Have you ever wondered ...
What are the signs something is going wrong?
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In this section, I will go over some of the signs that a kit is in trouble and
may not make it.
At times mother nature may seem cruel, but she goes by the rule:
The strongest must survive for the species to survive.
It seems prejudicial that the survival of a kit is often something the mother
alone, must decide. But, all things in life can not be fair all the time.
The mothers are given a special sense about life, her ability at the time to
know if she can care for one or all of the kits, and often, the ability for the kit
itself to survive. If a kit is born alive, but is not fully developed or injured in
the birthing process (to the point that it will suffer a long time and badly
before it dies), the mother chin will take it's life instead of allowing it to suffer.
If a momma chin does not have enough milk for all the kits to survive, she
will often abandon the weakest, so that the others may survive. Of course
there are always exceptions to every rule ... I have seen some momma chins
continue to try to take care of all of her kits when she herself could hardly
move.
Normally, chinchillas only have one or two kits, but, on occasions, they will
have triplets, sometimes quads and even more rarely quints.
This is about a set of triplets. In the first film clip, you can see two kits
fighting over a place to nurse. Normally, when they fight, one will get the
place they are fighting for, and the other will choose another spot to nurse. If
you will notice the kit on the right, when he looses, he does not go back to
find another spot. This kit is in big trouble, it has lost it's fight for survival.
Mom did not intervene ... double trouble. Usually when two kits are
fighting and one damages the other one, mom steps in to stop it. Another sign
things were not going good for this little kit.
When I examined him closer, he had damage to his nose and the right eye.
At this point, it is time for me to intervene and judge a little closer the
chances of this kit's survival ... if it remains with the litter. Many times I
have been able to help a kit recover to the point his mom thinks he will
live and takes him back.
First, to see if she would reject him if he was the only kit with her ... in
other words, if she thinks he will or will not survive. To find the answer
to this, I simply took them out of the cage and put the two of them
together, apart from the rest of the litter ...
As you can see, the results were not good. She smells the kit's breath,
then it's behind. The scent she smells is not one in the kit's favor.
Instead of taking the kit and cleaning it, then tucking it under her to
nurse, she tries to find a way to escape and be as far away as possible from
the kit.
I have never let a chin die without trying to do the best I can to help it
survive. If she had accepted the kit, I would have started supplementing
the largest/bully kit to keep it's belly full and let this weaker one a chance
at mom's milk, because it is the best thing for the weaker kit. But, she
clearly rejected the injured kit.
I put antibiotic ointment on the kit's eye, then knew it was time to feed
it. Time to get the nursing kit out. When you have to hand feed a kit,
you have to do for it all the things the mother would do. There are three
clips that show you how to care for them once you have the formula ready.
If you will notice: The kit is held
up-right, not on it's back. I do not
put the dropper inside the kit's
mouth, but, put a drop of milk on
the kit's lips and allow it to flow into
the kit's mouth. I allow him to
control the amount that goes down
his throat. If you put the kit on it's
back, the milk will not flow properly
and may end-up in the lungs. If you
put the dropper in it's mouth, you
can not see exactly how much you
are giving it AND kits have been
known to suck the dropper in it's
mouth and down the throat.
Cleaning is one thing you will have
to do constantly. If formula is
allowed to dry on the chin's fur,
when you try to get it off, you will
be taking off fur with the formula.
Here you can see I use a Q-Tip and
roll in towards me and away from
the chin's mouth. After this, I use a
warm, moist cloth to get the
remaining formula off of the kit.
After cleaning the mouth and any
other area formula fell on, we have
to do like mom and stimulate the
disposal of what was just consumed.
Yep, we need to use a moist paper
towel, or Q-Tip and stimulate the
rear to make sure the formula is
being processed properly and sent
out the other end. And to stimulate
the flow of urine.
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Now for the good news ... this has to be repeated every hour for the
first 24 hours. The second day, every 2 hours. The third through the
seventh day, every 3 hours around the clock. The second week, about
every 4 to 6 hours, depending on how the kit is doing. The third week,
about every 6 to 8 hours (he should be on some solids now, if not, then
every 3 or 4 hours). These feeding times are not written in stone ... you
do need to feed it at least this often, but if it wants more in-between
scheduled feedings, you feed it again.
When do you get to rest? You grab 30 minute naps in-between
feedings.
Think this is a bit much? Think about it before you put a male and
female together. If they are with each other and are both fertile, there
will be kits! Even allowing them to have supervised playtime together is
taking a chance unless they are in your sight every second. Male chins
only need about 15 seconds ... approximately 111 days later ... she
presents you with a litter of kits. Be prepared!
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