1. Long incisors - Like beavers, the incisors grow too long due to the lack of regularly chewing on softwood blocks or floating stones, which affects chewing and causes anorexia, weakness, and even starvation. It is necessary to timely trim the overgrown parts with bone pliers or flower scissors, and clean the swollen lips with anti-inflammatory solution for 3 consecutive days.
2. Throat obstruction - Eating large pieces of feed or other foreign objects can cause swallowing difficulties, and it is difficult for chinchillas to spit out the food swallowed into the oral cavity, which easily leads to throat obstruction. After a small blockage, the chinchilla shows restlessness, often makes swallowing movements with extended neck, and coughs. The main symptoms are increased breathing or difficulty breathing, often leading to suffocation quickly, congested eyes, inability to stand on all fours, and even death. Therefore, do not give chinchillas hard or shell-containing feeds such as pine seeds and large grains. For mild obstruction, immediately feed plant oil to lubricate the esophagus and make the food swallow into the stomach. For severe obstruction, there is often not enough time to take measures and the chinchilla dies of suffocation.
3. Carditis - Inflammation of the surface of the gastric mucosa, mainly due to excessive proportion of grain feed in the feed, lack of rough fiber, feeding indigestible food, sudden change of feed variety, excessive intake of delicious feed, or carditis caused by gastric distention, etc. Eating mud, drinking unclean water, or eating feed contaminated with mold and pesticides can also cause gastric carditis. This disease often occurs acutely, with sudden onset, low spirit, unbearable pain, loss of appetite or refusal to eat. Chronic symptoms include decreased appetite, moderate constipation, gradually emaciation, weight loss, drooling, wet lower lip and corners of the mouth, and tangled fur. For acute gastric carditis, feed should be stopped for 1-2 days, granular feed should be replaced with soft feed, fresh green feed should be added, and grape fresh milk should be used as a drink, with 2-3 milliliters of aluminum hydroxide gel taken orally. For chronic cases, the main approach is to improve feeding management and medication, but the effect is not significant.
4. Constipation - Constipation is mainly caused by improper feed, which leads to weakened gastrointestinal motility and poor intestinal muscle nutrition. Restless feeding environment can also cause abnormal gastrointestinal motility. In case of constipation in chinchillas, there are no obvious symptoms in mild cases, only slight changes in fecal size and color, with little or no gas pores in the feces. In severe cases, defecation is significantly reduced or stopped, and the feces are very small and dry. Affected chinchillas do not eat or drink, squat in one place, reluctant to move, hunched back, and painful. They are mentally depressed and their eyes are closed. Prolonged constipation results in gradual emaciation, obvious weight loss, drooling, wet lower lip and corners of the mouth, and tangled fur. In treatment, in addition to adjusting the formula, the following medications can be used: 2% liquid paraffin or soft soap water for oral administration or rectal infusion, 5-15 milliliters each time; a mixture of 10-15% hot vegetable oil and water for oral administration or enema, 5-15 milliliters each time; rectal injection of laxative can also promote defecation.
5. Intestinal obstruction - Worsening constipation can cause intestinal obstruction. Some chinchillas suffer from trichophagy, which results in the formation of hairballs in the digestive tract and obstruction. In addition, high content of dietary fiber or large amount of antibiotics used to treat diseases can reduce the ability of intestinal microorganisms to digest fiber, leading to constipation and secondary intestinal obstruction. Therefore, broad-spectrum antibiotics should be avoided or used less, and sulfa drugs should be used for anti-inflammatory purposes. The early symptoms of intestinal obstruction are constipation. Acute intestinal obstruction is less common, so it manifests as all the symptoms of constipation. Diseased chinchillas dehydrate quickly, and their eyeballs sink. There is often slight abdominal distention, with hard feces felt in the abdomen. Affected chinchillas show abdominal pain, extend their forelimbs forward, lie down with their abdomen on the ground, and severe cases lie on their backs with their limbs curled up. Duodenal obstruction is the most obvious manifestation. Prevention measures: Once constipation occurs, high vigilance should be maintained to eliminate constipation as soon as possible and prevent secondary intestinal obstruction. When intestinal obstruction has already occurred, the treatment is mainly focused on defecation. If oil laxatives are not effective, 10%-20% sodium sulfate or soap water can be used for deep rectal lavage, combined with cathartics, which are effective for mild intestinal obstruction. For severe cases of intestinal obstruction, when the intestine is inflamed or necrotic, the use of cathartics is not only ineffective, but also poses the risk of intestinal rupture and perforation, so surgical treatment may be necessary.
