Rescuing VS buying from petstore or breeder

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Depends on your motive for wanting a chinchilla - there is no cut and dried answer but I would definitely go with a reputable breeder for my purposes (which is showing and breeding) and then with a rescue for a pet. Unfortunately in all instances the buyer needs to be very well informed and prepared to spend money on the animal no matter how cheaply they acquire it.
 
In my opinion, rescuing and buying from a pet store are more or less the same thing. As EMS Chins said, you need to buy from a reputable breeder if you want to breed/show high quality animals. But if you want a pet, and aren't particular about a specific color, pedigree, etc. - then help out if you can by rescuing a chin that's unwanted or in a less than ideal home.
 
Most ppl here would say breeder. However i dont realy like buying pets from anyone thats doing it soley for the sake of money. (Unfortionitly that includes most petstores these days)
But then again, at the same time, its not that pets fault of where it ended up. And it shouldnt ruin its chances for a life because of that. However if you do buy say from a store or backyard breeder, then they will keep doing it, which is not good imo aswell.

I feel bad no matter what way, but in the end I usaly try to take in animals that are being given up by owners. 4 of my last 5 ferrets were taken in/rescued. 2/5 chins were taken in/resuced (remaining 3 where their kits).

When i lost my house as a kid we had to giv eup our dogs and my last, super long lived rabbit. To call it disheartening doesnt come close. That was worse then loseing the house. So i try to take in pets that are in a bad situation.
 
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Depends on the breeder. Nothing wrong with making a profit, if you take care of your animals well, it's those that breed and don't care about the health of their animals, they breed just to make cutsie stuff. Then those that breed, attend shows, and care a great deal, those type of breeders are lucky to make a profit. I know I don't once I add up the hotel, gas, etc.
As a breeder, I'd say support rescues any chance you can get, but if you want to start with a kit, you shouldn't feel any guilt about it. Not all rescues are equal either, but there are a lot of good ones. A few breeders do sometimes take in rescues to help, but they don't advertise their good deeds.
Pet stores, I am not really a fan of, most get the animals for free, and just mark them up, but that's here!
 
As a foster for 10 right now, I'm a bit biased. Adopt, don't shop means something to me. If you want a show quality pedigreed animal see a reputable breeder. If you just want a pet and don't care about its age, go to a rescue. These guys really need good stable loving homes.
 
I will always choose a rescue or an animal needing rehomed on the online classifieds before i go to a pet store or a breeder. the only pet i have bought 'new' since i was in elementary school has been fish for my tanks, and those i get from stores are much fewer than those i get from other aquarium hobbyists that are looking for new homes for their fish. i even have university lab fish living in one of my tanks because the lab did not need them any more.
 
My chins were kind of half rescue and half from a breeder, my six year old had been rehomed at least five times before I brought him home but he came with a pedigree and good show record while Dragon had been rehomed twice times in his six months, also with a good pedigree. The lady I got them from was lovley, she bred Dragon herself and I know she gets in more rescues from various places, if I ever got another chin I would get a rescue from her since she can only take in a certain number at a time and would wait for a `special needs`chin since I know I would have it in me to go the extra mile for a little guy who needs a bit more love.

I don´t think chins are very popular in Sweden, we don´t sell them in pet shops here (I am so so so thankful for this!) so most pet quality chins still seem to come from some kind of breeder and lots have pedigrees/ some kind of involvment with the national chin society. Still, it makes me sad when I check our version of craigslist and see chins for sale because the owner `doesnt have time`for them anymore, makes me want to adopt them all.
 
3 of my current chins were taken in from people who didn't want them, and one was a kit of one of the one's taken in. I've fostered two and rehomed them. But my second chin I ever got I bought from a petstore for $375 because I wanted to get her out of there so badly. She died 2 months later after $400 more for the vet bill :( So I don't think I'd buy from a petstore again, unless I really knew the owner and actually trusted them to sell me a healthy animal.

Obviously there's a chance your animal might be unhealthy if you rescue it from craigslist, but you just have to be prepared for that. I was naive in thinking that since that chin came from a store, she was healthy. Oh and of course I would buy from a trusted breeder if I lived near one and I fell in love with one of their chins, but in general I'd rather take in the ones that I know aren't already being taken care of.
 
I always tell people to take the rescues first. If I have a rescue here, I want to find that animal a home before a baby. That explains my very low number of babies and high numbers of rescues...but I'd rather find a home for a chin that is already here than keep pumping out the babies. Not that I am selfless or anything...LOL A lot of my pairs of breeders are old and have stopped producing and I just haven't put many younger chins into breeding.

What really scares me is that at any time I could get a call and have to go pick up 50 chins that need homes because they were surrendered, about to be confiscated or just have to go or they will be released into the wild or Craig's List. It's happened before and it will happen again.
 
My boys came from breeders however when I got them, there were not any chins to be found near me (I had to drive several hours to pick him up). Not all breeders or rescues are created equal, some pet stores are cleaner than others. If I saw a chin I wanted, I'd have no problem buying from a pet store as long as the chinchilla looked healthy and was kept in a clean environment. Chins from petstores come from breeders anyway. I don't necessarily like that they are sold in pet stores to anyone that has the money. There is nothing wrong with taking in chins from less than desirable conditions either, if you're up for it. So overall I have no opinion of which route to chin ownership is better.
 
chins in pet stores don't always come from legitimate and proper breeders. big box stores usually order from a wholesaler, and those chins do not come from good breeders, they come from 'chin mills', where the people only care about pumping out as many money making animals as possible.

