A drooling Chinchilla - anaesthesia

June 9, 2014
Case study on the effects of an injectable anaesthesia on a chinchilla

TP 43843
Chinchilla, Female, 1 year 10 months, 350 g.

"She has wet mouth since March," the owner said. "I thought she was suckling the kid she just gave birth to. But it is now Jun 5 and the mouth is still wet!"

"Your rabbit is drooling," I said. "Usually the cause is sharp molar teeth or mis-aligned front teeth."
It is hard to check the molars as the chinchilla would run back into the cage after grabbing the food pellet given by the owner to entice her to come out.

XYLAZINE & KETAMINE SEDATION
Formula for rabbit applied to chinchilla
Xylazine 20 + Ketamine 100 at 0.25ml/kg + 0.35 ml/kg IM

At 350 g, X=0.08 ml + K=0.12 ml IM
At 50% dosage, I gave X=0.04 + K=0.06 ml IM in one syringe.

FOLLOW UP WITH OWNER on MONDAY JUNE 9, 2014

End of January- Gave birth. One kid, still alive.
Beginning of March - mouth wet. Owner thought she was producing milk and milk had overflowed onto the mouth area. The Chinchilla stopped gnawing the apple stick after giving birth.

Friday Jun 5, 2014. Injection of X + K given at 50% calculated dose IM
Lower molar spurs laterally (image and video), on both mandibles clipped. Maxillary molars worn out, no spurs. Went home recumbent with shallow chest movements. She took 2-3 hours to wake up and was very tired till Sunday Jun 7, 2014.

Saturday Jun 6, 2014. 6 pm. Ate "pellets softened with water."
Started to eat hard pellets on Sunday.

Drooling much less. "A lot better," said the owner today Monday Jun 9, 2014.

Apple stick gnawing is now not favoured by this Chinchilla. So molar spurs may return.