Here We Grow Again

It's truly amazing how much our rescue continues to grow.

In the past couple of weeks, four chinchillas have been adopted. It is bittersweet every time we see another of our fuzzbutts go off to a new home. The difficult part is saying good-bye to critters we've cared for, some of whom came to us out of less-than-ideal situations. But it is a joy knowing that they are now part of a family that will love them just as much as-- or even more than-- we have.

And on the subject of adoptions, we have recently been pleasantly surprised. Three more families are scheduled to come visit our Menagerie this weekend, each looking to adopt chinchillas. Even with all of these adoptions, however, we still have many more chins who need homes. Check out the Adoptions page to see who is available. (Note the page may not always be quite up to date.)

These adoptions are coming just in the nick of time. A while back, a family of six chinchillas came to us. The father, mother, and baby daughter had all been kept together in one cage, with an older sister/brother pair from a previous litter in another cage. Unfortunately, both the mother and the older sister were pregnant when they came to us. Sadly, the first kit did not survive.  a few days later the second female had her own kit who is doing nicely.

It is very difficult to tell whether a female chin is pregnant. Chinchillas of opposite genders, unless spayed or neutered, WILL breed. It is only a matter of time. We only adopt out chinchillas as same-gender pairs, or for a same-gender cagemate. Our adoption contract requires that an adopted chin, male or female, will not be put in a situation where a breeding is possible. We encourage all chinparents to practice responsible pet ownership and do not house male and female chins together.

With all that said, we would like to give a huge thank-you to Brian for his generous donation to the Menagerie. Because of that, we were able to purchase some additional bandwidth for the website, and will be able to keep it running strong. Even so, we still appreciate all donations, which go towards the care and upkeep of the Menagerie, so we can continue to provide a safe haven for chins in need.