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[tamarae]

Just wanted to say hi, I've taken some time to start reading on the forums and so far they seem to be a great wealth of information and helpful people.

I'm new to the chinchilla world - my daughters are young teens and saw a chinchilla in Petsmart one day.  They begged and of course I said no.  But then I got to thinking about it, and thought, well this is a good chance for them to earn more trust and prove they can take care of something.  My oldest wants to be a vet too, and they both love animals.  We talked about it for several days and decided to go purchase a cage, food, toys, all the necessities and set it up.  This was going to be their chance to shine. 

Unfortunately the poor sweet chinny that we purchased to put inside of the cage turned out to be very ill.   ::cry222:::We took him to the vet for diarrhea before he started showing any outward signs of distress.  Vet found an overload of bacteria in the fecal exam, but nothing more so he was prescribed an antibiotic and we were told to feed him pedialyte and hay.  Over the weekend he declined very rapidly.  By the next day he refused to eat and I spent the weekend giving him fluids by dropper as he continued to go downhill.

The shop we purchased him from admitted that their chins had almost all come back to the store sick that week.  I feel so sad for the little critters and so horribly upset for the families who loved them for the short time they were with them.  We've been dealing with the emotional upset even though the little guy was only with us for just under 2 weeks.

I've been doing my research to try to find a new chin for my girls - one that will definitely be healthy and live for his 15-20+ years as a happy little fluffball.  I am also very angry that the corporate chain store would sell animals they knew had been sick or could be sick and break families hearts just to make a buck. 

Anyway, enough rambling - if you made it through all of this I applaud you.  If you can help me find a healthy chinny out here in west texas, I'll probably hug your neck.  I'm afraid of the pet stores.

Thanks everyone! 

[jmdebb]

hi and welcome..

well i'm just glad you bought the little guy and saved him.. he probably wouldn't of survived without you..

personally,i think you should call the manager and give him an earful about how the chin was very sick and horrible they take care of their chins.

i do it everytime i go into a petstore and see plastic in their cages.. ugh!!! once i even called the home office and told them off.  It doesn't help for long, but at least it helps for a bit... maybe if enough people call and compliane, they might eventually attempt to learn about these little ones... who knows.. i'm probably wasting my time with that thought...

anyways... would love to see pictures..

[tamarae]

We tried very hard to save the little guy, unfortunately he didn't make it.  We paid a lot in vet bills for a little guy that didn't stay long with us.  At least his last week or so was in our loving care rather than suffering behind glass in the pet shop.

I know my girls took some pictures, he was a tan color and really sweet.  At the vet he weighed just under 400g and was supposedly about 6 months old.

I'm hoping to find a healthy chin in the next few weeks - the girls did so well with him even tho he was so ill.

[Crimson_Ham]

have you tried around online? Here in Alaska most breeders sell their kits (or breeders that are stopping breeding and selling their bonded chins) use either Craigslist or AlaskasList. There may be something similar in your area. Or the shelters or rescues in the area. a quick google search with "west texas chinchilla" got http://www.sharpchinchillas.com/ (a rescue with several adoption ready chins) and http://www.chinchillaclub.com/breeder/ (a directory you can search by area)...
I'm sorry for your loss but at least he had a home before he passed and your family gave him the love he deserved. 

[tamarae]

Thanks for the places to look!  I'll go check them out and see if any are remotely close enough to travel to.  I hate being out here in the boonies, its crazy!

[RollinEK]

First, Welcome to the forum.
sorry to hear about your loss, I would imagine it is really hard. I am in Oklahoma and i know a very good breeder in Tecumseh Oklahoma, my Sapphire female is from him. My first Chin i bought from petsmart and she is a psycho chin for sure.