My chinchilla is drooling and having trouble eating. He recently had a course of antibiotics and was doing better, but now is drooling a lot again.

V Schneider, Central Oxford

It sounds like your chinchilla has dental problems.

This is common in pet chinchillas because many are fed diets made up largely of pellets and they do not eat enough hay and greens. This results in abnormal wearing of the teeth so sharp edges develop which cut into the gums and tongue causing infection, pain, drooling and loss of appetite.

I suspect the antibiotics he was given helped with the infection, but for a cure he will need to have an anaesthetic and the sharp edges trimmed off and filed down. Best get it done as soon as possible as he will very quickly dehydrate and become very poorly.

We were playing ball with our dog this afternoon when the ball hit her in the eye.

At first she seemed in pain but a couple minutes later it looked all right. A couple hours later after she had been relaxing and sleeping, the eye looked like it was bothering her again and there was a membrane over her eye from the inner corner. Should I worry?

D Hutchins, Banbury

The membrane you describe is the third eyelid and it is there to protect the eyes.

It will also protrude if there is pain/inflammation in the eye.

It may be that the eyelids have just been bruised by the ball.

However, if the cornea (translucent covering of the eye) has been damaged or there has been been damage to the internal structures of the eye which could result in bleeding and/or detatchment of the retina, these conditions are painful, serious and could result in loss of sight.

The trouble is it is very difficult to see signs of this type of injury without the correct equipment.

Please take a trip to your vet sooner rather than later.

I have a 16 week old rabbit that started making a squeaking noise several days ago.

He is eating less, drinking, but he is not as active as he was previously.

At the vet’s suggestion, I am syringe-feeding him pureed sweet potato. He is now “wheezing” with every breath and occasionally grunting.

He has no nasal discharge. He appears to be in no distress other than the obvious respiratory symptoms.

A Naylor, Cowley

I don’t like the sound of his breathing at all. Rabbits are prone to respiratory infections (pneumonia) and this is a serious condition.

Syringe feeding is the right thing to do if his appetite is reduced but really you need to find out why he is off his food.

More than likely it is related to what is going on with his chest.

Take him to your vet for a check up, he may need a chest X-ray and possibly antibiotics if there is evidence of pneumonia. Syringe feeding is fine for a couple of days so please don’t delay beyond this.