Hate seeing chins that owners don't know how to care for

[scrapwave]

Saw someone had a female chin for sale. It was in a very small cage and the only supplies she had for it were a food bowl and water bowl and a small bag of food. After messaging the owner back and forth learned that she didn't regularly get hay, had no dust bath, no toys, no wheel but she did let her out of the cage to run around on a regular basis. I think the owner just wasn't aware of what all a chin needed to be happy/healthy. Unfortunately I wasn't in a position to buy her as we have a male and don't have another cage. She did sell it...so hopefully that person will be more informed and take better care of the little girl. Just hate to see them not being properly cared for.

 

[DaddyslilDimwit]

It's mostly just ignorance. Chins aren't as widely known as cats and dogs and if people don't do some serious research or have a knowledgeable person to talk to they could have no way of knowing how much special care a chin needs compared to common household pets.

 

[greychins]

Have to agree with the above. A lot of times it's not that the person doesn't want to care for the chin properly, it's simply that they don't know that what they're doing's not correct.

Ran into someone the other day who said they had a chin, never gave it dust baths. They said they didn't know the chin was supposed to have one. So I guess they had a really greasy chin then.

Same with the bad food, people often don't know to feed the stuff that's just pellets, they think that the food with all the colorful treats in it looks good, and so that's what often is purchased.

I've often told people, oh the chin needs this and this and this and a lot of times, once you tell people, they are willing to change (not all, but some) because there are people out there that do want to care for their chins well, they simply don't know how. And there's just so many sites out there with wrong information, that doesn't help this either.

 

[CTChin]

Most everyone has access to the internet now. It really is not hard to google "chinchilla care"

 

[kerri101]

Sometimes improper care can happen from lack of knowledge or bad information...I bought my chin from a dirty pet store spur of the moment....if I listened to everything the man said who didn't even know the sex of the chin and told me to feed her fruit and raisins in the super fruit mix she came with, and keep her in the hamster cage she came with I would be misinformed and still making mistakes..however I made sure as soon as I got home research research and more research which I think any pet owner needs to do when you bring an animal that you are not acquainted with into your home sadly some people do not ....I try to stay off you tube that just makes me nuts some of the stuff people do on there is outright nuts Ive seen a few chins on CL I wanted but I know I will really hold off until I know I can handle another chin which will probably be when my teenagers go to college in a couple of years...

 

[scrapwave]

oh I don't think the lady was intentionally not caring for the chin properly...she just got it and didn't know what all was involved with owning a chin. Not sure how long she owned it but she just said she realized with a new baby too the chin was just too much (probably financially) since she had been figuring out that more was needed than what she had been providing up to that point. Just wish people would know more what they are getting into with any pet BEFORE they get into it.

 

[kerri101]

oh I don't think the lady was intentionally not caring for the chin properly...she just got it and didn't know what all was involved with owning a chin. Not sure how long she owned it but she just said she realized with a new baby too the chin was just too much (probably financially) since she had been figuring out that more was needed than what she had been providing up to that point. Just wish people would know more what they are getting into with any pet BEFORE they get into it.

totally agree myself included...before I had kids I researched and my pets are all loved as much too( we didnt have a computer then so did books instead lol) definitely should have researched before my spur purchase...(but she just was sitting there and I swear I was pulled to her ) ...
would have saved a TON of money I spent over 200 that day not including my chin only to get home and have to take the stuff I could back that day because it was ALL wrong yuck!

 

[Daina91880]

I have to say, I'm happy I found this forum while I was researching chinchillas. I have found the best information here and even found my girls here. I wish everyone would do their research before buying/adopting. Maybe then we'd see less chins on craigslist. I think it takes a certain person to have chins and not everyone is prepared to meet their needs.

 

[ChinnyMom]

i'm also very happy i found this forum before my first chin came home. i was babysitting a chin at the time and wanted to ensure she got the best care while she was here.

not researching is no excuse. if you are responsible for the life of another living creature, you are responsible for knowing how to care for it properly, and giving it everything it needs to thrive.

 

[Kara315]

Most everyone has access to the internet now. It really is not hard to google "chinchilla care"

True, As long as the info is correct. i've noticed alot of sites have alot of wrong info, even like some books. Somethings I looked at before getting my boys, was completely wrong, but years ago, since I did the research and looked everything up, I did what the books/some sites said.
Luckily I found this site and changed alot with my chins, their food, treats, toys etc......Hopefully more sites are getting better with having proper care info though.

 

[greychins]

Thankfully, there are more sites now that have correct info. But when I got my first chin 9 years ago, I did research. And I mean, I really did, I sat on the internet for hours reading everything I could find. I'm sure you could guess what I found -- feed raisins, nuts, buy the food with treats in it, they love that!! Everything I read was wrong... even stuff in books! I read that they would like a multi-level cage, so I bought them one... and they chewed the shelves to pieces. I'm lucky they didn't get impacted.

