B
blacksettingsun
Guest
Hi everyone!! Just wanted to post to let you know that I am, in fact, still alive!! I'm in law school in Pittsburgh, PA at Duquesne, and life has been absolutely insane. I had to close my rescue (Almost Heaven Chinchilla Resuce) when I started school, and also could not bring my chinchillas with me. I told my parents that I refused to get rid of them because I had just spent four years rescuing and rehoming chins that belonged to kids who went off to school. My parents took on the monstrous task of taking care of them for me (there were seven then: Rayna and Aura, Charlie, Starlight, Twilight, Fluffernut, and Orville).
Starlight, unfortunately, died right before I left for school. Starlight was my beautiful amputee. I went down one night to say goodnight to the chins, and Starlight was passed away in her dust house. I ran upstairs screaming, and my parents came running. I was sobbing and told them that Starlight was dead. My mom went down to see Starlight, and after a few minutes of crying, I went down too. My mom was holding Starry, and her eyes were closed. She looked like she had peacefully passed away. I was so upset; she hadn't taken a treat the night before, but I just passed it off as her being finicky. I was heartbroken at the thought that I wasn't there for her when she passed away. My parents consoled me and told me that, if it wasn't for me, Starlight would have been put down a year and a half earlier. They knew that I fought to keep her alive, spending about $1500 to save her life, going through a rear leg amputation, subsequent infections, and several rounds of antibiotics, critical care, probiotics, wound care, and IV fluids. I didn't get a good night sleep for more than six weeks, because I was up every four hours feeding and medicating her. She even went to my summer classes with me so that I could take care of her. After she recovered, nothing could keep her still. She didn't have the coordination of a normal chin, so her cage was kind of small when it was filled with ledges, because I didn't want her to fall. She was really spoiled; I just hope she knew how loved she was. RIP my beautiful Starry; every time I see a shooting star, I think of the joy that you brought me.
Over Christmas break, I decided that it would be better for both my parents and the chins if I rehomed a few of them. Fluffernut and Orville went to my twin cousins (7 years old, but the chins actually belong to their parents), and Twilight went to the most fantastic family possible.
Twilight was my snugglebug, and he went into somewhat of a depression once I left. He didn't like change in the first place, and wasn't getting enough attention. The chin of one of the families that purchased supplies from me passed away in late August. Their chin, Beckham, was a very severe fur-chewer, to the point that he only had fur left on his neck and head. He was a very loving chin, though, and would sit with his human parents for hours. I told the family that Beckham was one of a kind, and that most chins wouldn't sit like that. When he passed away, he was seven years old, and his family was devastated. I told them that if I ever found another chinchilla like Beck that I would call them. I had considered rehoming Twilight, but couldn't think of a family that would really dote on him. When I went home for Christmas, I spent a lot of time with him, and realized that it was better for him if I placed him. So I called the family and told them about Twilight, and offered for them to adopt him if they were ready. Beth said she didn't know because she was afraid he wouldn't be like Beck, that he would be more standoffish and jumpy. She called me back the next night and said that the whole family felt like there was something missing where Beck's cage used to be. That night, I took Twilight over there, and they were delighted. They weren't used to a chin with fur, and just gushed about how gorgeous his fur is! I called every night for a few days to make sure that he was settling in okay, and Beth told me that the first night Twilight was there, her son (17-years-old) had stayed up late visiting with Twilight, then went to bed, but decided that Twi-Twi might be lonely, so he went down and slept on the couch beside Twi's cage
He really is the perfect fit there, and I couldn't be happier.
Fluffernut and Orville (who used to be cagemates). About two years ago, Fluffers beat up Orville pretty badly, and bit off some of his toes, leading to an infected foot. When my cousins expressed interest in adopting a pair, I told them about Orville and Fluffers, and they were thrilled at the idea. Once they were in their new home, the family decided that the cages weren't big enough for each of them, so they went out and bought three-story cages for each of them!!
