The past couple of weeks have been filled with medical questions and emergencies.

We often receive phone calls and emails from chin owners who have questions about health, hygiene, and behavior, with conflicting information gleaned from the internet, pet stores and even their veterinarians!

So we'd like to offer chinnyhealth 101: chinchillas are prey animals and as such will mask their symptoms. So how do you know when your chin needs vet care? The pet's owner is in the very best position to recognize a change in behavior, butsometimes psychological optimism keeps owners from taking action in a timely manner. Some of the things to watch for (in order of seriousness) include:

• change in behavior
• change in poops (especially if there's blood, mucus, or a foul smell)
• hunched back
• continuing loss of weight
• breathing trouble (including discharge or breathing you can "hear")
• drooling
• limping
• seizures
• lethargy

Now, not to be alarmist, but I do want to call attention to the seriousness of getting medical intervention before a treatable symptom gets out of control. For this reason it is imperative that you have a knowledgeable exotics vet already chosen. Many vets "can" see and treat exotics, but not all vets specialize in them. Please be sure your chosen veterinarian knows and understands about the special needs of chinchillas.

We often get inquiries about what sort of treats are safe to give pet chinchillas. Whimsy has been known to visibly cringe when told what some people give their critters. Snacks from pet stores are notoriously unhealthy, even though they contain "natural" foods such as sweetened dried fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and flowers. Just because a pet store item has a picture of a chinchilla on it, doesn't necessarily mean it's safe to give your pet chinchilla.

So if these foods are not safe, just what is? 

Well...think about a chinchilla's natural habitat. They originally come from the very cold, arid (dry desert-like) biosphere of the Andes Mountains in South America.

This habitat produces foods that are high in fiber, moderate in protein, very low in fat, with almost nonexistent sugars. A wild chinchilla's diet is very dry and bland. With that in mind, a health-conscious owner will try to mimic those conditions as closely as possible. The best chinchilla treats are those with little to no processing, added sugars, or fats.  

Plain Cheerios, unfrosted shredded wheat cereal, steamed crimped oats, rolled barley, old fashioned oats, dried rose hips,  select wood sticks and twigs and pumice stones are some widely accepted good choices for treats and snacks. 

And for those who have been asking, we finally have our supply of whole rose hips back in stock. Check out our new(er) store layout for those and other chin-safe treats and toys.

We have new arrivals!

Let's see...our last girl chin from the Northern Virginia mass surrender in January proved to be pregnant. She had a single male kit earlier this week. It is unfortunate that the little mommy didn't have a girl to stay with her. While she was suspected pregnant, our efforts to bond her with another female rescue went unsuccessful. We're hoping the increase in hormones is to blame as we carefully consider who might get along with this black velvet girl when she weans her little boy. 

The little guy will have plenty of playmates to choose from, though!  The chins that came in from the Saluda mass surrender of 17 had a group of 5 adult females with 2 kits sharing a cage with a single adult male (a chin we lovingly named Don Juan).  Another one of the females of that bunch gave birth to a little boy, too.

And here is where the "rescue" part of our rescue work comes in...

...We also received a pair of adult males who were surrendered after their owner became overwhelmed by their medical issues. The owners did their best to treat the little guys. But after a week and a half of hand feeding, and the loss of one already, they sought our help. We discovered a pretty serious hair ring on the penis of one chin who had started chewing the tip off in his effort to release the band. His fur was encrusted with mucus and old food and he has some nasal and eye discharge. No wonder his owner was overwhelmed!

Hand feeding can be a very messy task and the little guy had the remains of those efforts stuck in his fur. We really had no choice but to water bathe him. NOT RECOMMENDED EXCEPT UNDER EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES.

Please send healing wishes their way and for their surrendering owners as these boys continue on their road to recovery. We'll have more updates after our veterinarian has a chance to look into their more serious nasal and eye discharge issues.

Happy May everyone!

I just have to share the good news! For the month of April,  fifteen (15) chinchillas were adopted. That meets our current high number of fuzzbutts who found new homes in a single month. Check out the Adoptions page for pictures of the happy new and improved families.

It's been such a neat experience meeting new people and "talkin' chins." But one of the disturbing popular lines of questions revolve around the use of the giant plastic exercise ball, or as we call it... THE DEATH BALL [insert horror scream here].

I'd like to use this teachable moment to explain why you should take that plastic sphere and pulverize it. 

Take one high density furred chinchilla, and one mini greenhouse. Put them together for some fast action fun and-- voila!-- one overheated and possibly dead pet. 

Chinchillas don't regulate their body temperature well, especially when imprisoned in this chamber. (Really folks, they're not "having a lot of fun" in that ball. They're trying to get OUT.) Overheating can cause seizures, which can lead to irreparable brain damage or a surprisingly fast demise.

Don't take the chance. BAN THE DEATH BALL!

I'd like to take this moment to share with our visitors just why we so strongly believe in responsible chin ownership. A brother/sister pair came in last week in pretty rough shape. The previous owners were told both were boys, but when one of them started having kits, they realized the mistake. Unfortunately, chinchillas go into heat immediately after giving birth, so without separation, chinchillas continue to breed indefinitely.

This is bad for several reasons. In this case, the mated pair of chins were directly related. This weakens the offspring which makes them more prone to health related issues, not to mention just a reduced quality overall. PLUS, breeding back to back takes quite a toll on the mommy chin. It takes quite a bit of energy to carry kits. Imagine how stressful it is to nurse a litter and be pregnant at the same time! By being put into a constant state of pregnancy, this could very quickly wear down the mommy chin. In this case, her condition (and that of her brother mate and remaining kit showed obvious signs of stress in that all of them were pretty severely fur-chewed.

The following video shows a chinchilla birth gone bad. View with caution.

Please people, be kind to your pets and consider carefully the massive numbers of unwanted animals who already need homes. I hate having to tell people who breed their pet chinchillas that the offspring will most likely end up in my shelter within the next couple of years. *sigh*