Paralyzed leg

Hello,

My female chinchilla is 8 yrs old and on Thursday night, I found that she couldn't move her left hind leg at all and can barely move her right hind leg. Took her to the vet yesterday but the xray shows there is no problem with her spine and there is no bruising anywhere.

She refuse to eat on her own so I'm giving her baby food (as the vet suggested).

Can anybody let me know why this can happen?

And if there is anything.... ANYTHING at all that can help her?

Thank you,

Justina

See if your vet can get you a product called "CriticalCare" which is designed for the needs of herbivores who are not eating properly. It would be better than baby food.

Good luck with the paralyzed leg.

I had a chinchilla sprain his hind leg before. The vet couldn't tell what was wrong with it as well. I removed all ledges and perches, so that my chin would not jump and cause more strain on the leg. After a couple of days, he started using his leg again.

For your chin, does it have nerve damange? Do a test to see if your chin still has feeling in its leg. Push the leg again a table edge and see if she will move the leg at all to attempt to step on the table. If she has nerve damage, she wouldn;t move her leg at all, as she wouldn't be able to feel the table pushed against her leg.

I also agree with weng keong about using critical care. You have to get a vet's prescription. I use baby food sometimes, but feel that it doesn't work as well.

Which vet do u go to? I recommend Dr Hsu at The Animal Clinic or Dr Ling of Namly clinic.

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Thank you both for your help. Unfortunately my poor Angie has nerve damage. Her leg is as soft as jelly and she can't feel a thing even if i press it (by right should be hard enough for the lil thing).

I went to Dr Ling in Namly Clinic last friday. (Sourced from the internet late last thursday night out of desparation because I know some vets may not be that good with chins. Plus the real shocker is the previous owner who gave the chins to me know next to nothing about chins.) Dr Ling was the one who treated Angie. She was great. Ok, I shall mention CriticalCare to her and purchase it from her. Have another appointment with Dr Ling for followup... if Angie survives till this coming friday!!!!

Been force feeding Angie every single morning at night and thank God she still seems ok, and strong enough to bite my finger at the same spot the last few days till it has a slight infection now, and pee on me 3 times in a row last night.

Thank you both again!!

Jus

Please keep us updated. Good luck to you and your chin.

If REALLY desperate, can try accupucture as an alternative. You would need to call up Mt Pleasant to get a referral. I only know people who did it in dogs, so i don;t know if it will work on chins, but it never hurts to try. Not sure about cost though, but i think it is $80 a session.


I read a story of someone's dog who also could not move its hind legs gradually regain use of the hind legs over 3 sessions. It was amazing.

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http://dreyson.wordpress.com/
http://dreysonpuppyblog.wordpress.com

At House of Chinchilla, we sell critial care but we only have the large bottle. No need vet's prescription.

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Hi everybody,

Angie is about 75% back to normal now. Her leg is still a bit weak but atleast she can hop and jump upwards a small distance. Better than seeing her depressed, suicidal, and no will to move eat and drink.

What I did in the end was to give her baby food (because I was on a very tight budget), force feed her, pamper her, and gave her my full attention every waking hour and when I'm not at work. But the main thing I did was to take her for ACCUPUNCTURE!! (hi Patrick, I forgot to give you the details of the place today at your store again. Just remembered when I talked to your assistant.) So if your chin is unfortunate enough that it needs accupuncture, the details are as follows:

1) Go and get a referral to the accupuncturist (for small eg chins to medium animals eg big dogs at:
Mount Pleasent Animal Clinic
232 Whitley Road
Tel: 62508333.
You'll have to pay for the consultation fee (I forgot the price) in order to get the referral.

2) After they approved that you'll need the referal, you'll choose the time to go in for accupuncture either on a Wed or Sat. ie you've to make another trip.

The accupuncturist is a very respectable and knowledgeable person, Dr Oh Soon Hock. He works in the Singapore Zoo and uses Mount Pleasent animal clinic on wed and sat as the premisis for accupunture. He is also a biological scientist like me!!! But needless to say he's on a higher level than me. I paid about $85 inclusive of GST per session. (This price was in Oct/Nov last year.) Each session is about 15mins.

He is one fantastic shi fu! He was explaining a bit about his craft as an accupuncturist and the pressure points and his occupation as a researcher in the zoo. I kinda hope that he gives classes on animal accupuncture but I doubt he gives classes or takes on students.

3) If you are very very desparate, he does home visitations too. I don't know the price he charges for home visitation. You can call him on 9 6636183 (This HP is on his name card.)

I could only take Angie for 2 sessions within 2 weeks partly because of the price but mainly because of the distance. I live on the edge of Singapore in an inconvenient place called Punggol so the taxi fare is a real killer. Total cost per session + travelling cost me about $130. By right I'm suppose to take her there twice a week and at the worst once a week. Other stuff I did at home was to very gently stretch her leg and massage the joint every single day. Then finally after weeks of pampering and spoiling her, she survived. Not many chins or humans for that matter get to go for accupuncture!!! What a spoilt little brat! But I love her (and my other chin Taylor) to bits so it definetly was money well spent.