Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Re: Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Sammy82 — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 01:33:46 GMT

This is quite similar to the technique I was taught for dogs and cats, using just a needle and by holding the blood collection tube at the barrel letting the blood run along the wall into the tube. This can be a bit messy but as you don't have to hold on to the needle you don't lose the vein should the animal twitch/pull away. I prefer this technique in very wriggly animals or when there is no assistant available. If the blood is very thick/low bloodpressure it sometimes clots inside the needle before you got enough though.

Re: Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 01:00:29 GMT

[quote user="Ana Xavier"]

Hi Evelyn,

we collected blood from the lateral saphenous by using an insulin syringe with a small 23-25 gauge needle. We removed the plunger and just inserted the needle directly in the vein and allowed blood to slowly be collected - you can use a microhaematocrit tube directly if you want.

If you try to collect the blood like you would in a cat or dog the vein would collapse.

We have the IDEXX machine and then just used the wholeblood sample pot for blood analysis (you need about 0.2mls for this).

Hope this makes sense?

Ana xx

[/quote]

Very interesting.

Was that a 1ml or a 0.5ml syringe?

I'm just trying to visualise this and my first thought was that the blood would be emerging pretty slowly – why doesn't it clot before you've finished?

Re: Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Ana Xavier — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 19:14:27 GMT

Hi Evelyn,

If you try to collect the blood like you would in a cat or dog the vein would collapse.

We have the IDEXX machine and then just used the wholeblood sample pot for blood analysis (you need about 0.2mls for this).

Hope this makes sense?

Ana xx

Re: Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Marie Kubiak — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 18:58:02 GMT

[quote user="Ana Xavier"]

What I don't know is how I am going to dose up this chinchilla. Benazepril comes in 2.5mg tabs and this chinchilla is 0.43kg!

Is minimal! is there a liquid form I don't know about?

Thanks again!

Ana

[/quote]

We compound tablets in pharmaceutical syrup to give a sweet liquid that is well tolerated.

I have used prilium in birds but there is an awful lot of wastage of the liquid at the end of the month and costs are significantly higher to the client.

Marie

Re: Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:57:25 GMT

[quote user="Ana Xavier"]P.S. It was the first time in 10years of experience I ever took bloods out of a chinchilla via insulin syringe barrel technique - v cool! :) [/quote]

What's that?

Re: Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Sara Ramsey — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 00:57:49 GMT

"Prilium" is a liquid ACEI. Though I don't know the dose for chinchillas.

Also, I have seen preparations cascaded and suspensions in syrup BP for really small creatures.

Re: Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Ana Xavier — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 20:04:42 GMT

Hi Marie,

thanks for you reply, very useful advice!

What I don't know is how I am going to dose up this chinchilla. Benazepril comes in 2.5mg tabs and this chinchilla is 0.43kg!

Is minimal! is there a liquid form I don't know about?

Thanks again!

Ana

Re: Chinchilla with heart and kidney problems

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 18:42:27 GMT

I would be concerned about the same points - to have an azotaemic herbivore suggests advanced pre-renal or renal compromise as their caecal flora will switch to favouring urea metabolism and buffer early changes. Worth also checking Ca and Phos as these will often be significantly elevated and require dietary management +/- oral phosphate binders. Do you have a small enough cuff to get a BP reading? They aren't bad to do as they have long legs with minimal fur!

I would opt for ACEIs for cardiac support if no further diagnostics are permitted as there is a knowledge base behind use and they have been widely used in small mammals without obvious adverse effect plus there may be benefits on renal function. I use benazepril at 0.5mg/kg bid. However if you can scan the heart and get more info then you could target cardiac meds better. I can't help with a chinchilla digoxin dose but tend to opt for cat doses as a starting point for any meds where data is lacking. There is a hamster dose of 0.05-0.1mg/kg q12-24hrs for treatment of DCM and a rabbit dose of 0.005-0.01mg/kg PO q24-48hrs for CHF/AF if that helps. Hopefully a cardiologist will chime in with some more clued up guidance on the cardiac management.

Marie