Why do chinchillas die?

[KatyJ]

I've been Benny's mother for eight months now and have been reading up a lot on chinchillas (I adopted him from a friend when Benny didn't get along with his new cage mate). So I found that chins live ~15, all years depending on the source.

Benny is about four years old and originally came from Petco. He has always been well cared for: fed chinchilla food, hay, alfalfa, loves raisins, Mrs Pastures Cookies for Horses and banana chips and especially enjoys my fuzzy gray socks :love: and playing 'Chase the Chinchilla' when I don't pay attention to the open cage door. He lives alone but I am currently searching for a companion.

On this site there seem to be many reports of chin deaths (and births and adoptions of course). I am just honestly curious and want to know what to watch for... and understand why these little guys die before they should.

If they didn't die from old age, then from what?

How old is your oldest chin or the oldest one you know?

Who came up with the estimated life span?

[outsiders_girl]

Well, chins can die from different reasons...bloat, malcolision (lol I know I spelt that wrong :| ), ect... the Health and Hygiene section has tons of threads about it.

My oldest chin will be 12 in October. She is from a small local petstore, and so far doesn't have any known health problems.
My oldest chin that passed away was 4 months. We bought him from someone who was moving and couldn't take his chins with him. He died from bloat the next day (we were on the way to the emergency vet and he died before we got there). My youngest chin that's died was 5 days old. She was born at 22 grams, and was rejected. We hand fed her every hour, but between seizures and not gaining it was just too much for her.

[Megan.]

They can die from illnesses that weren't treated, teeth problems, heart problems, liver failure, bloat, surgeries gone wrong, not proper care, birthing complications, illnesses that never fully cured, wrong antibotics given, wrong food given, stress, over heating... mayn different things can cause a chin to die.

[firecracker]

1. Chinnies can die from a number of things. Freak accidents, pneumonia, overheating, genetic disorders (seizures, malocclusion), eating something that they weren't supposed to, during birth, etc. As long as you feed your chinnie pellets and hay with an occasional treat, you don't have to worry about nutrition deficiency. And as long as he is in a safe cage, and if you let him loose, it's in a chin-safe (and A/C if applicable) room to roam in (no loose wires, power cables, plastic), you don't have to worry about freak accidents and overheating.
The most important thing, above all is to know a good vet and take your chinnie to a good chinchilla experienced exotics vet ASAP when you notice anything wrong. Any one of these early signs such as drooling, loss of appetite, lethargy, huddled in the corner, stomach is bloated, wet and stringy poos, people shouldn't wait and hope their chin will get better. They shouldn't come on to this forum begging for alternative ways of saving his/her pet. Most of us aren't trained vets and even if we were, we can't physically see what's wrong and can do nothing but say "TAKE HIM/HER TO THE VET". The time wasted could mean life/death to the chin because by the time they show signs, it's nothing but downhill from there. In many cases (not all), having the vet (and emergency vet) name/address prepared, and just taking your chin and run out the door, is the key to preventing unexpected death of a chin.

2. The oldest one was from someone on this forum, 29 yrs old I believe.

3. Chinchillas were originally bred for coats, so life span wasn't much of an issue. Now that they are getting more and more popular as pets, it has come to a point when people realize how relatively long-living chinnies are (as compared to say hamsters, rats and other rodents) and its now commonly understood (by vets, books, internet) that chinnies live from 10-15 years old...basically similar to a dog or cat's life span.

[Ashleiy]

Yep, Ashleigh had a mosaic male that passed away at 29 years old. Here is the thread...

http://www.chins-n-quills.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28617&highlight=ashleigh+oldest+mosaic

[Ashleiy]

This thread has pics... make sure to scroll down and look at pics of Gramps :) I hope Ashleigh will come on here and talk about him!

http://www.chins-n-quills.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=470520#post470520

[CorneliusChins]

My god. 29 is amazing. I just lost a chin (petstore chin) due to genetic kidney defects. One kidney was non functional and the other kidney swelled to twice the normal size. Just thought i'd add mine in there. - Jessica

[KatyJ]

Remind me never to ask questions like this to which I really don't want to know the answer. Benny died last night... here's the thread. I took him to the vet three time (3 vets) and was on my way back to the emergency vet when it happened.

http://www.chins-n-quills.com/forums/showthread.php?p=648622#post648622

[chinchillalady]

:( I am so sorry for your loss Katy. :cry: Losing a chin is never easy, and I still cry to this day about my Scooter who passed on the way to the emergency vet.