i dont know if my chin is happy or not.

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brittsarts

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2017
Messages
5
hi, so I've had my chin (chilli) for a little over a year now and i just want someone's opinion on if i have been looking after him correctly because I've sort of been winging that.
its hard to tell if he's happy or not because he's so cute all of the time.
ill put it in bullet points so it's easier for everyone:

pros (i think)
- he wants me to scratch his belly, chest and neck 99% of the time (unless i accidentally scare him or something) and when i do, he makes the happiest face in the world.
- he almost never hides.
-he likes to sniff my nose and nibble at my eyelashes lol
- he will happily ride around in my shirt if i fold it upwards from the bottom, kind of like a kangaroo's pouch.
-he seems to stop pooping whenever he is being held/ carried.
- he seems to have no specific reaction towards cats- just kind of ignores them. he let my cat (who is too innocent and stupid to even kill a fly) sniff noses with him.
- he responds to a *pat pat* on the floor which means "come here!" and he does, most of the time.
-i keep him in a chilly basement almost 24/7.


cons (i think)
- he used to be comfortable crawling out from his cage and onto my hands but now all he does is sniff and nibble at them and sit there.
- i put him in a ball *(the death ball) a few times without knowing they actually hate being in them and that it's bad for their spine/fur/temperature.
-he still doesn't like being picked up.
-on fridays, i carefully move him to his secondary cage at my house for the weekend. (i live at my boyfriend's house sun-thurs and my own house fri-sat.) I'm still with him the whole time, but im not sure if driving 30 minutes on fridays and sundays is bad for him or not. he seems to stay very calm on the ride though, and only gets a bit jumpy and excited when we arrive.
-i have almost no space for him to hop around (out of his cage, excluding his wheel) during the weekdays. do i need to take him out every day? he's got plenty of running space on the weekends, but there he doesn't have a wheel (partly because im broke, partly because his cage is right next to my bed and i would never be able to sleep with all of that noise)
-he's got a big 2 story cage at his weekday house, but only a 1 story at his weekend one. its quite large anyway though.
-whenever i pass by his cage he goes right to the latch and stands up, looking at me. does that mean he feels trapped?

i cant really think of any more right now but the things i listed- are they all normal? does he sound happy? what should i do to further bond with him so i will be able to pick him up?
 

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It sounds like he is happy, and that you have a good bond with him based on your list of pros. I would be very careful with him around the cat though, one swipe (playful or not) of a claw could lead to a fatal infection. Chins are known to bite cat's noses, I've seen it happen, and even a normally laid back cat will likely try to hit the chin before running off. Most of my cats ignore the chins, but I also don't allow them in the room with them unsupervised. If I am sleeping or not home the door to the room with the chins is closed.

As for the cons,
-not sure why he doesn't want to crawl in your hands, but I wouldn't take it as a bad thing unless he is running from you. The nibbling is grooming, it's a social bonding activity, it means he loves you.
-So long as you aren't using the ball anymore and nothing bad actually happened (got pee all over him, over heated, etc) he probably has forgotten about it.
-most chins don't like being picked up, being prey animals and instinctively being fearful of something holding on to them. I also think it has to do with the whole temperature thing, human's body temp is hot. For some chins, it can take years, if ever for the bond to reach being able to pick them up level. It really comes down to the chin's personality.
-Moving back and forth with the chin, if you do it regularly (which you say you do every week) they do get use to it. He may not be too happy with the smaller cage, but it sounds like you compensate for that with out of cage playtime so he is probably fine. Chins don't need to be out of the cage everyday, especially if they have a wheel. What is important every day is at least an hour of interacting. Just make sure the cage is fun, lots of toys, and things to do and explore. For example, about once a week I hide treats around the cage for my guys to find. You could do something like that with treats or a new toy (even if it's something small like a new willow ball if he likes those) to make it more exciting to go from one place to another.
-Are you talking about him always going to the latch and looking at you? or just at one house or the other? Either way though, chins are good at training their humans to do things. So for example if when he does that you let him out, he learns that. Most of the time if they chin comes to the side of the cage, they want something, sometimes just attention. Being a single chin you do have to make sure you give him as much time everyday as possible they are highly social animals. As I said, one hour a day minimum, but more if you can.

Just to let you know, the pic attachment thing doesn't seem to work on the forum most of the time, and your pics (or pics) was one of those times. Upload the pic to a photo share site then link it.
 
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