Rayna and Aura, and Charlie, still live with my parents. Rayna and Aura (cagemates; Aura is Rayna's daughter) are very self-sufficient, and couldn't care less if they had human contact. Rayna was my first chin, and I can't bear the thought of her not being there when I go home to visit my parents. After being reassured that she was sterile, and before I started to do rescue, she continued to live with an intact male. Well, she wasn't sterile after all, and gave birth to triplets in January 2005. It was after learning that she was pregnant that I realized that I really needed to educate other pet owners about breeding petstore chins. I worried about her every day, and worried about the babies. But she gave birth to healthy triplets, and I got really lucky. Then rescue started to pick up, and suddenly it went from just chinchillas to degus, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils. I just couldn't say "no" to a homeless animal! At one point I had 23 chinchillas, two rabbits, a guinea pig, and seven degus all residing with me in a one-bedroom apartment, along with my own 12lb pet rabbit and my 50lb dog. I loved life though!
Charlie is my bladder-stone boy, and cost me the second-most amount to save his life. His bladder stone was the diameter of a dime, and took up most of his bladder. He came in with six other chins, one of whom was his mate, along with his two babies. I separated all of them right away, but his mate was already pregnant again. Charlie absolutely reeked and was covered of urine, so I made the decision to give him a warm-water bath to clean him (blow-drying him on the "cool" setting of the blow dryer, of course!). During the bath, I decided to do a hair ring check, but couldn't get the sheath open. I finally did get it open, and urine just started to drip out. He was also extremely skinny (375g), and I was worried about teeth problems, so we went to the vet the next day. She took xrays and his teeth looked good, but noticed a huge stone in his bladder. He underwent surgery to remove the stone, and after post-op care and antibiotics, he fully recovered. Charlie does not care for human contact, although he will bounce to the front of the cage to get his shreddies at night. If you try to handle him, he will fight tooth and nail to get away. He still resides with my parents.
If it weren't for people on this forum, I could not have done rescue. All-in-all, the vet bills over those four years totaled around $5,000. Almost $1500 of that was raised in donations and raffles held on this forum. I want to thank you all for supporting Almost Heaven Chinchilla Rescue for all of those years.
So, that turned out to be a novel, but I just wanted to share my story and the story of my furever pets (who are now in even better homes than I had provided personally). I didn't realize how much I missed this forum until Ash contacted me for advice about Squirt. I realized that I really missed being on here, offering advice and helping others. Hopefully I will be around more often from now on!!
Thanks to all!!
Annie
Starlight, unfortunately, died right before I left for school. Starlight was my beautiful amputee. I went down one night to say goodnight to the chins, and Starlight was passed away in her dust house. I ran upstairs screaming, and my parents came running. I was sobbing and told them that Starlight was dead. My mom went down to see Starlight, and after a few minutes of crying, I went down too. My mom was holding Starry, and her eyes were closed. She looked like she had peacefully passed away. I was so upset; she hadn't taken a treat the night before, but I just passed it off as her being finicky. I was heartbroken at the thought that I wasn't there for her when she passed away. My parents consoled me and told me that, if it wasn't for me, Starlight would have been put down a year and a half earlier. They knew that I fought to keep her alive, spending about $1500 to save her life, going through a rear leg amputation, subsequent infections, and several rounds of antibiotics, critical care, probiotics, wound care, and IV fluids. I didn't get a good night sleep for more than six weeks, because I was up every four hours feeding and medicating her. She even went to my summer classes with me so that I could take care of her. After she recovered, nothing could keep her still. She didn't have the coordination of a normal chin, so her cage was kind of small when it was filled with ledges, because I didn't want her to fall. She was really spoiled; I just hope she knew how loved she was. RIP my beautiful Starry; every time I see a shooting star, I think of the joy that you brought me.
Over Christmas break, I decided that it would be better for both my parents and the chins if I rehomed a few of them. Fluffernut and Orville went to my twin cousins (7 years old, but the chins actually belong to their parents), and Twilight went to the most fantastic family possible.
