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Ophthalmic Disorders Observed in Pet Chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera)

https://doi.org/10.1053/j.jepm.2014.02.007Get rights and content

Abstract

This article presents a retrospective analysis of ocular disorders observed in outpatient pet chinchillas examined in a veterinary clinic between 2000 and 2010. The most common ophthalmic conditions diagnosed during this time period was alteration of the lens (15 eyes, 10 chinchillas), followed by abnormalities of the cornea (14 eyes, 13 chinchillas), and conjunctival disease (10 eyes, 9 chinchillas). The predominant lens disorder was cataracts, whereas the main alteration of the cornea was fluorescein-positive corneal substance loss. Subtle ocular changes appear to be common in the chinchilla. The data gathered within this study indicate that a thorough ophthalmic evaluation is warranted during routine physical examinations for this species.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

A total of 385 chinchillas were presented between August 2000 and August 2010. The age of the animals varied between 2 months and 22 years (median = 4.6 years). The range of the animal’s body weight was between 280 and 810 g (median = 500 g). The patients included in this study were presented with a primary complaint of an ocular disorder, or with ophthalmic disease that was detected during clinical examination. Requirements for inclusion in the study were determined by the following minimum

Results

Ocular disease was observed in 30 chinchillas (15 intact females, 13 intact males, and 2 castrated males). Primary ocular abnormalities were the primary reason for presentation in 23 patients (77%). Ocular abnormalities were an additional finding during clinical examination in 7 patients (23%). Of these 30 patients, a simple evaluation of the anterior segment of the eye was performed in 15 (50%) of the animals, and a more thorough ophthalmic examination (e.g., measurement of intraocular

Discussion

This article represents a retrospective evaluation of ocular disorders identified in 30 (7.8%) of 385 pet chinchillas presented to a veterinary hospital over a 10-year period. The findings in this article may underrepresent the prevalence of eye disorders in the entire group of 385 chinchillas. Some alterations may have gone unreported in this population, since routine ophthalmic examinations, including slit lamp biomicroscopy, tonometry, dilatation of the pupil, and ophthalmoscopy, were not

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