Thursday, March 15, 2018

Chins Causing Hospital Visits (aka Rabies in Small Animals, Part 2)

Ever wondered what happened with the post where I talked about how we got a call from a hospital about chinchillas carrying rabies?  this one -- http://nightsatthechinchillarescue.blogspot.com/2018/02/rabies-in-chins-small-animals.html

Let me give you an update.

Maybe a week or so ago, I get a text from one of our adopters, telling me that it was her with the hospital phone call.  Turns out...

She was carrying the chin in her arms to take the chin to playtime.  Randomly, the chin bit her, breaking skin.  Not a horrible bite, but she immediately felt like something was wrong, and put the chin down.

Her finger swelled to 3x it's normal size and she developed hives up her arm.  She started having a hard time breathing, and called for her husband.  Her husband immediately recommended that she go to the ER, so they went.  By the time they got there, she had passed out.  It took two epi-pens to get her conscious again.

She was in the ICU for 3 days treating this allergic reaction.  When she was set to be released, for some reason, her doctor was changed.  The new doctor wanted to hold her on a rabies quarantine.  This person was all, hell no, and the doctor said that if they could verify that chins didn't get rabies or whatever, they would then, not do the rabies quarantine.  That's when they called me.

I guess what I said was alright, cause they released her.  Now, she has epipens to carry with her....and a $12,000 hospital bill to pay.

I asked if they found out what she reacted to... they did all sorts of infection and bacteria tests and those all came back negative... turns out, she is allergic to chinchilla saliva.

I couldn't make this up if I tried.

She did return the evil furball chinchilla, Nora, who you will see is up on our website under the Upcoming Chins section.  She didn't want to take another chance with her, since the result of getting bit is such a severe reaction, though she is keeping her other chin, and the family actually wants to adopt another chin in the future.  Once the hospital bill is paid off.

But anyway, we welcome Nora back to the rescue.  This is her:






If anyone wants an evil furball biting chinchilla (joking, joking), that's 3-5 years old, we have the chin for you!

If it was me... I honestly don't know, if I had this severe an allergy, if I'd even want chins in the house... but, if she and her family aren't fazed by this and all, more power to her.  I just hope she never gets bit again...

No comments:

Post a Comment