Cage Pictures

Wanted to share a quick story with you all.  I had a potential adopter who was all set to come by.  They were emailing / texting / fb messaging back and forth, trying to set up an appointment, all excited.

Well, then I was waiting for an email from them, wanting to set up a time to come by (like once we'd nailed down some potential days), and I got another excited email from them, asking if they could come later that day, and also sending me a pic of their cage that they were so excited about. 

The cage itself was fine as far as size, though it had plastic shelves and a few other unsafe items.  I mentioned to her, hey, watch for chewing on the plastic shelves, and replace with wood shelves if /  when (WHEN) she noticed chewing, and she had this... I guess you could say a hanging fabric tube, and so I told her, I'd stay away from anything fabric other than fleece, plus the fact it was hanging by four thin cords... all the chin needed to do was chew the cords, and it'd dump itself to the bottom of the cage.  Might have been one other thing I mentioned, but all in all, I wasn't crucifying her cage.  It was decent, just a few things to watch out for.

I never heard from her again. 

Part of my message was saying that she could come later that day, and probably the best thing as far as that would be to send me a text or call me, as emails pile up, and I'll see a text or call way faster than an email, which gets quickly buried.  Didn't hear from her... about a week later, ran across that email again, and so I sent her another email, basically saying, hey, I didn't hear back from you after I sent you some tips on your cage, let me know if you're still wanting to set up an appointment.

That was at least a week ago, if not more.

Which is fine. 

But here's the thing... if you send me a pic... of anything... I want the best for the critters.  So, if you send me a pic of an unsafe cage, I will tell you, and I will be helpful and try to advise ways you can make it safe (if possible).  If you tell me (like in a current email in my inbox) that you are feeding nuts and dried carrots, I will tell you that that's a bad idea and why, and what treats may be better for the chin's health.  I'm not here to sugarcoat and make everyone feel like happy rainbows and unicorn smiles.  Rather... and I suppose this may be surprising to some (considering this is hardly the first person who doesn't respond back after I advise that things aren't safe)... I WANT YOUR CHINS TO LIVE HEALTHY HAPPY LIVES.  It gets old when people show up all the time and tell me their chin died of old age at age 5, and you find out it ate fresh fruit daily and walked outside on a harness and played with the family cat (who it loooooved, even when the cat used to swat at it).  It gets very old.  I want you to come back in 15 years and want another chin, not in 5 years.  So, you have to understand, when I advise that something isn't safe... it's not because I want you to feel bad (and honestly... I'm awfully nice about it, so some of you need to grow a pair if MY constructive criticism is offending you)... it's for the health of the chin.  That is all.