Hello all! I am new to the forum, but I wanted to post the things I have recently learned about my chinchillas the hard way, in the hopes that maybe I help someone else.
Last Monday, My original chinchilla, Chuy (#1) died. He had gotten an eye infection, scratched all the hair off of his eye, scratched the eyelid until it bled and became ulcerated and scratched the eye itself. He ended up dying of dehydration. I think the medication was just too much for him.
Anyways, we bought 2 new chinchillas (they are brothers) and named them Chuy (#2) and Jiggy (Jiggz for short). They are only about 4 months old, and so adorable!
Well, the second day we had them, we gave them a dust bath. The next morning, I noticed a white gunky looking thing in the corner of Jiggz's left eye. It looked like an eye booger, something you could just wipe out, but when we tried, it was like a PART of his eye, like skin or something. Some kind of growth. Well, by the next day, it was bigger, and taller, and coming straight up out of the corner of his eye. It was not white, but pinkish red now. There was nothing wrong with his actual eye, just this skin growth in the corner. Well, his brother didn't like it much, and walked over to him while he was resting and tried to chew it off. His eye bled a little, but when he scratched at it, most of the growth came off except one piece that stayed in the corner.
I woke up this morning to take Jiggz to the vet, and noticed that the growth was back to white and was small like when we first noticed it. The vet looked at him and stated that his 3rd eyelid had become lacerated when he tried to scratch something out of his eye. The lacerated piece was now poking out from the corner of his eye, and inflamming / relaxing. The vet stated that the tissue would need to be surgically removed or it would continue to inflame periodically and would cause re-occuring eye problems. So, Jiggz went under the knife and I am happy to report, his eye is completely fine.
I wanted to post this for 2 reasons: for one, I spent about an hour looking online last night for any explanation of what it could be in his eye, and the closest thing I could find was about blocked tear ducts, but I knew that wasn't it, and it wasn't an infection (yet). So, if this happens to anyone else's babies, at least they will know what it is.
Second, I wanted to warn all chinchilla owners, who may be inexperienced like me or who want to know which dust to use for the chinnies (ie: which is the best / worst, etc.) DO NOT use the Super Pet Chinchilla bath sand that comes in the pre-measured packets. It says it comes from their natural habitat in the Andes mountains, so I thought it would be safe- but after losing Chuy #1 and then having to take Jiggz for surgery, I now know that both of their eye irritations was caused by this dust. It is too coarse, way too much like sand, and it can hurt them and get in their eyes. When you get a bath dust, you have to make sure it is a DUST (powdery in texture). If you want to go "pet store brand", Kaytee is pretty good. If you want THE BEST of the best of high quality chinchilla bath dust, order Blue Cloud. You can get it in 5, 10, 20 or 50 lb bags. The shipping is a bit high if you don't just elect for regular ground shipping, but believe me, you get what you pay for. You will notice the difference in their fur after their first bath. Its safe, and if it gets in their eye, the natural wetness in their eyes gathers it in the corner of their eye where they can rub it away while bathing. The chinnies are much more into bath time now, and I don't have to worry about them getting hurt.
Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on that, sorry for the LONG post, but I wanted to be the help I couldn't find last night, LOL.
FAQ 
Chuy & Jiggz forever! Long live the Chins!
I'm sorry to hear about Chuy. Chins can fade so quickly when they are sick. 
