My chinchilla is chewing its self bad!?

Question

My chinchillas gentials were bitten by himself or something. I have spend over $600 on him at the vet and I cannot afford anymore im stuck now. He's had stiches all 9 yards and chewd them off. He has now chewed his genitals off completely.

He now is chewing his tail off and has a huge bald area from his stomach down.

I read somewhere I could put athletes foot powder in his bath. I havent given him bath becaues Im worried about his open wounds.

What type of athletes foot medican can I use, is it ok to use this when he has open wounds.

I'm trying to find a place locally in WA state where I can just give him away. Id rather see him live and give him away then keep him and watch him suffer.

Please help I am running out of pain meds and anti biotics, I've tried switching on and off with the pain killers.

Answer 1

First off, you are giving the chinchilla a dust bath way too much. A chinchilla should only have a dust bath 2-3 times a week for 15-30 minutes, no longer. The dust most likely dried your chins skin out and he got itchy and had no other way of scratching so he chewed. Your chin might also have skin fungus, which would be dry flaky spots. If your chin has skin fungus then yes, you can use athletes foot powder in his dust bath. You may visit my web site at http://www.geocities.com/softfurrycritte... and go to my "Chinchilla Diseases" button for more information on all the diseases they can get. I think your chin also has a problem with fur biting, which is also on the diseases page. Look around on my web site, maybe you can find something that might be causing your chin to chew a lot. I wouldn't give him a dust bath without first talking to a vet to see if this will cause any further problems. You can email me at [e-mail] if you have further questions or if you'd like to send me a picture of what your chin currently looks like. I might be able to be of further assistance this way. Best of luck to you and your chin!

Answer 2

Your vet was pretty bad in not telling you WHY your chinchilla did this!

He's not happy. Plain & simple. You need to make sure his cage is large enough, that he ALWAYS has the sand bath available to him (you probably don't have the silica sand bath do you??).  Chinchillas can not be happy without this sand and will often self bite & mutilate if it's not supplied.

He's also probably lonely, so get some toys and chew stuff.

Barring that, put an ad up in kijiji or craigslist to give him away (list his conditions) and someone will bring him to a great home!

Answer 3

It sounds like your chinchilla has a serious problem, I really hope you can find a solution, even if you cant afford vets treatment you could ask them for advice and be very careful when thinking of using human products on animals. If you do some research you may be able to find a charity or individual donor which will fund treatment for your animal, it may sound bizarre but they do exist so its worth a try.