Date of Birth:   4-17-1997

Purchased on:  1-22-2000
Purchased from:  Chicago, IL 

Died:  12-15-2002

Cause of Death:  I found Lars laying on his side in his cage on sunday afternoon.  He was breathing heavily and I suspected that he had a respiratory infection of some type.  It took me most of the day to track down a vet that would actually see him.  Really all I needed to help him was a shot of Baytril, that would have been the only thing he needed!  I finally got him into the vet's office that night where the vet did not listen to thing I had to say.   It was pretty stressful for Lars to have to take a 45 mile trip to the vets.   He was given subcutaneous fluids that he didn't really need and the vet told me he looked "jaundiced" in his mouth.  (Chinchillas eat foods that stain their teeth yellow and can make their mouths look a little yellow as well.)  I'm pretty sure that the stress of having to go to the vet's and of being poked and prodded didn't help much.  Respiratory infections are usually knocked out with a shot of Baytril in just a few hours.  (Septra could be used with chins that have a Baytril sensitivity.)

Lars had a infection in his lungs brought on from, most likely, the aspiration of a foreign body like a pellet or a piece of hay or something else.   It got sucked down into a lung and started up an infection that weakened him.   This only takes a few hours to make the chin appear to be sick.  It's hard to catch it until something clearly is very wrong.  I am pretty convinced that the stress from the trip to the vet made things worse, but I know it is still better to go to a vet when something is wrong.  In Tucson there are very few emergency exotics vets around that can help. 

After I got Lars home that night I spent the entire night trying to make him comfortable.  I was up most of the night with him.  He passed away quietly sometime between 5 and 5:30 that morning when I went to take a quick nap.  I wish that I had had a more experienced chinnie vet see him, it could have possibly saved his life.  It's taken me a few months to get to writing this because it's been just too painful to remember it all.  He was a special chinchilla (they all are)!   Try to get any chinchillas to the vet if you think that they are acting strangely or if you think that anything at all is wrong. 

Babies:

Dotta - Homozygous Ebony Female - birth wt. 41 gms
Bjorn - Tan Male - birth wt. 36 gms
Gustaf - Tan Male - birth wt. 43 gms
Nona - Tan Female - birth wt. 45 gms
Arne - Standard Grey (Ebony Carrier) Male - birth wt. 56 gms