I have several stories.
1. All of our chins came from CL. Carmen actually came from a family who took good care of her, so she was in very good shape when we got her. Minnie and Trousers were a different story. We drove an hour to pick up Minnie, who was labeled as "sweet and loves to be held and petted". When we got to the house, we were greeted by no fewer than 6 yappy little dogs, several cages that included anything from sugar gliders to chins, and a nasty aquarium. Minnie was in a tiny cage with a chewed up plastic igloo. The woman proceeded to show us how easy she was to handle by yanking her out of the cage by her tail and hold her tight. Needless to say, we paid our money and left. Minnie was skin and bone - she had been fed the wrong food, given hay harvested by the owner from a nearby field, and had no wood to chew on. As we left, we saw Trousers - shaking and scared in another cage. The woman had tried to breed her repeatedly due to how "rare" she was, and she was beaten up because of this (come to find out, she was under a year old for most of these attempted breedings). My husband and I weren't ready for a third chin, so we left with Minnie. After her month long quarantine, we were back for Trousers. This time we were better prepared for what we were going to see, but it didn't help much. You could feel every one of Trouser's bones, including all of her ribs and vertebrae. Needless to say, after a few months of ridiculous spoiling and good food, she is one chubby chilla! Both Minnie and Trousers were very hesitant to receive pets or treats from my husband and I (Minnie even sprayed my husband), but now they are both happy and healthy (in fact, right now they are having a wheel duel: Minnie in the downstairs of the FN and Trousers in the upstairs! It's very noisy around here at night!)
2. A few of you may remember my trying to find a foster for a woman who was going to take her chin to the humane society rather than give it to a responsible rescuer. She said she was so desperate, and I spent over 2 hours trying to find someone to help her. Finally (with the help of several members), help was found, and the woman wouldn't even drive to meet the rescuer! I tried to explain how stressful it would be for a chin to be at a humane society, and I even said if she could wait until the weekend, I would come and get her. She said she was just going to drop her off in the drop box that night rather than wait! I spent the next day calling humane societies near her to find her, but I guess she changed her mind. I got in contact with her and tried to convince her to drop her rehoming fee in the best interest of the animal. She refused, and proceeded to yell at me for "accusing" her of "being in it for the money" (kinda still sounds to me like she was). Last I heard, her niece had her chin... hope she's doing well...
3. Finally, my last story is the one I posted recently. The ag teacher at my school needed someone to chin sit over the summer. I went to see the chins, and they were in a horrible cage, had no wood to chew, and had never gotten hay to eat. Their food looked like Trix cereal! I immediately decided to take these girls, and I'm still deciding on how to break it to the Ag teacher that they shouldn't be back in the fall. They are used as a project, and only the students take care of them. One of them is missing about half of her tail, and I have a sneaking suspicion that a student might have been responsible. Surprisingly, these two girls are the sweetest little girls you'll find! We have been calling them Daisy and Peach, and the husband is definitely cool with the idea of keeping them!