Question about "rat-faced" chins?

[Ash]

People only give it a negative connotation because they don't like rats. Two breeders have already said they can be and are used for breeding as long as other traits are there that are needed. I see nothing wrong with my two rat faced chins, even if they are both brats.

 

[Riven]

Does it look better now? I filled in the neck and trimmed the short thin body.

Zombie, don't chase me... I have nothing to eat.

I don't personally think that rat faced chins imply either bad owners nor pet store chins. I simply prefer a flat face round animal. I guess I haven't noticed that anything was implied by the rat face term either, other than the chin has a rat face, either you like it, or you don't.

 

[zombiezeatbrain]

Zombie, don't chase me... I have nothing to eat.

LOL.

And that's pretty good photo editing. That chin's spine did look off 0_o. He also looks scared half to death. Anyway, thanks guys I think you all did a great job in clarifying what a "rat-faced" chin would look like for all of us who were a little confused about the term.

 

[Riven]

Pretty sure the chin in the photo should've been twice it's weight. And it's obvious that petco doesn't know the difference to use a stock photo that doesn't have a chin who's all malnutritioned looking.

I have several "ratty chins" in my herd they are not what my goal is to produce, but they have good traits that I want to breed in. My little male who took Reserve Class this last weekend was called a "not so little blue rat" by the judge even during comments, lol.

 

[ticklechin]

See, I really don't view "rat faced" as a fault at all. First and foremost, I love rats; and I happen to think they're adorable. Second of all, I think my chinchilla's probably pretty rat-faced and that makes me love him even more lol. I get why so many people on this forum would look down on pet stores, but the fact that I bought my chinchilla from a local pet store, does that reflect on me poorly? I don't think it should; I think I'm a pretty well-informed owner that takes great care of Nietzsche- I just dislike the connotations that "rat-faced" tends to imply about the animal and its owner.

I own rat faced chins, pet store chins and discards that the rescue could not adopt out, what does that make me? The term rat faced chinchilla is used when back yard breeders breed poor quality chins with no regard and not even trying to produce quality, they breed whatever. And they produce pointy, skinny, thin fured rats, I:E rat faced chins.

 

[Andrea]

That was a good photo edit...it does look less ratty but the nose is still a bit pointy. I don't prefer rat-faced chins but they can and do have many good traits.

 

[starleomach]

Rat faced chins do not say anything about the owner, any chinchilla deserves a good home. I have had a few pet onlys that looked more like rats than chinchillas. It says more about a breeder who uses the wedgy animals, that has negative connotations not owning a lower quality ( I mean showing quality not pet they make great pets) but breeding that animal. Two top show animals can produce a lower quality baby why breed lower quality animals. But those lower quality animals deserve a loving pet home

 

[Irishsk8r66]

i think the only issue anyone should have with pet store chins would be the fact that they are sometimes not properly cared for. It makes me sad to go into a pet store and see a chin with a half eaten plastic hidey house and raisins with mangled looking fur......makes me want to go buy them all to help them out! lol

 

[Laurie]

In the breeder world, the true breeding world or quality breeders, rat-faced is not a desirable trait. Chins that win shows are big and blocky and definitely not rat-faced. There is nothing wrong with the rat-faced type chin in the pet world. In the world of breeding and shows I would think the rat-face is not a desirable trait.

 

[ticklechin]

i think the only issue anyone should have with pet store chins would be the fact that they are sometimes not properly cared for. It makes me sad to go into a pet store and see a chin with a half eaten plastic hidey house and raisins with mangled looking fur......makes me want to go buy them all to help them out! lol

You don't have to look far to see that with pet owners, not just stores.

 

[Irishsk8r66]

its so sad because theyre such great animals......and i dont think people usually mean to harm them they are just uninformed. which is why i am thankful for this site because otherwise my little guy would still be eating raisins and papaya and have a plastic house....

 

[ticklechin]

Its the "informed" owners who problems are pointed out and nothing changes because their situation is special or their chin is special are the ones who do harm, the others are just lazy or are without a clue there is a internet, just my own jaded opinion.

 

[chechinchillas]

In my experience I have found that standard greys seem to have more of an elongated mousey nose and the black velvets have more of the brevi shorter nose. Even if the heads and shoulders are broad if the nose bone is long it gives them a mousey look in the face, but they may still be a high quality chin. When I would buy new breeders for my herd, Shoots would laugh at me because I would say "I want one with a pretty bear face not a mousey face". I do have some really nice standards with the longer noses, but I just put them with a mate that has a really short nose. If they do have narrow shoulders and a small mousey head, I would not breed them, but they could be a great pet. B. Shoots also pointed out to me that if the ears are spread farther apart on the head it makes the head look broader. Some of my customers prefer a more mousey look, but the majority like more of a teddy bear head with shorter ears and a short nose.
On another note I have also been told by Laurie at .com that the more brevi type face can have a higher rate of teeth problems.

 

[zombiezeatbrain]

Shoots also pointed out to me that if the ears are spread farther apart on the head it makes the head look broader.

Which brings up my next point! It might just be me, but do ear sizes vary greatly, if at all, among chins?

 

[Laurie]

yes ears vary greatly--small ears, big ears, wide apart ears, ears that are close together--many different types of ears on a chin

 

[Anna]

Furby is super duper ratty )
He's also about the same size.

 

[PebblesAndAbby]

emily, pebbles ears are about twice the size or more of abby's.. her's are very tiny

 

[broderp]

After reading this thread, I took a good look at our chins. Rat face. :neener:

Now that I know the term and look thru the books and photos from chin shows I can see the difference. And you know what...

I prefer the 'rat face' to the rounded looking type. Call me weird, but the rounded ones all look too fat and not as cute as the so called 'rat faced'

I also like to point out that the picture angle can make a BIG difference in how bad an animal appears to be afflicted with being a cute rat face.

Our two rat faced chins.... :heart3:

 

[chechinchillas]

I agree that the ears vary widely (just like their individual personalities). I have some with small rounded ears and others that are long, almost shaped like a rabbit's ears and then others that have ears that are big and rounded. Many customers like the chins that look different, they say it gives them more character. Sometimes when a chin is born with a so called "flaw", that is what endears them to the person who picks them out and honestly those chins get picked out quicker than the others.

 

[broderp]

Someone posted a link to wika on the chinchilla, I saw this picture and wonder if there are two versions that have distinct feature differences or if there is some cross breeding going on producing these variances.

Here's the link.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Chinchilla_-_croquis_comparatif.svg

I see a distinct 'boxy' shape and a distinct "mousy" shape.

What do you think?