Concomitant Congenital Diaphagmatic Hernia (CDH) and bilateral bacterial glomerulonephritis in a pet chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera).

Diaphragmatic hernias can be either congenital or acquired. About CDHs in pet chinchillas, literature is still lacking. In this patient there was no history of previous traumas. No scar tissue or thickening involved margins of the pathological diaphragm window at the necropsy, supporting the hypothesis of a congenital defect. Glomerulonephritis most often results from immune-mediated mechanisms, generally after the deposition of soluble immune complexes within the glomeruli. This mechanism is favoured by a prolonged antigenemia that could occur during specific viral infections, chronic bacterial infections, chronic parasitism, autoimmune diseases and neoplasia. Few cases of nephritis are described in chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera), mostly related to bacterial sepsis or less commonly involving fungi. The evidence of bacterial aggregates in kidneys at the histopathology, confirmed the infective aetiology. No relationship between the diaphragmatic hernia and glomerulonephritis was found in this report.