The First Kits of 2008
Bella gave birth today. When I went into the chin room at 6:30 there were no signs of any activity but then a chin started manic barking at 7:15ish. Talie went in to see who was making the commotion – yeah, like they are going to admit it. LOL – every chin sat there looking angelic, silently proclaiming their collective innocence. I wandered along to check on Bella again.
There was a little kit, slightly cold and a bit wobbly but beginning to dry off. I gave the kit to Talie to pop into a towel so she could help dry and warm her up and then went to see what else was happening. Bella was soaked and a little bloody and was pushing again. Unfortunately this second kit was breech and Bella had overdone it a bit on the clean up operation. The kit was stillborn – the legs and tail were intact (surprising because chinchillas often damage legs or tail during breech delivery) but she had removed the umbilical cord and had coninued to nibble the kit. I could not determine its sex because the genitalia were missing and some of the intestine as well. 
Losing kits is always difficult but sometimes there it just nothing you can do – had I been in the chin room 5 minutes earlier I might have been able to help the kit out and it might have been alive ……….. you can drive yourself crazy with “might have” or “what if”. Some things are just not meant to be and nature can sometimes be a cruel mistress – knowing that does not make it any easier though and each loss is felt. If each death did not touch me then it would be time to stop keeping chins – everybody who knows me knows that I’m too soft for my own good really! A sucker for a sob story and a push over for a misfit.
I took the poor little kit away from Bella and left her to settle a bit and pass the afterbirths (which she did successfully). Talie had, by this point, dried the first kit off some more but she was still a little cold. I popped her down my pyjama top and waited for the wriggling to start. Sure enough, after 5 minutes or so, the little kit was moving about and was nice and warm.
I popped her (keep saying “her” but need to check properly later) back in with Bella, changed the cage’s bimble pad for a clean one, made sure the heat mat was nice and warm, and left Bella to it.
So far all is quiet ………………. Bella seems to be settling with the little kit and the kit seems to be gaining in co-ordination.
Bella had twins in her last litter but the little charcoal only survived for a few hours and died snuggled on my chest. It seems she is destined only to have 1 kit survive.