u/Usagi_426

As the title describes, my chinchilla stopped eating her pellets and drinking water last Friday when I came home and noticed a huge chunk of fur missing around her back leg/butt area.

I brought her to the emergency room and they said that she seemed fine but to bring her to my regular doctor, within that time she stopped eating, drinking, and pooping entirely. I brought her to her regular vet and they gave me critical care to feed her and told me to give it to her until she starts eating and drinking on her own and pooping regularly. I had them do a blood test and they said they'd give me a call the results are back.

It's now almost Thursday, I haven't heard from the vet, I've been giving her her critical care but at most she'll eat a little hay here and there but won't eat her regular pellets or drink water. She's pooping inconsistently. She only hangs out in 2 spots of the cage now and I don't see her going to any of the other parts of it anymore. I tried doing research and found she might be stressed or bored so I bought her new toys and she loves them and continuously engages with them which is good. But no matter what I do her she won't drink water at all and the critical care has been her main source of hydration.

I was going to give the vet a call in the morning in regards to the test results and to tell them that she's not drinking, but I'm scared she's just giving up because she's old. I'm not sure how old she is. I've had her since 2019, but she's always been fully adult sized so I'm not sure if that narrows it down but she is at least 7. She used to have a cagemate but she passed 2 years ago but her behavior has not changed at all since then until recently, but maybe she's now starting to feel lonely and that's making her depressed?

I'm just not sure what to do anymore, she hates when I have to grab her to give her critical care and I don't want to have to continue to stress her out if she hates it so much but her food and water intake isn't really improving