Then I found this place, and I'm sure my chins are so thankful for it! Replaced the bad food (found 25 lb bags of Mazuri locally), replaced the bad treats with healthy ones, took out the plastic shelves and put in some wooden perches (didn't know how to make shelves yet, but learned!)... I'm glad that this site, and the others like it, with the correct information, are out there for people to see.

 

[halfstache]

yeah, me too. we got our first chinchillas something like 12+ years ago and I researched everything I could. I had intentions of being a hobby breeder from the beginning, which I did right away after finding a local breeder who helped steer me in the right direction as far as better quality feed and where to buy everything. However, I now know that I should have known a whole lot more before just diving in. Having had researched so much so long ago I felt like I knew everything there was to know and had not bothered to do any further research after my first litter was born. Only fairly recently after having stumbled upon an ECBC member through craiglist did I discover this wonderful site. Now I'm having to reconsider everything I've done up to this point. Discovering that while I thought I was doing everything right, it seems I'd actually land in BYB status (due to breeding without pedigrees even though I learned as much possible about my chins lineage and health before making purchases) is really troubling. Not entirely sure how to go about remedying that, but then I guess that is a topic for another thread.

 

[DoGooder]

A great thing about forums is the difference of opinions and constant new information that is posted. People caring for chinchilla's should constantly learn new things in order to provide the best possible care. For example, I read here that a while the majority of experts were saying to feed Petromalt, then those "experts" found out they were wrong and they no longer say to give Petromalt to chinchilla's.

It's very bad for chinchilla caregivers to refuse to accept new information. Like if someone kept saying the earth was flat even though it has long been proven it's round. It might be helpful to keep a journal recording all the brand new things one learns about chinchilla's because there's always something new to learn.

DoGooder

 

[Dreamlite]

The sad thing is that a lot of people think calling their local pet store is considered research. And we all know how many of those know proper care for a chin. Working at a vets office we are often upset tha people will call a pet store and or believe what their bff says over our advice, reguardless of how much information we offer them. Some people want to believe the easiest and cheepest is always true. If petco or another store sells chins they have to be experts right? I've read several chin books and none of them have good information. Several actually suggest using cedar bedding which is toxic to any small animal. Its just sooo easy to find misinformation, especially about a slightly exotic pet such as chins.

 

[Godofgods]

It's mostly just ignorance. Chins aren't as widely known as cats and dogs and if people don't do some serious research or have a knowledgeable person to talk to they could have no way of knowing how much special care a chin needs compared to common household pets.

That was definitely true in my case. My brother literaly showed up at my door one day asking if i could look after his chin for a while. And i had never even heard of a chinchilla before, much less have a clue about proper care.

And for most people, unless you have reason to think other wise, you would assume its like any other pet.

Plus with the amount of bad information out their, or owners that don't have a clue, trying to 'educate' a new owner when they give them away.

Its really unfortunate. :cry3:

 

[Kara315]

Thankfully, there are more sites now that have correct info. But when I got my first chin 9 years ago, I did research. And I mean, I really did, I sat on the internet for hours reading everything I could find. I'm sure you could guess what I found -- feed raisins, nuts, buy the food with treats in it, they love that!! Everything I read was wrong... even stuff in books! I read that they would like a multi-level cage, so I bought them one... and they chewed the shelves to pieces. I'm lucky they didn't get impacted.

Then I found this place, and I'm sure my chins are so thankful for it! Replaced the bad food (found 25 lb bags of Mazuri locally), replaced the bad treats with healthy ones, took out the plastic shelves and put in some wooden perches (didn't know how to make shelves yet, but learned!)... I'm glad that this site, and the others like it, with the correct information, are out there for people to see.

Same with me. I found a book I bought before I got them, and some of the info is correct but "treats" are all wrong, They have pics with the chins eating apple's. Definatly glad I found this site too, couldn't believe some of the stuff they couldn't/shouldn't have that they were having for awhile.

 

[Jenn]

Unfortunately a lot of bad information is passed onto the chin owner from their local pet store. I think a lot of us naively trust that the information we get at the pet store is correct. The pet stores sell unhealthy treats, food, plastic, and death balls for chins and someone who doesn't do any outside research will believe that they are indeed properly caring for their chin. My biggest mistake as a noobie was putting my chin in a death ball. It took the forum (before this one CnQ) to alert me to the hazards of the ball.

Most of us really want the best for our chin, but all of the bad information out there can really make it confusing. Hopefully the person who adopted that chin will do the necessary research to properly care for the chin.