Respiratory Infection and Pneumonia in Chinchillas

Quick answer

Respiratory Infection and Pneumonia in Chinchillas

A chinchilla comes from thin, dry, cold mountain air. Its airways are adapted to that, and they cope badly with the opposite: warm, damp, still indoor air with ammonia rising from a cage that was last cleaned three days ago.

Respiratory disease is one of the fastest killers in this species. It usually starts as something small that owners watch for a few days, and it becomes pneumonia while they are still watching. A chinchilla breathing with visible effort is at the end of that process, not the start of it.

• Chinchillas breathe through the nose. Blocked nostrils are a serious problem, and open-mouth breathing is a late and grave sign, never a mild one.
• The environment is usually the cause. Humidity, poor ventilation, ammonia, aromatic wood shavings and temperature swings all injure the airway lining and let ordinary bacteria take hold.
• A chinchilla that stops eating during a respiratory illness has two emergencies, because gut stasis follows loss of appetite quickly.
• Never give leftover antibiotics. Several antibiotic families that are routine in dogs and cats cause fatal gut collapse in chinchillas.
• Wet or crusted eyes with no nasal signs is often dental disease rather than infection, and the two are treated completely differently.

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Laboured breathing in a chinchilla is a same-hour emergency.

Signs are increased effort with the flanks, a stretched-out neck and head held forward, elbows pushed away from the body, nostrils flaring, an audible click or wheeze, or any breathing through an open mouth. Small mammals compensate quietly until they cannot, and then they fail very quickly. Do not wait until morning, do not attempt any home treatment, and keep handling to the absolute minimum needed to get the animal into a carrier, because restraint alone can push a struggling chinchilla over the edge.
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Decide in 60 seconds

Why the environment causes this

Dry air is what the airway expects.

The chinchilla's natural range is arid and high. Its respiratory tract evolved with that air. Sustained high humidity is not simply uncomfortable for a chinchilla; it changes the conditions the airway lining works in, and it also allows bacteria and mould to persist in hay, bedding and the coat itself.

Common keeping guidance is to hold relative humidity well below half, in the same dry range that suits the animal generally. A hygrometer next to the cage costs very little and tells you more about respiratory risk than anything else you can buy.

Ammonia is the invisible cause.

Urine breaks down to ammonia. Ammonia paralyses and then destroys the cilia, the microscopic hairs that sweep mucus and debris out of the airway. Once those are gone, bacteria that would normally be cleared stay put and multiply.

Ammonia is heavier than the air you are breathing while standing up. The concentration at cage floor level, where the chinchilla actually lives, can be far higher than what you notice when you walk past. If you can smell it at all when you put your face near the cage, it is too high.

Still air traps everything.

A cage in an alcove, against a wall, inside a cabinet, or in a glass-fronted enclosure sits in its own pocket of warm, damp, ammonia-rich air. Chinchillas need genuine cross-ventilation through an open wire cage. What they do not need is a draught blowing directly over them, which is a separate stressor.

Irritants add up.

Cedar and pine shavings, scented litter, air fresheners, plug-in diffusers, scented candles, aerosols, cleaning sprays, cooking smoke and tobacco smoke all irritate a small airway. So does the dust bath if it is done in an unventilated room or for too long, or if the dust is a cheap sand rather than proper chinchilla dust.

Stress and temperature swings lower resistance.

A recent move, a new household pet, overcrowding, a long journey, or a room that swings between hot afternoons and cold nights all suppress immune function. Respiratory disease very often follows within a couple of weeks of one of these events, which is why the question a vet asks first is what changed recently.

What healthy breathing looks like

Breathing is quiet. You should hear nothing at all from across the room, and very little with your ear close to the cage.

The chest and flanks move gently and evenly. The effort is barely visible in a resting animal.

The nostrils are clean, dry and symmetrical, with no crusting and no discharge.

The fur on the inside of the forearms is clean and dry. Chinchillas wipe their faces with their forelimbs, so a nose that has been running leaves matted, stained fur there, often before you ever see discharge at the nostrils.

The eyes are bright, wide open and dry, with no staining down the face.

The posture is upright and compact, with the head normally positioned. A chinchilla that sits hunched with its neck extended and its elbows pushed outwards is opening its chest to breathe, and that posture alone is enough reason to go to a vet.

