03/08/2022
PROBIOTICS AND ANTIBIOTICS
One of the issues people regularly reach out to me for is what to do when a chinchilla has completely stopped eating after being prescribed Baytril.
There are three antibiotics regularly used on chinchillas, only one of them is licensed (as far as I’m aware) and that’s Baytril. Baytril is a flox antibiotic and if you’re feeling like watching a horror show then look at the pages and pages of lawsuits against the makers of flox antibiotics for permanent disablement. It’s a very strong drug.
Baytril is extremely useful in cases of bone infection or severe and deep infection- nothing gets rid of pus like Baytril. However, in cases of mild infection or preventative care such as in discharging animals which have undergone a medical procedure or protecting a chinchilla which has been in a fight, we prefer to use Septrin (aka sulfatrim). The other commonly used antibiotic is Marbocyl (aka marbofloxacin) which is commonly used in rabbits and is another flox antibiotic, not quite so strong as Baytril.
I’ve used all three.
If your chinchilla is on any of these antibiotics then please don’t let your vet get away with telling you chinchillas don’t need probiotics. I’m going to tell you why:
In EVERY SINGLE CASE of gut stasis that a panicking owner has reached out to me for help in, the chinchilla has not been given probiotics. Where did I get my info from? When I was learning about chinchillas we still had forums and many of you know I learned from CHINformative. I’m now with the NCS because they respect my views on food more.
Chinchillas are way more dependent on their intestinal flora (microbiome) or friendly bacteria than humans. I’ve been working with rare disease patients for many years and we don’t just require probiotics in order to be able to eat anything at all, we usually require custom made probiotics with certain strains. Why? Some strains of probiotic release histamine, some eat the bacteria which releases histamine. Yeasts not only release histamine but also alcohol. This is what causes bloating; the yeasts become invasive when there isn’t enough friendly bacteria in the gut to eat them, they release histamine, they release alcohol and the gut starts to ferment. This fermenting creates gas which causes both humans and chinchillas to swell up. It’s way more dangerous in a chinchilla because they cannot pass wind. Once a chinchilla has got to the stage where it’s swelling, it’s extremely difficult to manage a recovery. It can be done though.
I was told recently that a study has been done which showed that humans which don’t take probiotics don’t live as long as those who do. At the time, I was too shocked to respond, now all I can do is laugh. Somebody actually did a study on a healthy group of humans taking probiotics and another healthy group of humans not taking probiotics, over an entire lifetime, with them all eating the same food and exposed to the same environment? I don’t think they did. It’s the kind of rumour a drug company would spread to discredit anybody saying something bad about their antibiotics.
I’ve only ever had one case of bloat in a chinchilla on antibiotics and it was in one which was on antibiotics for four weeks. Two weeks of baytril and two weeks of marbocyl. I think you all know how that would feel for you, a chinchilla will feel much worse. In any case of bloat (and I pick up on things before they become a bad problem) I give cisapride (which my vet very kindly dispenses as a precaution for the first aid kit) in the first instance. I then give water and probiotics every two hours, as per CHINformative advice. Or watery food and probiotics every two hours, depending on how much the chinchilla is eating. However, I have had cases of lethargy and no appetite which I have resolved using water and probiotics alone. Most of the breeders have. Because if your vet isn’t the kind to trust you with meds then you may have no option- not every emergency vet carries the meds we require for chinchillas and we may have to keep a chin going overnight before we can get it into the vet.
I’ve been keeping chinchillas for sixteen years now and the only case of bloat I have ever had in a healthy chinchilla was a very young female who ate her mum’s oat supplement as well as her own. I have not advocated feeding any grains at all for some time, if I do feed a few oats now then I hand feed oat groats (with the husks on) and I don’t feed them more than a few, once a week, to assist with weighing. I can put the scales onto the floor, get out the oat packet and I’ll have two chins trying to push each other out of the way in their eagerness to get onto the scales!
I’ve been very earnestly told by a renowned vet before now that chinchillas with malocclusion often get bloat due to the changes in eating habits which sore teeth cause and I need some gut motility drugs on hand in case of emergencies.
I never used them.
I’ve made my own food for my chinchillas for years and the combination of anti-inflammatory ingredients and added pre and probiotics makes gut motility drugs redundant. The vet is right- it’s the changes in eating habits.
Just going to leave that there and not mention any brands, Oxbow.
As a last note; there are a number of things which will cause your chin to stop eating- ALWAYS GO TO YOUR VET AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Here are the main causes:
1/ PAIN
2/ HEART ISSUES
3/ INFECTION
4/ BLOAT
5/ MALOCCLUSION
You must have a correct diagnosis to know how to proceed with care.
Just don’t let your vet tell you chinchillas don’t need probiotics, ok?
The recommended routine is: give antibiotics (and usually painkillers) with food. Wait four hours, give probiotics with food. This will need to be repeated as these meds are usually given twice a day. I’ll stick another feed in during the day if the chin isn’t eating, sometimes I’ll feed every four hours round the clock, depending on weight and pain.
Gut motility drugs: ranitidine was my favourite and they banned it because it gave some humans cancer. It was ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT for gut motility, it’s such a shame it’s been banned.
Now we use cispapride, which takes longer to work.
A lot of vets don’t carry that and will give you metclopramide. This drug actually works on the wrong part of the gut so it takes AGES to work and in the interim, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be tearing your hair out. It does work though, just use the water & probiotics protocol every two hours until it actually does its job.
Are you all looking like a rabbit stuck in some headlights now? I really hope not- most of the people who come to me are chinchilla enthusiasts who soak up info with relish.
I love alla u guys and thanks for liking the page- it really means a lot to me and the chinchillas.
Oh my gosh- I nearly forgot to discuss probiotics!!!
Always read the label. Matrodextrin is a sugar, dextrose is a derivative of GM corn starch. I avoid anything with either of these ingredients. Most chin parents think that Fibreplex is the best of the shop bought brands and I agree. However, I make my own pre & probiotic blend now using organic chicory inulin and additive-free acidophilus at a ratio of 2:1. I also use Bio Kult in a very sick chin as it’s multi strain. Absolutely NO research has been done on what friendly bacteria strains are naturally present in a chin’s gut, we do know that it measures three metres long though.
