to help you with the possible reasons for her sudden death

In all honesty I have never heard of a chin dying of low glucose levels chins can have seizures due to low sugar levels

I am interested in what made your vet say that you had been starving them, had the chin that has passed away lost weight

Had she showen any signs of constipation diarrhoea, maloculssion, seizures? Do you nreed from them? Has she had kits recently ?

I never feed my chins Charlie chin as it leads to selective feeding and then they do not get a balanced diet . Personally I would suggest you wean them onto a pellet diet with lots of good quality hay and very few sugary treats as this is harmful to them.

There could be so many reasons as to why your chin fell ill that it is impossible to go through the various illnesses and symptoms on here with you. However I notice you live in West Yorks the same as I so if you are interested you are more than welcome to pm me a telephone number and we can have a chat on the telephone

To be honest books are contradictory and I have yet to find a decent pet owners book that offers correct advice re chin care , you are far better joining a decent chin forum and reading the excellent advice on those

If I can help then please get in touch

Linda x

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Chinchilla rescue and rehoming http://www.chinsrus.co.uk

Maybe it was just a shock thing because I can't see any reason why it died, we feed our chinchillas charlie chin food too and they're fine with it.

Charlie chinchilla food is ok if the chinchillla eats all of it.However most pick out the treaty bits and leave the nutritious pellets therefore it is not a balanced diet.
I agree that a pellet only feed should be given and unlimited hay.
It is difficult to say why your chin died but if the other chin is going the same way I would have asked for a postmortem to be done to find the cause.This may help in finding a treatment for your other girl.
Really you need to find a good exoctics vet to treat chinchillas as many vets do not have much experience with them.
I hope your other girl pulls through

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