Nursing & Damage Control
  Above are two beautiful violet kits, Jamie and Janice. They were born on May 26, 2003 to Juliet and Little Buster.  With two beautiful new-born kits like these you wouldn't think you would have a care in the world ... but ... they are hungry little 'Scrappers'.  A fact that would soon prove to cause a major problem!

   The following day I found Juliet, their mother, with some missing fur and a small amount of  blood on her chest, as seen below.  Apparently, the kits were fighting for a teat and the one that held on was pulled away from her mom, taking teat and all.  I saw a mass of fur with bare skin and what looked like a mammary gland filling with milk with no where to go.  It was not milk, but an infection, as I would soon find out from Dr. Vanessa.
  Juliet had to be treated with an anti-biotic called Baytril.  Baytril would not normally be used on a nursing mom, because it would be much to strong for the kits (it would be passed to them through the milk).  But, Eileen had taken over the nursing of Juliet's kits so that we could treat her with as strong an anti-biotic as possible.
   Juliet took the crushed Baytril mixed with strawberry syrup.  Anti-biotic do not know the difference between good and bad bacteria, so it kills all bacteria.  For this reason, Juliet was given lots of yogurt half way in-between each dose of medication.  Live culture yogurt replaces the bacterial flora needed to keep the digestive system working properly.  Both can not be given within 3 hours of each other or they will counter act each other.  Milk destroys the properties of the anti-biotic ... yogurt is a milk product.  

     One other 'treatment' had to be done on Juliet besides the anti-biotic.  An interesting saying vets have is: " The solution to pollution is dilution."  Sounds simple, and it is, but not so simple to handle, as I would soon find out.
 
It was first important to moisten the area before being able to remove the fur and dried blood.  First I had to wrap a warm moist washcloth under her and over the injury.  While waiting for everything to soften, I comforted her by scrathing her head and talking to her ... this is very important to keep her calm.
  After all the fur and dried blood was removed, a gaping wound was exposed.  As seen in this photo ... not a pretty site.
  
   The wound had to be flushed 3 times a day, using a sterile saline and Bedidine solution (looked like weak tea) in a special syringe.

    The tip of the syringe had to be placed inside of the wound.  The force of the solution being forced into the wound flushed out and diluted the infection and killed the bacteria causing the infection.

   
After the flushing, the wound would be clean.  This had to be repeated 3 times a day for 7 days, until the wound healed.
 
After each treatment, Juliet was rewarded with a nice treat to show her what a good girl she had been!  Her fur has now grown back, but the mammary glands (chins have two sets) on her right side will no longer work.  She will be able to have more kits, but only half of the working teats to nurse them.
 
What happened to Juliet is not the norm, but raising and breeding chinchillas rarely is.  The more chins you have, the more 'experiences' you will have to learn from.  Being prepared, having an excellent vet, keeping a close eye on your chins and not panicking are very important to keep your chins healthy and happy, and/or to help bring them back to good health.  Had things not been discovered early and the appropriate actions taken quickly, as they were, we would have lost mother and most likely both kits.

     All are happy and healthy now!  :)


UPDATE: December 2004
Juliet and Little Buster have had 2 more litters, both litters did very well with only one working side of teats.
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