Post by sunnyspolsion on Nov 8, 2013 22:45:39 GMT -5
Okay, okay. Imagine yourself in this situation. A friend is looking to adopt a dog, so you find yourself on Craigslist trying to help her, beginning to browse through the pets section. But before you find a dog, you see this one picture on the homepage of the pets section for your town. You're not entirely sure what it is, but the title says "Chinchilla for Rehoming"
That ball is a chinchilla? What? No way.
Sure enough, it was a chinchilla. A matted ball, desperately in need of some love. Some anything. The description was even more horrifying. In a scramble, I message this guy. I had once had a chinchilla (for about two years), Thelanious, a long time ago. I was forced to re home him by my parents through their divorce, which was probably the hardest part about their divorce in general, but hey. (We're very settled now, by the way)
This guy claimed she had 'all she needed'. What she had: a rabbit cage with plastic shelving, a plastic run ball of doom, guinea pig food?, no dust bath (the guy has had her for three months and didn't know what one was), a bowl for food and a bowl (not water bottle) of gross water. No run wheel. Not anything salvageable for her, really.
When I asked the last time he'd taken her out, he said he wouldn't have considered ever taking her out. What is that. What kind of ignorance even is that.
I asked him his 'rehoming fee'. I was shocked at his initial offer, but ended up settling at $50. I'm picking up a cage for her, all wood (untreated poplar) and wire, for a generous $80 for what it is. I've purchased all her supplies other than the cage right when I got her (what annoys me most is that we were literally a single block from a petco and this guy never got her what she needed) which was about $65. And now, well, obviously she needs a vet visit and whatever treatment follows. $100+.
And I regret absolutely nothing. She's worth every penny! Being a teenager, my main source of income is my Ebay account, so I'm okay with spending money, and on her, I'm happy to (yes, I can afford her, as well). I can tell that she's had a good owner in the past. She is very tolerant, following the steps of a youtube video, I brushed her (she needed something immediately and I still had my old comb) and she was totally mellow and 'whatever' the whole time.
Gave her a raisin, a dust bath, food, a wire cage my friend temporarily lent to me (1/4" holes, her feet will be fine, but it's too small for a home), a water bottle, and a run around on my couch, and she loves me. Oh, and I love her. She reminds me of Thelanious (who's doing well, I'm still in contact with the current owner, by the way).
Her name is Plutona. She's staying in my room because I like the temperature to be a maximum 65 at any time, unlike everyone else in my house, ahaha! I'm still re-learning to take care of her, devoting about an hour a day to play time, and time to sporadic bursts of petting because OHMERGERH-CUTE.
I'm in the process of getting all of this situated. She's been here since the 5th, and there are still things she needs. I am gathering them all one piece at a time because that is as fast as I can. If there's any extra advice and support I can get from you all, that would be greatly appreciated.
(I'm going to try to post a before picture here and see how that works. I'm extremely new. Like, really, just made account new. And I don't know how to post more than one picture, if this is really even posting a picture, I don't know, so I can't show you her improvement already...)
That ball is a chinchilla? What? No way.
Sure enough, it was a chinchilla. A matted ball, desperately in need of some love. Some anything. The description was even more horrifying. In a scramble, I message this guy. I had once had a chinchilla (for about two years), Thelanious, a long time ago. I was forced to re home him by my parents through their divorce, which was probably the hardest part about their divorce in general, but hey. (We're very settled now, by the way)
This guy claimed she had 'all she needed'. What she had: a rabbit cage with plastic shelving, a plastic run ball of doom, guinea pig food?, no dust bath (the guy has had her for three months and didn't know what one was), a bowl for food and a bowl (not water bottle) of gross water. No run wheel. Not anything salvageable for her, really.
When I asked the last time he'd taken her out, he said he wouldn't have considered ever taking her out. What is that. What kind of ignorance even is that.
I asked him his 'rehoming fee'. I was shocked at his initial offer, but ended up settling at $50. I'm picking up a cage for her, all wood (untreated poplar) and wire, for a generous $80 for what it is. I've purchased all her supplies other than the cage right when I got her (what annoys me most is that we were literally a single block from a petco and this guy never got her what she needed) which was about $65. And now, well, obviously she needs a vet visit and whatever treatment follows. $100+.
And I regret absolutely nothing. She's worth every penny! Being a teenager, my main source of income is my Ebay account, so I'm okay with spending money, and on her, I'm happy to (yes, I can afford her, as well). I can tell that she's had a good owner in the past. She is very tolerant, following the steps of a youtube video, I brushed her (she needed something immediately and I still had my old comb) and she was totally mellow and 'whatever' the whole time.
Gave her a raisin, a dust bath, food, a wire cage my friend temporarily lent to me (1/4" holes, her feet will be fine, but it's too small for a home), a water bottle, and a run around on my couch, and she loves me. Oh, and I love her. She reminds me of Thelanious (who's doing well, I'm still in contact with the current owner, by the way).
Her name is Plutona. She's staying in my room because I like the temperature to be a maximum 65 at any time, unlike everyone else in my house, ahaha! I'm still re-learning to take care of her, devoting about an hour a day to play time, and time to sporadic bursts of petting because OHMERGERH-CUTE.
I'm in the process of getting all of this situated. She's been here since the 5th, and there are still things she needs. I am gathering them all one piece at a time because that is as fast as I can. If there's any extra advice and support I can get from you all, that would be greatly appreciated.
(I'm going to try to post a before picture here and see how that works. I'm extremely new. Like, really, just made account new. And I don't know how to post more than one picture, if this is really even posting a picture, I don't know, so I can't show you her improvement already...)