What Happened to Linus? | The Ninja Chinchilla

Added: 2026-06-07

[00:00:00]Hey everyone. This is about to be a long video answering all the questions you have about Linus. So, get comfortable because this is going to be kind of a long video. It's been over a year since Linus passed and until now I really haven't been able to talk about what happened to him other than sharing that he had this disease called root elongation. Um most of you who have chinchillas know what this means and the gravity of it, but for those of you who don't it's one of the most painful diseases a chinchilla can have. And these things are really difficult to discuss, but I think it's really important because it can help people. Um and I think even people who don't have chinchillas and who have terminal pets this can help, too. Okay, so first things first, what exactly did Linus have? That is one of the most terrifying diseases called root elongation. Nobody with chinchillas wants to hear that diagnosis. Um it falls under the malocclusion umbrella, which is the misalignment or overgrowth of teeth. It leads to all sorts of painful problems with chinchillas and other small animals including spurs or points, abscesses, eye infections, um all kinds of stuff.

[00:01:11]To begin, I adopted Knox and Linus as a bonded pair.

[00:01:15]And before long Linus smelled the others almost immediately um and their bond broke right away. Linus was bullying Knox. And by the way, I did try to rebond them a couple times and every single time Linus would go for Knox's neck immediately. He was such a terror to the other chins. I just could not risk it for Knox's safety. So, I ended up getting the third cage for Linus.

[00:01:41]Anyway, Linus [clears throat] weighed about 800 g in the beginning at that time.

[00:01:46]He was significantly bigger than the other chins at and it was really noticeable. In reality, it it was really that's a normal weight for a chinchilla.

[00:01:55]We joke about how chunky he was, but he was completely healthy. He was not obese. And in particular, males I think are kind of bigger chinchillas.

[00:02:03]Um he was not fat or needs to diet. But at the time, I didn't really know that.

[00:02:09]Uh and when he did start to lose weight, I didn't really think that much of it.

[00:02:14]So, this was the first thing I wish I had done differently, which was investigating his weight loss more seriously.

[00:02:21]And when I first truly noticed it, he was so much of a chunk that hey, even down 40 g, he is still 150 heavier than all the others. And especially since his personality and energy never wavered, I was never really that concerned and it never seemed that unusual um until I got out of the habit of weighing them for like a couple months and came back to find him like 740 and previously was 800. And that is significant weight loss. Around this time, I was starting to suspect something might be off. This plus the infrequent yet somewhat predictable eye infections got me down a research rabbit hole on root elongation.

[00:03:02]Needless to say, it absolutely terrified me to think that Linus was headed for this slow, painful starvation. So, I didn't push the topic like too hard at the vet um when we were in again for another eye appointment. I don't remember the conversation exactly, but it was something probably along the lines of hey, you don't think this is his roots, right? His tooth roots? Almost like shying away from it a little bit, but I did like want to bring it up, but I didn't want to push it if that makes sense. Also, I didn't request x-rays, which is the only way to be 100% certain that your tooth roots and teeth in general are in the clear. Now, he did sedate Linus and like look in his mouth and feel his jawline for bumps and stuff, and that was all good. Um but really, that's the second thing I regret not doing is really pushing for those early x-rays. I think the truth is deep down I just really did not want to know.

[00:04:00]Um and that's kind of a hard thing to say with the entire chinchilla community having trusted me for years and years, but I feel like I need to say it for other people who are out there feeling it as well cuz it's a very real feeling. So, anyway, I'm pretty sure around this time we did kind of a wait and see with Finneas's eye infection, which eventually got better as they almost always got better.

[00:04:24]And we perhaps thought the weight loss was due to being overly heavy, which again, he wasn't actually overweight or obese. I even thought that at some point he might have been bullying Knox enough to eat his portion of pellets and now he's like achieving his actual natural weight. I was doing all kinds of mental gymnastics uh to get around the fact that I actually thought he had this root elongation disease. It was just sort of a way to confirm what I actually wanted the situation to be and not what it actually was. So, over time his weight was fluctuating, but it was never coming back up. It was just sort of trending down like this. And eventually we moved to Atlanta and it just continued. So, things really did take a turn for the worse after moving. Um his eye problems increased, just the one eye, and his weight dropped to new lows, like under 700. That's a lot. Um and I was starting to really worry and I did think perhaps that part of the stress of the move was contributing, which it probably was cuz that's really stressful for small pets to move, but um it never came back up and that mixed with the eye infections that were still going on was really concerning, it started to freak me out. And one thing I do want to say also is something that I noticed just so slight was that right eye, the one that was always infected, tended to squint just a little bit, almost unnoticeable, but it started to become more noticeable.

[00:06:03]And again, I started to panic, so I found a couple vets, exotic vets in the Atlanta area, called them up, and I made an appointment with one of them.

[00:06:11]Um this time I mentioned the roots right away. This is what I was concerned about.

[00:06:17]And uh I was worried that that's what was developing. Um but they did not seem concerned at all about that. Uh and in fact, you know, took a look at his mouth, said, "Well, he's not drooling, so I don't think there's any malocclusion or anything going on here.

