The Infamous "tail" Debate

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I have a chin that self mutilates his tail, his x-ray's show that his vertabrae are out of aligment right where you would grab them at the base of the tail. I don't know how it happened as he came to me because he was self mutilating.

Aside from him (he will scream) I grab them and hold them by the base of the tail.
 
In that case...I'd avoid the tail, too! Beth - I hope he gets better with that...poor little guy.

Lenny has nerve damage in his tail and passenger side rear leg. I would never hold him by his tail because it could make it worse. The other chins, who do not have problems, are fine with it.
 
I think as long as it's the base of the tail, it's fine. I think problems do occur when people grab at the end of the tail. When we went to pick up both Minnie and Trousers, the woman grabbed each of them by the end of their tails. While neither one of them screamed, I can't imagine it felt good. I typically don't use their tail, but I understand that it is sometimes a necessity, and I'm not about to freak out if someone does it properly.
 
Not only is it grabbing the tail, how about grabbing the tail and an ear! Oh my lord at my first chin show where I "showed" a chin I received help with grooming. I was appalled at the way Rob grabbed onto Bronwyn's tail and ear and shook her! It didn't bother her in the slightest and other experienced showers chuckled at me after seeing the expression on my face! LOL!
 
OH...the ear thing scared the bejeezus out of me! I know that it isn't that horrible for the chin, but seeing someone grab a chin by the ear and drag him out...oh, it still makes me feel bad for the little fuzzies. I won't do that...
 
Haha, OK, now I don't think I could show chins. EVER!! I know that it is done correctly, and that it is probably one of those things that looks painful to us but they couldn't care less about, but even knowing about it now, I think I STILL would get a little queasy watching someone shake Carmie by her ears!!
 
Using the tail to secure, grab, or pick up a chin I have no problem with, when done correctly. When grooming I try to keep them on the ground as much as possible though. I have one that I have to suspend in the air for her own safety as well as mine. Lily will turn quickly and try to bite the comb. I worry she will be poked in the eye.
I'm not sure how I feel about picking them up by the ears. I have grabbed chins by the ear to make them be still so I can get ahold of their tail, but I have never picked them up or moved them using their ears.
 
This is a little bit OT, but I was just wondering... are there any pictures on the forums showing proper grips on how to hold a chin correctly? I think this might be useful for beginner owners.
 
With the exception of Zephyr (who hates being held in any way and will bite my ear), when carrying chins around I grab the tail and put the chin on my shoulder (still holding the tail). It leaves me with a free arm to do other things and secures the chin. Many of them like being up high with a view of what's going on and it relaxes most of them. Calpurnia prefers to hide in my hair. She has the "I can't see you so you can't see me" mentality...lol.
 
I can't be a 100% sure, but my husband and I think that my 7 yr old daughter was too rough picking up/holding our Ciro (6 mo old male) by the tail and broke it. When i took him to the Vet tonight, he told me it was broken, and very close to his body. He has been biting his tail for 3-4 days, and i mean chewing it down to the cartilage in 3 places. The Vet gave him an antibiotic because one of the chewed areas was infected and he has become septic. He has not eaten for a couple of days, the Vet says he has very little in his intestines. I tried to feed him a little bit of mushy pellets with an medicine syringe, and he wasn't happy. Now, he is very listless, and frankly, i think he is dying.

My final thoughts: holding the chin by the tail in an overly rough manner seems to have taken a terrible toll on my little guy, the outcome doesn't look good right now.
 
Obviously if you're swinging them and rough housing with them when you have their tail, you can and will cause damage. However, when held properly by the tail, it is an approved and safe method of carrying.
 
I do it only when I feel it is absolutely needed, but I generally try to support their front feet with my had or arm just so all the weight of their body isn't just on their tail, and it's at the complete base of the tail. It's the only way I can calm them down sometimes, like if they're biting me when I'm trying to get them in to their cage. I'm afraid of squeezing them to hard. :[
 
I know when I first got into chins, I thought oh, holding them by the tail, doesn't that hurt?? But now as we've gotten more difficult chins and time has passed, I don't see a problem with it, for sort periods of time, like catching them, scooping them up, and so on (with a hand under the rest of them).

Though, I must admit, we have quite a few screamers here. You'd think we're doing bloody murder on these guys, but I swear they're fine.
 
I used to NEVER hold my chin by the tail. When I started, some had major fur slips around the butt. Then I thought it wouldn't be that great to bring a chin to show and have him get a major fur slip just before being judged :wacko: Now every now and them I hold by the tail those who are used to it ( my 'pets' just won't take it) and especially my kits so they get used to it before I show them.
 
Anne...you are holding the tail too close to the base of the body. You want to grab the tail at the base, right before the fur to prevent fur slips.

Grabbing by the tail has never hurt any of my chinchillas and usually calms them down. I also grab by the ears for chins that are trying to bite me or when I need to shake them out at shows. For clarification, they do not "shake them out by the ears". You grip the ears gently to hold the head, front end of the body still while shaking the back end. Tara (Spoof) has a good video of grooming and how to hold the ears for grooming and shaking.
 
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