ChinchillaRescue.org

Paws for Love Event in Scotts Valley, CA

2008-01-26T17:27:00.001-08:00

California Chins Rescue has been invited to participate in the "Paws for Love" Adoption Fair sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Animal Services.

Date: Saturday, February 9th from 11am-3pm

Location: Scotts Valley Community Center

Bluebonnet Lane and Kings Village Road

If you are in the area, stop by and say hi.

Pet Pride Day - San Francisco

2007-10-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

California Chins will be at Pet Pride Day in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Sunday, October 28th from 11 AM to 3 PM. If you are in the area, stop by.

Pet Pride Day is sponsored by San Francisco Animal Care and Control. For more information about the event, check out their website.

Fires in Southern California

2007-10-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

If you live in Southern California and need help, due to the fires, with your chinchilla(s), we will try to do what we can to help. Our group is in the SF Bay Area, but we do have some contacts in the southern part of the state. Caroline at www.bunnybunch.org has already offered to help.

Even if we can't do much to help from 300-500 miles away, our thoughts are with those of you in the southern part of the state.

Another FOUND Chinchilla - Scotts Valley

2007-10-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

A chinchilla was found yesterday running loose near an animal shelter in Scotts Valley, California. The chin was frightened, exhausted, dehydrated and had small area of fur singed, but otherwise seems okay. If you have lost a chinchilla in that area, please contact us (webmaster@chinchillarescue.org). You will need to be able to identify the gender, color, approximate age, and any other identifying features.

Broken Leg - update

2007-10-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

It has been 6 weeks since our young chin had her leg put in a splint due to a broken tibia. Yesterday, she went back to see the vet to have the splint removed and have the leg examined to see how well it had healed. An x-ray was taken before splint removal. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, it showed less healing than we had hoped for at this stage. Dealing with broken bones in a chinchilla is one of the most difficult conditions to treat, which the vet reiterated yesterday. Splinting a chin is not easy, nor does it completely immobilize the bones in most cases. My understanding is that the goal is not perfect alignment of the two pieces of bone, but rather a strong, functional bone. Their bones are just so small and they are such active creatures that all we can really hope for is healthy leg that works well for them.

The splint had been taped to the chin's leg because there really aren't other ways to get it to stay on. Unfortunately, when the splint was removed, the tape tore the skin leaving a 1/2 inch long, but shallow, wound. A little surgical glue was used to close the wound, which seems to be working. Because of the location, the chin would have chewed off any other sutures.

Currently, the splint is off, but the chin is still confined to a small, low, one-level, solid-bottom cage. She can't have anything in the cage that she might climb on and therefore jump off. The toes on the foot were curling under a bit yesterday due to loss of muscle tone, but with a little time a practice she will regain full use. She's a sweet and feisty little thing, so I don't think it will take her long!

She could have a dust bath, finally, but with the wound on her leg, I'd rather wait until some healing has taken place. In two weeks, she'll go back to the vet for another x-ray and hopefully be declared "healed"!

Softening Chinchilla Pellets

2007-10-18T12:44:00.001-07:00

I just going through some old chinchilla email and found this trick that was sent to me a couple years ago. It sounded interesting so I thought I would pass it on. It could be used to soften food for senior chins or those with dental issues.

The idea was attributed to Dr. Janice Goode DVM:

1) Pre-heat your oven to 250 F
2) Put a mixture of chinchilla pellets in a colander
3) Pour hot water through the pellets in the colander and drain
4) Spread the pellets out in a 'roasting/baking' pan
5) Bake in the oven for 30 minutes

This makes the pellets less dense and much easier to eat.

Found: Chinchilla in Sunnyvale

2007-10-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

We received a chinchilla from the Humane Society last weekend that was said to be found living outdoors in Sunnyvale, California. The story we were told is that the chin was found eating cat (or dog) food. If you have lost a chinchilla in Sunnyvale, please contact us via email at webmaster@chinchillarescue.org. To identify the animal, we will ask you for the neighborhood, color, and gender of the chinchilla.

September 22

2007-09-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

We took pictures of some of the available chinchillas today so that we could update the website. Take a look at the list of chins that we have available for adoption (www.chinchillarescue.org/rescues.html), to see some of the new photos.

Our little girl with the broken leg seems to be doing okay. We have to reapply vet wrap to her splint every few days because she is chewing on it a little. I think we are going to manage to keep the splint on for the full 4-6 weeks that is recommended. At least that is the goal!

This picture was taken the day that her second splint was put on two weeks ago, which is why it still looks so fresh and clean and the chin looks so miserable. The splint is a called "modified Schroeder-Thomas" splint. It kind of looks like a giant paperclip (oblong wire frame loop). The vet applied the splint after shaving the leg and giving the chin a general anesthesia. This made the procedure more comfortable for the chinchilla and easier for the veterinarian.

A Broken Leg

2007-09-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

We have a young chinchilla with a broken tibia. We are not sure when or how it happened because it either occurred right before or right after she came into rescue. Although we don't know exactly which day it happened, we can guess that the leg broke due to an accident in a cage. She had been living in a tall cage with a couple wire mesh shelves and steep ramps. Our guess is that she broke her leg by catching it in the wire mesh .

Chinchillas love tall cages in which they can climb. However, make sure that the cages are arranged as safely as possible. I setup my tall cages so that there are no long falls, in other words so that the chin cannot fall from the top of the cage all the way to the floor, or on top of a wheel. Using an arrangement of shelves, ledges, hammocks, etc., you can make a tall cage a fun "jungle-gym" for your chins while trying to minimize accidents. If you have wire mesh shelves and ramps (bigger than 1/2" by 1/2" mesh), you might want to consider replacing the shelves with wood, covering them with tiles, small towels, or newspaper.

Note: The picture is of her first splint, which only lasted one day. :-)

August was busy!!

2007-09-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

We currently have 36 chinchillas in foster care, with 12 more that may be coming soon. Of the 36 chins, only about 1/3 are currently available for adoption. The reasons for some of our current chins not being available are:
- possible pregnancy
- too young (less than 4 months old)
- need a veterinary check or recheck
- broken leg

August was a very busy month for us, with many more chins coming to rescue than being adopted. It is not unusual for adoptions to be slow during the summer months, so we are hoping that now that it is September that the adoption rate will pick up.

Welcome to our Blog

2007-08-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

California Chins Rescue is starting this blog in an effort to keep you informed of what is going on with our chinchillas and organization.