[00:06:31]I don't think that roots are really a big drooling thing. Usually the incisors that are messed up create the drooling and the wet chin and neck.

[00:06:40]Roots are usually, I think, because they press up in the sinuses, and the jawline you can feel bumps because they're growing down. And he even said that Linus looked super duper healthy. Uh and this is hard because Linus was looking very healthy. He was still super sassy, energetic, like he looked great. He felt still pretty hefty. He's not lethargic. He's eating, playing with toys, chewing sticks, taking treats, pellets and hay.

[00:07:09]Everything is pretty normal. And if you just looked at him, you would say, "Oh yeah, he looks fine." And it was very hard to push this disease when he looked fine. But remember, chins are masters at hiding pain and illness. They are prey animals, so if that's what they do naturally, and they do it really well.

[00:07:28]So time goes on, and Linus continues to drop in weight. Um just a little at a time, kind of going up and down, but trending down. The eye infection did return at some point, and I was done wondering. So I decided to call and just request the x-rays and they said, "Sure, bring him in."

[00:07:46]And that whole day I spent just pacing, anxiously waiting. And we got the phone call from the vet saying, "Hey, they're in the clear. All the the roots of the teeth, they all look good. Everything looks clear." And I was so relieved and so happy. Um but to be honest, I I think deep down I kind of still was like, "Hmm." You know, the third thing that I really regret not having done was ask to see the x-rays, which you can and absolutely should do uh if if you want to. I never did and I wish I had. I wish I had asked some other chin experts, owners, or even other vets for their opinion on the x-rays. So, now Linus is like 650 g, which remember, he was 800 g and his heaviest I think was 817. Uh so, this is significantly lost. The eye infection comes back and I'm ready for a second opinion. So, I go to my list of vet clinics and go to the next one, make an appointment. Um and I fell in love with this clinic right away. They are an exotics-only clinic, so that's really cool. And the staff and vets are so kind, so knowledgeable.

[00:08:56]Um it was great. That's our current clinic still. So, I go in and the first thing she asks is, "Has he had x-rays of his head to look at his teeth?" And I knew right away, this is a good place.

[00:09:08]But I'm still in this like, "Well, a professional a professional said it."

[00:09:14]And I said, "Yes, he had x-rays done and they came back clear." And she was like, "Oh, great. So happy to hear that." I really wish I had asked, "Can you take a look at those x-rays?" So, fast forward a few months and the infection is having a hard time going away.

[00:09:31]>> [snorts] >> Um we're trying all kinds of ointments and drops and it is just not helping.

[00:09:36]There's just so much discharge coming from his eye.

[00:09:39]Um the weight is still low, but kind of stable-ish.

[00:09:44]Um he's still himself, personality is there, eating, chewing, everything seems normal. But I was starting to worry like that he was in pain, that he was in a lot of pain even. And at that point, and actually for a while like before moving, I wanted pain meds for him, like just in case.

[00:10:04]But and this is really hard to say and something else I wish I did differently.

[00:10:10]I was afraid that asking for pain meds would lead the vets to question me about his condition and like why I wanted them or maybe I was going to abuse them somehow. Um or you know, just because I hadn't mentioned I think he might be uncomfortable yet. It felt like asking for those pain meds too was like a death sentence. Like as soon as I asked for them, it sounds really exaggerated, but it was like, "Oh, he's uncomfortable?

[00:10:39]Euthanize him right away." Like it was like that connection was like a really quick jump for some reason. But please, do not be afraid to ask your vet for pain meds. If I had done so in Cincinnati like much earlier, I just wonder if the weight loss would have at least have been much less and um he would have been more comfortable. I really don't know when he was starting to really feel that pain. I just wish I had started that a while back. So eventually, after lots of eye treatment attempts, um which did help temporarily, we finally got him new x-rays cuz we just needed to know and look at them again.

[00:11:16]Um same day [snorts] type of day, anxious pacing, and got the call that yes, his roots did look long.

[00:11:25]I wasn't surprised.

[00:11:27]And I guess it was just sort of at that time the reality hit me of what his trajectory was going to look like and the decisions that I was going to have to make. Truly, it was an emotional spiral until his last day. It was extremely hard and very painful. But now at this point, I feel comfortable asking for the pain meds. So, we started on either meloxicam or metacam, I can't remember. Thankfully, he loved his pain meds. They added a little bit of cherry flavoring, so it was a little tasty for him, which was nice. Eventually, we switched to gabapentin, which I hesitated asking to do sooner because a lot of pets don't like it and it can kind of it maybe has some side effects to it. Uh but I wish I had asked to try it sooner because Linus had no problem with it and he liked it. So, at this point now, it's a matter of when do we know when it's time to let him go.

[00:12:18]>> [snorts] >> Um this is arguably the hardest part of it all because if you haven't experienced it, how do you know?

[00:12:25]And I'm going to try to break this down with how I was calculating it, so to speak. First, I was, of course, watching his weight like a hawk.

