Chin Guilt............Ok so who else has it!

[mishellyshel]

Do you have chin guilt??

When you walk by the cage and they just look at you that certain way as if a prisoner behind bars begging to get out...........how do you resist?

I have such a hard time not completely refreshing their cages nightly. I always say "ok tonight just food & hay" and then i get my hand in there and this one tries to jump out and that one wants a scritch and I think to myself:
would I really want to live in a house with hay & shavings all over my nice fleece. NO. so i clean up all the hay and poop and shavings. give treats maybe a playtime and boom...............it's a HOUR later! and I still have the guys upstairs AND the guinea pig!

I just cant get over the guilt of not doing the same thing every night.

Okay, I feel better now. If anyone has any tips on getting over the guilt OR streamlining the whole nightly process.............PLEASE share.

 

[3CsMommy]

Our guys got that kind of treatment nightly just because I had the time and wanted them both to have the optimum level of attention. You've got a lot more chins than I've ever had. As for how to resist, I have no flippin' idea. I'm a sucker for the nose through the bars too.

 

[cindyv3737]

I've been known to show up late for work because Shelly was begging for attention. Somehow her scritches turn into a mini playtime and then I'm late. There really is no resisting their cute little faces.

 

[caiti]

Yea I get guilt all the time. Days when I don't take my Chloe out, or even when I have and she still runs aorund in her cage like a crazy woman. She'll wall surf and popcorn for the same amount of time (hourrrssss...) regardless of whether she's gotten out that day. I have no idea how to avoid feeling guilty either. But I know when she bounces around her cage she's having a blast so even if I can't give her her own mountain range in south america she's still having fun and getting lovins.

 

[Emma]

Do you have chin guilt??

When you walk by the cage and they just look at you that certain way as if a prisoner behind bars begging to get out...........how do you resist?

I have such a hard time not completely refreshing their cages nightly. I always say "ok tonight just food & hay" and then i get my hand in there and this one tries to jump out and that one wants a scritch and I think to myself:
would I really want to live in a house with hay & shavings all over my nice fleece. NO. so i clean up all the hay and poop and shavings. give treats maybe a playtime and boom...............it's a HOUR later! and I still have the guys upstairs AND the guinea pig!

I just cant get over the guilt of not doing the same thing every night.

Okay, I feel better now. If anyone has any tips on getting over the guilt OR streamlining the whole nightly process.............PLEASE share.

We've got our evenings 'work' down to a T now!

We currently have to do 3 separate 'play times', but our youngest pair are always awake during the day so my boyfriend takes care of them (he works from home), so they get to come out twice before I'm even home from work.

Then in the evenings we split the hallway into 2 with a cage in each side and let our 2 oldest chins and our new young male play separately whilst we each clean and replenish food. Usually takes anywhere between 35 mins and an hour depending on how long we play with them illowfight:

Other than that, my boyfriend is always the one who can't resist sneaking them a treat when he walks past

 

[Laurie]

OMG when don't I have it? I share my room with the chins! I am totally not immune to Abigails begging face and yes she does get 2 cherrios from me or 2 rose hips because it's her--my charlie brown christmas tree chinchilla, I cannot resist her.

Stewart is very good about taking the chins out for playtime in his room. Lately though they've been hiding out under his bed now that it 's up off the floor. We're looking into a gate to block off the hallway so they can play their with cat house ledges and stuff we have.

I do have to keep their cages clean because of them being in my room. I have really streamlined cleaning with the use of shopvac and litter pans and fleece liners. I keep saying I want to do tiles in there, but I have to wait for the BIL to have time to that for me--still one day I hope to have tiles in there and stream line even more!

I can honestly say, cages are clean more often than dishes done by me lol!

 

[ticklechin]

My day starts at 5:20 am, let the chins out to play, 6:30 they are loaded up into the carriers, given their lifeline, go to work, leave at 5:00, playtime till 6:30, then I sweep cages, change hay, mattresses, food and water, give a handful of sticks, which takes 20min then its bedtime for them. I feel guilty as heck if that does not happen every day!

 

[Pleiades]

Dawn you are a dedicated chin parent!

I definitely feel the guilt if I have to cut playtime short (by short I mean 45 minutes instead of 1 or 1.5 hours). It takes a while for them to really wind up, so when I put them back slightly early, there is definitely cage bar-biting. Doesn't that just pull your heartstrings?!

Edit: Sometimes to make up for this guilt, I'll let Osker out during the day (I work from home usually). I just can't help it! Max cannot be bothered to be awakened, the prince.

 

[kimbt622]

Oh i definitely have the chin guilt! If i even step in my room during the day everyone comes running to the front of their cages waiting to see if i'll let them out! the trio i usually make wait but Liv i can't resist because he's just so lonely if i'm home during the day and he's biting those bars, you can bet your butt i'll let him out! baah it's terrible haha.

 

[Sandi]

Yep, I have it too. Especially when it's late and I didn't let them out that day for playtime. That's when they get the extra little treat of a chin cookie so it's all good. )

 

[mishellyshel]

Especially when it's late and I didn't let them out that day for playtime. That's when they get the extra little treat of a chin cookie so it's all good

lol i do that too! i wil break off a little piece of crystas cookie or one of stacys gets broken in half. or an extra piece of wood to keep them busy.

 

[Sugarised]

i have the guilt right now, but there's no way i can get him out now- its 3am, my room is not chin-preparred as i just dumped the stuff back on the floor from the earlier run- and if he goes under my bed, there's no way i can catch him! But the face! I have given him and oat and some scritches but he soooo wants to play!

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

I have it right now! I am out of apple wood and one of my chins only eats apple wood! Luckily I have a huge order in the mail from RCR and he has some of his hanging chews left with apple pieces on them!
The look he gaveme though when I walked past his cage tonight when I was giving treats was heartbreaking though!