Vacation!!

[caiti]

So in March I am going to Ireland (woot!!) where some family is and I'm going with my entire immediate family plus my brother's girlfriend. I know it's a ways away, but I didn't expect going somewhere so soon after I got Chloe where I couldn't take her. So my question is, if you don't have anyone chinchilla-competent you're friendly with what do you do when you have to leave your chin?

My options I can think of are pet sitters, vet offices/kennels, maybe rescues or just briefly train a neighbor or whomever will be watching the cat (the one at my parents house, not the one that got in my room and may have scratched her. My cat at home is terrified of Chloe, haha).

I'm going for seven days during spring break and Chloe will be at my parent's house since I can make sure it stays cool and no kitties break into my room. No one will be home. We live in central/eastern MA but I don't know any place or pet sitter off the top of my head around there. I haven't looked a whole lot because, well, I figured checking here first would probably save me time, if someone happened to know of a place or person who could watch her and I do have like 4 months to figure this out but I'd rather settle it sooner than later obviously.

 

[caiti]

So no one knows of any chin sitters/boarding in or near Massachusetts?

I tried looking at some boarding places but none of them advertise chins, just bunnies or hamsters if they board anything other than cats and dogs and same with sitters. Her normal vet doesn't board anything but cats and dogs either. Ah well, I'll keep searching.

 

[Ash]

I don't know how far you are from CT, but Poetrue's Pets may be able to help with boarding. There's a few members on here from MA, but I don't know if anyone would be able to help out. Parkerspetchins is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. You could always shoot her a PM and ask if she knows of anyone in MA.

 

[caiti]

Hey, thanks for the advice!! I went on Poetrue's website and then went to their links and am searching for breeders in the area to contact. I do live in southern MA, so CT and RI are options for me.

Thanks again!!

 

[yyou824]

hello!

Hi!

I was actually searching on this forum for the same reason (my school has a winter break for two weeks coming up and my mom booked my plane ticket for me in September wayyy before I got Oscar), have you had any luck??

any help would be much appreciated!

 

[yyou824]

..

(im in providence ri btw)

 

[caiti]

I contacted a rescue in connecticut who said they might be able to help me if I reconnected with them closer to the date so they would know if they could manage or not, they said they've never boarded anyone's chins before and this would be the first so it was really nice of them--but also because of that I don't know if I should give their name out because I don't really know if they want to start boarding for people and let the word get out so to say. But contacting rescues and breeders in your area is definitely a good idea. I think there's a couple in RI, I'm sure you can look them up on here or do an internet search.

I have been looking for vets and such also. Seems most places I'm not really comfortable with. I have been thinking of either talking to my old vet that I used to volunteer for, emailing a couple more breeders/rescues around me or my last resort but a valid consideration is train a friend. Not that I don't trust my friends, just I feel they may be overwhelmed with the amount of initial knowledge they have to learn. It would be easier to find someone already familiar with chins.

 

[Tennyson]

Whoever you choose, make sure you leave a detailed list of instructions, including vet contact information and setup a way for an emergency visit to be paid for with your vet ahead of time.

And make sure who you choose really cares about you and is totally comfortable with chins...last thing you want is for your sitter to think "oh its so cold in here! Poor little chinny, let me turn the heat up"... Just be picky and detailed.