[00:12:35]Any steep drops, I would think, "Okay, we need to up his meds or you know, I need to try to give him some more supplements or maybe we need to try the gabapentin now." And to be honest, again, I think we made the switch a little too late cuz by the time we had switched to gabapentin, I think he was already at a point with the pain where he couldn't come back from it. But that's that's just my feeling. I would say, "Don't wait." Second, I was paying close attention to his behavior. Uh this is probably the most important one because this just comes down to quality of life and we don't want to keep an animal around who is suffering just to keep them alive if they [snorts] really aren't enjoying life. But this was This was especially hard with Linus because up until his last day, he was very much himself still.

[00:13:22]And on his last day, he was playing. He was running around. I think he even chewed a stick. Um but I felt and feel very strongly uh that I did not want to wait until Linus wasn't Linus. Like the saying, better a week too soon than a day too late.

[00:13:42]Um that's just how I felt about it. For Linus, the personality change was very subtle, mostly just a slower version of healthy Linus, honestly. One thing that did stand out though was he stopped grunting at me. If you remember all those videos of him, you know, I would stop him from climbing up something or terrorizing the other chins and he would make that grunt sound at me.

[00:14:06]Love it. It sounded like a little laugh.

[00:14:07]He stopped doing that completely for like his last year. He and maybe even longer than that, he rarely did that anymore. Um and I think that's something that I really noticed, but it would just depend on your pets' quirks and their personality. But truly, there were two things that just sealed it. Um and I [clears throat] these might be obvious, but I definitely want to share.

[00:14:31]The first one was Linus's refusal to eat solid food and hay. This is a bit controversial, I think, because there are a lot of people who will choose to give their pets soft moistened food like puff pellets or critical care long-term.

[00:14:47]Um and every animal's different, so this is absolutely no judgment to people who choose that for their pets, because critical care and soft food is incredibly important to have on hand uh whether your chin just needs it for something or is recovering, you should definitely always have that critical care or Emeraid. So, that being said, for us, it really wasn't something that Linus liked. In fact, he really hated any wet food, even blending treats into it, he did not like it.

[00:15:15]Um and I also felt like not being able to forage normally as a chinchilla, it's what they do all day, it's what they're meant to do. That's just a huge piece of his life that wasn't going to come back.

[00:15:30]And that was one of the largest parts I wanted to let him go. Secondly, his body condition deteriorated.

[00:15:37]Um his back and abdomen were sunken and you could feel his skeletal frame through his fur, just poking through. Ew.

[00:15:48]It can be kind of hard to detect that visually with a chinchilla because they're so fluffy. It kind of covers it up really well and you may not even notice, which is why weighing is important, too, by the way. But it was very obvious handling him. What really sent me into a panic that last second to last day before we went to the vet was Jordan picking him up and looking at me and going, "Wow, he feels really thin."

[00:16:15]Um and then that's just when I knew. We dropped him off that day for some blood work and tests and the vet called later and we discussed the options and she agreed that it was probably time to say goodbye.

[00:16:30]Uh >> [sighs] >> But she also wanted him to stay overnight to have fluids and nutrients.

[00:16:41]Um this was very hard because uh that would mean his last night wasn't with us.

[00:16:48]And the next night was going to be his last day.

[00:16:52]But he really needed it, so I said yes, I would agree to him staying the night for those things. So somehow I came up with the plan that we'd leave him overnight, pick him up in the morning, give him his last day with us, and then go back later and euthanize him. For me, having a plan in place was so critical to be able to go go with it calmly.

[00:17:17]I am a person who has a lot of trouble planning and organizing. Uh so when I do have things in order, I feel calm and collected and like we can move through things very fluidly. It's a little odd to say, but each stage of the process felt right. It was so extremely devastating and sad.

[00:17:36]Um but it was so important for me to be able to move through that way. So I cannot encourage you enough that if you have a terminal pet and you're like, "What do I do?" Make a plan, preferably not the day before or even the week before. When you have that, you'll have kind of steps to know what to go through on the last day [clears throat] or two and that really helped me.

[00:17:58]And it does get easier. And um you'll never regret relieving them of their pain. By the way, Linus's bottom weight was about 550.

[00:18:13]He went all the way down from 817 to 550. And that's pretty significant even though he was still sassy Linus at the end. That was a really big change. I still don't know today if I waited too long or I let him go too soon. I don't think so.

[00:18:35]I think having that conflict in your head maybe means you did things the right way.

[00:18:42]Um Ah. [sighs] But I did just want to share some of the things that I felt like maybe I could have done differently.

[00:19:02]Uh that maybe would have made it easier for everyone. You know, just communicating is the biggest thing. Just don't forget to communicate with everyone you can.

[00:19:10]Ah. Anyway, thank you so much for watching. I know this video probably could have come sooner, but I really just couldn't. Even this was even hard to do. A huge thank you to the Patreon, too, because, boy, don't know what I would have done without you guys. And if you would like to read the story of his last day, which do so at your own peril. It's really sad cuz I wrote it the day after. That is on our Instagram. And I think it's I think I probably about 2 months ago.

[00:19:41]Please let me know if you have any questions, and I'd be happy to sit here and talk about anything you'd like.

[00:19:46]Okay.

[00:19:46]Bye.