Bio-Air. Wonderful stuff, Bio-Air. It’s a very powerful and effective essential oil based air freshener. It contains eucalyptus, peppermint, camphor, and menthol. Used very sparingly after cleaning out the chin room it fills the room with a minty aroma for hours. It’s also good for putting under the cage of any chins with respiratory infections or colds (just a tiny drop on the newspaper but only if the chins cannot reach it) to aid with breathing and clear the nasal passages etc.

Sounds like a sales pitch doesn’t it? I don’t mean it to but this stuff is great - Debbie recommended it some time last year and now I use it at least once a week to make the chin room smell clean and fresh. It’s powerful and it lasts for ages - and the chins seem to like it.

So …….. on to the story. I keep the trigger spray down by the sink in the kitchen (it’s also good for eliminating cooking smells like bacon) but somehow the bottle was balanced on a bottle of fabric softener. When I came home on Monday I could smell the tell-tale peppermint aroma but could not initially work out where it was coming from. Talie and I were blaming each other for using it but neither of us did. Odd. Definitely odd - because we could both smell it. Panic! Had I left it in the chins’ room and it had been knocked over? Use too much of the stuff and it makes your eyes water for a while - I know this because I used it in the car once a little over-enthusiastically - and needed to drive around for 3 days with the windows down!

The smell seemed to be coming from the kitchen (we deduced this by sniffing loudly - very scientific) and I suddenly saw the bottom of the bottle - it was upside down. Now this stuff is not cheap and I was about to start bemoaning my financial loss (it’s expensive to buy but lasts for ages - unless you spill it!) when I realised that the contents of the bottle were now soaked into an old piece of towel which I used for the chins. Oh well, it must be useful as an air freshener in it’s own right now - a bit like the fabric wicks you find in those liquid air fresheners. I deposited the cloth in the chin room by the air purifier and immediately the room was filled with the scent of menthol, camphor, peppermint, and eucalyptus. It took me ages to wash the minty smell from my hands too.

Its now 2 days later and the chins still have a “hint of minty freshness”. It’s wonderful. I wonder how long it will last?

The kits are beginning to popcorn hop like little furry fleas. I love it when they do that. They are all gaining weight, even the smallest female, and Leila’s big kits are begining to mimic their mother by tasting pellets and hay. One of them was looking particulalry smug earlier with a tiny piece of shredded wheat in his/her mouth.

 We have urine!!

Sad, I know - but I’ve just come back from delivering a decent sample of urine to the vet. Otto is back in his cage, has had a dustbath (”Silly human got water down my front!” ) and is currently snuggled up on his toasty cuddle cup fast asleep.

Now all we have to do is wait for the results.

So today I have a very naffed off Otto on my hands and I can’t say I blame him to be honest.

We all know just how little chins drink and urinate but its not until you actually need a sample of (relatively clean, non-pooped in) urine that you realise just how little our furry friends drink/pee and how difficult it is to catch “clean” chinchilla urine! 

So far Otto’s been syringe fed water (NOT impressed by that at all! :roll: ), been sat in a show cage on top of a slightly tilted tray with foil covering it, been watched like a hawk for signs of urine, did a urine sample - much excitement on my part, divvied it up between the two pots (one for microscopy and one for sending to the lab for analysis), leaped in the car to take said samples to the vets and then waited to see if the lab one was enough - nope! Needs to be at least 1ml  - then he’s been hoiked out of his cozy cage again and into the show cage, tilted on the foil covered tray……….. and syringe fed more water.

Needless to say I’m currently looking at Otto’s rear end because he’s not speaking to me.

After all of this, the lab had better come up with something.

Well poor Otto has spent the day at the vets - no stones on Xray (in fact, his Xray looks very good) and he did not produce any urine for Jade all day (despite being catherterised! ) So he’s now back home and looking somewhat undignified because he’s been shaved in his nether regions so he could have an ultrasound and full examination.

So…….. having fully expected stones and surgery we’re almost none the wiser  As I said to Jade, “well it’s one of my chins and I never bring you anything that’s boring!” 

I’ve got to get a urine sample off him (easier said than done!) to take into the vets quickly so it can be tested and sent off to a lab for analysis. Guess what I’m doing tomrrow?
Otto is not amused!!

Oh, almost forgot, his squishy foot seems to be clearing up nicely with the Septrin - and his urine seems to be a bit clearer too (hence the need for a further sample to test for bacteria and full lab analysis).

There was no change in his urine so back to see Jade with a urine sample - collected using very technical means: a bit of tin foil under his cage. 

Urinalysis (testing the urine for various thing) revealed blood, protein, and white cells so he’s been started on Septrin twice a day to try and shift any underlying infection (the Septrin is also good for his bumblefoot). 

Jade and I discussed his condition and he is going to have Xrays under anaesthetic to check whether he has any stones in his kidneys/bladder or underlying kidney disease/failure. I don’t think he’s going to be amused, bless him.