6. Intestinal volvulus and intussusception - This disease occurs suddenly during the mating process when chinchillas chase or fight each other, or during vigorous exercise. Once it occurs, it causes severe pain, trembling of the limbs and whole body, inability to stand, and sometimes "squeaking" sound, severely leading to death. Anatomical observation can directly reveal twisted or intussuscepted intestines, with mucosa bleeding acutely and bleeding phenomena. Since this disease occurs suddenly and results in rapid death, often there is not enough time to take measures before the affected chinchilla dies. In rescue, manually straightening the intestines can be effective for some individuals.
7. Vitamin deficiencies - Various nutritional deficiencies are caused by deficiencies in the formulation of the feed, and prevention should be the primary focus, with treatment as a supplement. The most common vitamin deficiencies observed are vitamin A and B1 deficiencies. When there is a deficiency of vitamin A, chinchillas often suffer from keratinizing dermatitis, which leads to respiratory infections, decreased reproductive performance or infertility, obvious dry eye or night blindness. Affected chinchillas often show dull eyes, cloudy corneas, dull and inelastic fur, and weight loss. The mating rate of male chinchillas decreases significantly, with disappearance of sexual behavior, longer estrous period or lack of estrus in female chinchillas, interruption of pregnancy in pregnant chinchillas, and absorption or miscarriage of embryos. In cases of vitamin A deficiency in baby chinchillas, they become weak and fragile or blind. To treat the deficiency, provide 100 international units of vitamin A to the affected chinchilla daily, and supplement it with feed appropriately after 1 week. When there is a deficiency of vitamin B1, the coordination of chinchillas' movements is disrupted. They become nervous, easily excited, and the typical symptom is convulsions, with sudden spasms of the limbs and body. After a spasm occurs, they can move normally again, but if the condition continues to develop, death may occur. Treatment should involve administration of high doses of vitamin B1 for 2-4 weeks, with a dose of 10 mg per chinchilla per day.
8. Calcium and phosphorus metabolism disorders - Lack of calcium and phosphorus in the feed, improper calcium-to-phosphorus ratio, or lack of vitamin D in the feed can all lead to calcium and phosphorus metabolism disorders. The typical symptom of this disease is sudden muscle cramps all over the body, which is similar to the spasms caused by vitamin B1 deficiency. However, the cramps caused by this disease often occur before and after feeding, and the important difference is that the cramps caused by this disease do not cause swinging. Affected chinchillas stick their abdomen to the bottom of the cage, with stiff limbs and forelimbs extended forward and head turned back. Treatment measures: Increase the content of calcium and phosphorus in the feed, adjust the ratio of calcium to phosphorus and the content of vitamin D. Alternatively, glucose calcium muscle injection can be used, once a day, 1-1.5 milliliters each time, continuously injected for 3-5 days.
9. Hair loss - The fur of chinchillas is precious, and hair loss is a major loss and a common occurrence. The causes of hair loss in chinchillas can be divided into two aspects: first, the lack of unsaturated fatty acids in the feed; second, hair loss caused by excitement or nervousness. Once hair loss occurs, the skin loses its value for fur making. The symptoms are often a combination of the two causes, with scattered or clumped hair loss seen everywhere in the cage during activities such as movement in the cage, artificial feeding, and adding water, etc. The skin is often exposed, showing keratinization and scaly skin. Chinchillas with this disease cannot participate in breeding. Oral intake or addition of unsaturated fatty acids to the feed, with supplementation as needed, is preferably not stored overnight. Supply 2 capsules of linoleic acid per day for 3-5 consecutive days to achieve certain results.
Artificially raising the white cat needs to pay attention to their balanced nutrition and scientific feeding methods. Since the white cat is a nocturnal animal, it is generally recommended to feed them at 8 am and 4 pm every day. Of course, feeding at night will have better effects.
The digestive tract of the white cat is particularly long, with a well-developed cecum. Therefore, under artificial breeding conditions, it usually feeds on hay, grains, and green feed, or combines with feed, including herbaceous plants, vegetables, wild vegetables, mulberry leaves, elm leaves, alfalfa, grains, etc. Vegetables with too much water content such as cabbage should not be fed. In addition to various grains, the refined feed can also be fed with wheat bran, cornmeal, and soybean cake powder. Add a small amount of refined salt, yeast powder, bone meal, and other minerals such as calcium, zinc, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, iron, copper, cobalt, manganese, etc. The amount of addition is generally calcium 1%, phosphorus 0.5%, potassium iodide 0.3/10,000, copper sulfate 0.5/10,000, zinc sulfate 1/10,000, ferrous sulfate 1.5/10,000, manganese sulfate 1/10,000.
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