Appetite is steady, especially for hay, and droppings are plentiful, dark, dry and firm.

Changes that mean act today

Any increase in breathing effort or rate at rest.

Not after exercise, not during handling. At rest, in the cage, unobserved.

Discharge from the nose, particularly if it is thick, coloured, or crusting the nostrils shut.

Fur on the forearms that is matted, stained or damp.

This is the sign owners miss most often and the one that appears earliest.

Reduced hay intake, or fewer and smaller droppings.

An unwell chinchilla stops eating, and a chinchilla that stops eating develops gut stasis on top of the original problem. Hay intake and dropping output are the two numbers to watch daily.

Weight loss across weekly weighings.

Lethargy, hunching, sitting apart from a cage mate, or failing to come out at dusk.

Chinchillas are crepuscular. A chinchilla that ignores its most active hours is unwell.

Any sound.

Clicking, wheezing, rattling, whistling or a soft grunt with each breath.

A recent arrival, a house move, or a coughing dog or rabbit in the household.

These raise the index of suspicion considerably for any of the signs above.

What the vet does, and what you must not do

Examination and imaging.

An exotics vet will listen to the chest, examine the nostrils and eyes, check the teeth, and usually take radiographs. Radiographs separate pneumonia from heart disease, from a dental cause, and from a mass. Bloods and a culture with sensitivity testing guide the antibiotic choice.

Oxygen and stabilisation before handling.

A chinchilla in respiratory distress is often placed in an oxygen chamber before anything else is done. This is why minimising handling at home matters: the animal has almost no reserve.

Nebulisation.

Delivering medication and moisture directly to the airway is a mainstay of treatment in small mammals and is often continued at home with equipment the clinic sets up for you.

Supportive care.

Fluids, pain relief, and critical care formula given by syringe to keep the gut moving. Keeping a sick chinchilla eating is as important as treating the infection.

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Never give a chinchilla an antibiotic that was not prescribed for that chinchilla.

Chinchillas are hindgut fermenters that depend on a delicate population of gut bacteria. Several antibiotic families that are given routinely to dogs, cats and people, including oral penicillins such as amoxicillin, and the lincosamide and macrolide groups, wipe out that population and allow toxin-producing bacteria to take over. The result is enterotoxaemia, and it is frequently fatal even with intensive treatment. The danger is the drug itself, not the dose.

The same applies to human cold and flu remedies, decongestants, cough syrups, essential oils, steam rubs and anything sold for respiratory support in another species. There is no safe home medicine for this problem. Every drug a chinchilla receives should be chosen by a vet who treats chinchillas.
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The routine that prevents it

What never to do

Do not give any antibiotic, human medicine, decongestant, cough remedy, essential oil or vapour rub.

Do not put a chinchilla in a steamy bathroom to help it breathe. Chinchillas must be kept dry, and dampening a dense coat creates a skin problem on top of a chest problem.

Do not use cedar or pine shavings.

Do not handle or restrain a chinchilla that is breathing with effort any more than the seconds it takes to get it into a carrier.

Do not wait a few days to see whether sneezing settles when there is also discharge, appetite loss or reduced droppings.

Do not assume watery eyes are an eye problem without a dental examination.

Do not move a sick chinchilla into a warmer room. Chinchillas do not benefit from being warmed, and heat stress is its own killer in this species.

Do not put a new chinchilla straight into or beside the resident's cage.

Do not spray cleaning products near the cage, and never clean the cage with a chinchilla in the room.

When to get help

Go to an exotics or small mammal veterinarian immediately, including out of hours, for any breathing effort, any audible breathing sound, an extended neck with elbows pushed outwards, open-mouth breathing, collapse, or pale, grey or bluish gums and ears. Handle the animal as little as possible and call ahead so they can have oxygen ready.

Go the same day for nasal discharge, crusted nostrils, sudden lethargy, a hunched posture, refusal of hay, or a drop in the number of droppings.

Book within the week for repeated sneezing with matted forearm fur, watery eyes, or a downward weight trend, and ask specifically for the teeth to be assessed as well as the chest.

Bring your weight log, your daily record of droppings and hay intake, your temperature and humidity readings, the bedding and dust you use, the cleaning schedule, details of any other pets in the home and their health, and a phone recording of any abnormal breathing sound. In this condition the husbandry history often points at the cause faster than the examination does.