Aphea, Vulcan, and Verity

We partnered with an incredible micro-rescue Tiny Paws MCR to help save four chinchillas in need of help.

We agreed to take on a possibly pregnant chinchilla, Aphea, and her male companion, Vulcan. Tiny Paws MCR took on their two children called Biggie and Smalls.

Both chinchillas arrived in our care on the 5th of January. They were 5-years-old and appeared in good health. We separated Aphea and Vulcan to prevent pregnancies. We would re-introduce them once Vulcan was castrated.

Aphea would be on pregnancy watch for a typical gestation period (long-tailed chinchilla gestation is 112 days).

Vulcan's Castration:

Vulcan seemed in good health when assessed during his pre-op and was then booked in for castration.

The surgery went well and Vulcan handled his recovery well. During his first and second post-op check, there was a small amount of weight loss. At the time, this was put down to the Vulcan eating less during his early-recovery and requiring a syringe-fed recovery diet.

6 weeks after his surgery, he was bonded to Aphea once again. They accepted each other back instantaneously. 

Verity's Arrival:

On the 13th of March 2020, Aphea gave birth to a beautiful daughter. We named her Verity.

It was clear that Aphea was pregnant before her arrival.

During her first few days of life, Verity even got to live with her Dad. In most cases, people recommend removing the Father as there is the possibility of fertilising the Mother again immediately after birth. As Vulcan was castrated, in this case, there were no concerns of back-to-back pregnancies. 

Both parents were very non-territorial and were happy to co-parent their daughter.

Verity is doing great and is already much bigger! 

Vulcan's Passing:

Despite outer appearances, Vulcan was dealing with a mountain of health issues.

It's very important that owners of prey-species rigorously check their health. Prey species are hard-wired to hide any illness as an attempt to conceal their vulnerability from predators.

Vulcan was rapidly losing weight (it's not advised to monitor your chinchilla's based on how they look. Their dense coat makes it extremely difficult to notice weight loss or any change in their body condition) and had watery eyes. His symptoms warranted an urgent trip to the vet.

Oral examination showed evidence of pathology. The vet could see an ulcerated buccal mucosa, however, there was no evidence of hooks or spurring that would usually cause the ulceration. The vet prescribed Vulcan oral Baytril and oral Metacam, and he was booked in for a thorough exam under gaseous anaesthesia. Radiographs would also be taken.

The results were not good. Evidence of tooth root elongation was revealed, luckily, there was no orbit penetration. Secondly, Vulcan's ulcerated buccal mucosa may have been a proliferative carcinoma.

The outlook was bleak, but we decided to try and manage and improve Vulcan's quality of life.

Vulcan was sent home with advice to continue existing medication, introduce frequent syringe feeds and other soft foods also. If no improvements were seen, we would increase Vulcan's pain-relief before opting for humane euthanasia.

Softened Burgess Recovery pellets. Although they're designed for rabbits and Guinea pigs, as chinchillas are also caviomorphs, we couldn't see any reason why they wouldn't be suitable.

Vulcan started out strong; we were able to get him eating Alfafa hay (softer than other hays), softened pellets, and - despite hating it - he was eating when syringe fed.

Unfortunately, Vulcan became anorexic. The vet increased his Metacam dose to no avail. We decided to try oral buprenorphine alongside existing medication, but we were advised to euthanise if Vulcan was still anorexic even with the addition of opioids.

We reweighed Vulcan a few days after introducing buprenorphine. His weight had significantly decreased again, and he remained anorexic. We were all in agreement that it was unfair to keep him going. If left untreated, the tooth roots would likely penetrate the eyes.

Vulcan passed away on the 17th of March 2020.

Aphea and Verity:

Despite losing her companion of 5 years, Aphea is now blessed to have a life with her beautiful daughter. When Verity is of age, they will be looking for a forever home as a loving pair.