I personally will never buy a chin from a big box store. If it were an exceptionally nice and healthy chin in a smaller mom and pop store, and the store owners were genuinely concerned for the animal's welfare, then i might possibly consider it, but would look to rescues or craigslist/kijiji first.
 
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I have bought from every avenue, my worst was from a award winning famous ranch, my best was from Petco, rescues come up a close second from the petco, and the hobby breeder right under the ranch, so worst goes ranch, hobby breeder, rescue and petco I am sad to say, its not the norm by far but it is my experience just to balance out arguments.
 
There is good and bad in all groups. I have seen people that "rescue" intentionally breed those rescues, or turn a profit re-homing "recues" and I have seen some great rescues that I have been proud to donate to. I have seen great ranchers and bad ranchers and good petstores and bad ones. And that goes for Hobby Breeders There are good, bad and everything in between.

I have to say you should never make any snap judgements either. We had a 1 week power outage here, and with a generator it was all we could do to keep the room cool and there was a person who called the health department because my house wasn't spotless. People are very very judgemental. Obviously when the health department showed up everything was fine. The power was back on and I could vacuum, wash dishes and cloths again
 
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I would go with my gut feeling. If you want a chin to breed obviously go to a good breeder , but for a pet... some smaller pet stores are better thansome breeders, but like with everything there are good and bad people. So go with your feelings, if the chins are healthy and happy and the place or breeder is clean I would go with it.
 
My three are all from a breeder who I thought was reputable, until I found out she was breeding chinchillas of unknown backgrounds. I wasn't too happy, but my three seem to be healthy (they are all over a year old now) so hopefully I won't see too many problems crop up. Even with careful breeding, there can be problems. I would never buy from a pet store simply because any pet store animal I've ever owned has been sickly. My local pet store has several baby chins right now...some white mosaics, black velvets and standards and they are so haggard looking and sickly...the one looked close to death. I tried talking to the manager who told me I didn't know what I was talking about...I did report them after that, so we'll see.

As for rescuing, I honestly feel that is the best avenue. I loved having my baby chins but babies/teens are A LOT more work than adult chins and I swear if I ever get another one (not likely, but who knows) then it will be an adult. Generally, their personalities are evident and any major health problems are clear by the adult stage (though not always). Still, I would like to rescue an ADULT chin in the future.

No matter which route you take in acquiring a chin, there can always be problems. I try to tell people who think they are "oh so cute" that they are more work than any pet I've ever had, not to mention expensive even without medical problems! I'd say for a first chin the best thing to do is to rescue an adult and hope for the best, despite how tempting those cute little baby chins are.
 
I like buying pets from pet stores because you don't have to deal with the people that run rescues or shelters or adoption things...they require way too much digging into my personal life and many can be rude or odd in general...but with buying my first chin i did check to see if there were any rescues or breeders around my area and they all had waiting lists...instead i went to all the local petsmart stores and found a perfect little baby that i love to death and was well taken care of and happy and loving...from the little i've observed so far i figure that if i went to a breeder or rescue i would probably be treated with a type of prejudice being a first time chin owner
 
Only you can answer that... there is no correct answer here if you support responsible rescues and breeders.

If in your heart you really want to rescue... ask around for the responsible rescue and get from there.

If in your heart you really want a youngster, well ask around for the responsible breeder.

Basically you are served with the above two.

Pet Stores would definitely be my last option. Actually they are not an option for me other than my fancy gold fish.
 
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I bought my chin sophia strictly as a pet.i bought her from a breeder and she was expensive but with breeders you know they have a good blood line, good temperament, most of the time played with, held, fed quality food and treats. I would pay top dollar to insure my chins health. Rescuing is always a kind hearted thing to do but your chin and you may not have that great bond your looking for because of its past. Imo.
 
Rescuing a pet, getting it from a petstore or from a backyard (nonreputable breeder) is very risky. Pets in these situations just can have a lot of problems. You have to have a big heart to rescue and often, deep pockets. Even with a reputable breeder you need to be prepared for possibly high vet bills but when it comes to rescues it is even more likely these will happen. I rescued a little guy from my local humane society. While I do not regret the time I had with him it was very costly and emotionally painful. I got five years with him which is more than I had hoped once I heard he had maloclussion but every other month it seemed he was near death. I was always wondering when I would wake up to find him dead or rush him to the emergency vet to find out he could not be saved. With a malo chin, it's going to happen. With rescues and petstores this is just more likely to happen. So, I am all for giving animals a good home, but please know what you're getting yourself into. The thing is few are willing to put thousands of dollars into a pet. I probably put 150-300 dollars into my little guy every six months between meds, emergency visits, normal vet visits and hand feeding supplies. Once he started getting worse these bills went up in price and I started dropping 500-700 at a time. I loved him enough to put whatever I had, and even sometimes didn't have, into him. I am not a saint, I know this. My point is that if you're going to take risks be willing to do the research and spend the money. Some people have to drive hours for a good exotics vet. If you end up with a malo chin you'll want the best vet you can find.
 
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