Twilight was my snugglebug, and he went into somewhat of a depression once I left. He didn't like change in the first place, and wasn't getting enough attention. The chin of one of the families that purchased supplies from me passed away in late August. Their chin, Beckham, was a very severe fur-chewer, to the point that he only had fur left on his neck and head. He was a very loving chin, though, and would sit with his human parents for hours. I told the family that Beckham was one of a kind, and that most chins wouldn't sit like that. When he passed away, he was seven years old, and his family was devastated. I told them that if I ever found another chinchilla like Beck that I would call them. I had considered rehoming Twilight, but couldn't think of a family that would really dote on him. When I went home for Christmas, I spent a lot of time with him, and realized that it was better for him if I placed him. So I called the family and told them about Twilight, and offered for them to adopt him if they were ready. Beth said she didn't know because she was afraid he wouldn't be like Beck, that he would be more standoffish and jumpy. She called me back the next night and said that the whole family felt like there was something missing where Beck's cage used to be. That night, I took Twilight over there, and they were delighted. They weren't used to a chin with fur, and just gushed about how gorgeous his fur is! I called every night for a few days to make sure that he was settling in okay, and Beth told me that the first night Twilight was there, her son (17-years-old) had stayed up late visiting with Twilight, then went to bed, but decided that Twi-Twi might be lonely, so he went down and slept on the couch beside Twi's cage
He really is the perfect fit there, and I couldn't be happier. Fluffernut and Orville (who used to be cagemates). About two years ago, Fluffers beat up Orville pretty badly, and bit off some of his toes, leading to an infected foot. When my cousins expressed interest in adopting a pair, I told them about Orville and Fluffers, and they were thrilled at the idea. Once they were in their new home, the family decided that the cages weren't big enough for each of them, so they went out and bought three-story cages for each of them!!
Rayna and Aura, and Charlie, still live with my parents. Rayna and Aura (cagemates; Aura is Rayna's daughter) are very self-sufficient, and couldn't care less if they had human contact. Rayna was my first chin, and I can't bear the thought of her not being there when I go home to visit my parents. After being reassured that she was sterile, and before I started to do rescue, she continued to live with an intact male. Well, she wasn't sterile after all, and gave birth to triplets in January 2005. It was after learning that she was pregnant that I realized that I really needed to educate other pet owners about breeding petstore chins. I worried about her every day, and worried about the babies. But she gave birth to healthy triplets, and I got really lucky. Then rescue started to pick up, and suddenly it went from just chinchillas to degus, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils. I just couldn't say "no" to a homeless animal! At one point I had 23 chinchillas, two rabbits, a guinea pig, and seven degus all residing with me in a one-bedroom apartment, along with my own 12lb pet rabbit and my 50lb dog. I loved life though!
Charlie is my bladder-stone boy, and cost me the second-most amount to save his life. His bladder stone was the diameter of a dime, and took up most of his bladder. He came in with six other chins, one of whom was his mate, along with his two babies. I separated all of them right away, but his mate was already pregnant again. Charlie absolutely reeked and was covered of urine, so I made the decision to give him a warm-water bath to clean him (blow-drying him on the "cool" setting of the blow dryer, of course!). During the bath, I decided to do a hair ring check, but couldn't get the sheath open. I finally did get it open, and urine just started to drip out. He was also extremely skinny (375g), and I was worried about teeth problems, so we went to the vet the next day. She took xrays and his teeth looked good, but noticed a huge stone in his bladder. He underwent surgery to remove the stone, and after post-op care and antibiotics, he fully recovered. Charlie does not care for human contact, although he will bounce to the front of the cage to get his shreddies at night. If you try to handle him, he will fight tooth and nail to get away. He still resides with my parents.
If it weren't for people on this forum, I could not have done rescue. All-in-all, the vet bills over those four years totaled around $5,000. Almost $1500 of that was raised in donations and raffles held on this forum. I want to thank you all for supporting Almost Heaven Chinchilla Rescue for all of those years.
So, that turned out to be a novel, but I just wanted to share my story and the story of my furever pets (who are now in even better homes than I had provided personally). I didn't realize how much I missed this forum until Ash contacted me for advice about Squirt. I realized that I really missed being on here, offering advice and helping others. Hopefully I will be around more often from now on!!
Thanks to all!!
Annie
