Contacting, Part 2

I have another person on my waiting list right now... that sort of fell off the face of the earth.  She told me about her two chins she wanted to bring into rescue, quite in depth actually.  I told her I would add her to the waiting list, and due to how she was caring for the chins, and how she expected them to continue to be cared for (all sorts of playtime, all sorts of individual attention, certain routines, what they were used to), I told her, best thing would be to have them go directly to a foster home, as I don't have that much individual time here.

And actually, that is why some of the chins end up in foster homes, because they can use more of that awesome one-on-one attention, so that's the whole purpose of having foster homes to start with.

Anyway, sending the chins directly to a foster sounds great in theory, but I only have a few foster homes, and the chins in those homes tend to be less-adoptable chins... so... they're not flying out the doors.

She had actually been added to the waiting list back at the end of January.  At the end of April (our waiting list can sometimes be extensive), I got a message from her, saying that she was moving and would prefer to have the chins go to a new home / foster home / whatever, rather than have her move with them, and then have them move again to the foster home, and she wanted to know how things were progressing on this end.  I sent her an email back, saying that the foster homes were all full right now, but that I could take them in at the rescue, and then transfer them to a foster home as soon as one had an opening.  She responded back right away, saying that that would be great, and asked if they'd have any playtime at the rescue, or did I have too many chins here for that?  I responded back...

Sometimes the adults can get out and run, as there's definitely less of those (the babies can't have playtime until they're 6 months old, so it definitely lessens how many chins actually can have playtime, out of the chins here), but that happens more often if I have volunteers here to help.  Myself, between emails / phone calls / orders and regular feeding / watering / care, I'm lucky if I get a few hours of sleep a night.  If only I could live without sleep, lol!  I do have a pop up playpen that I set up on occasion to have the chins run around, but of course, the little stinkers can escape it, so there has to be someone watching at all times.  So you can imagine, if I have 10 rescues and they all need to be let out for 30 minutes a day, that's 5 hours of time....

Just being honest, you know?  The rescue adults do sometimes get playtime... but not typically by me.  Apparently that was the wrong answer?  Cause that was back on May 11th, and I never heard back.

I didn't really think about this until the 26th, as I was going to call the next person on my waiting list, and I saw that I hadn't crossed that person off yet.  So, I dug up that email, and sent her another email:

Hey,

Just realized I never did hear back from you about this.  Are you still wanting to bring the chins in, or no?  I have room for them right now, but if you're not wanting to bring them in at the moment, or wanting to wait for a foster home to open up, just let me know, and I will bring in another chin on my waiting list.

Talk to you soon! 

See, again, chasing after people.  The thing is... if she does want to bring the chins in, she wants to bring her decked out cage for them.  Perfectly fine... but I just need to have room for it.  That's some of the difficulty with this sort of thing.  I won't hear from people for ages, and then when I do... like sometimes I email people saying ok, you can bring your chin in.  Never hear back... until 3 months later, and then some are like, "cool, I'll come this Saturday."  And then it's like, well, hold up, I no longer have room.  That's the kicker.  When I contact someone and let them know I have room for their chin... that is, I have room right that moment.  I will hold that cage open or space open (if they're bringing a cage or whatever) for a few days, but not forever.  But then, when the people contact me, after 3 months of silence, and want to bring the chin in, that weekend... I actually feel bad, when I don't have room.  Stupid, right?  It's not my fault I don't have room, it's not my fault they waited so long to contact me back.  But, yet, I feel bad.  Which I suppose is why I try to chase people down... I'd rather hear from them, in a response to my email, rather than a few months later, when they're in dire needs of bringing the chin by, and I have no room.

I did actually hear back from her, same day.  This was her response:

Thanks, Ashley  

I’m so sorry I didn’t get back to you. Yeah, I’ve been getting the house ready to sell and been so super busy, plus, it’s been an emotional issue I haven’t really wanted to face. When you said you wouldn’t be able to let the chins out much if any at all, I just couldn’t do that to them.  A rescue in the Chicago area had room, and seemed to be very good at finding homes, so I went ahead and took them there. It was really hard, and I’m just hoping they have a good life. Thank you so much for all your help!

Ok, so chins at another rescue.  Would have preferred if she let me know, but you know how that goes.  You know, not letting out chins for playtime... *gasp* the horror!  Lol.  Everyone has priorities.  For me, finding a good home -- in general -- is better than finding a home that cares for them badly... but lets them out everyday.

If you all saw the condition of most of these animals when they come in, you'd hardly say that me not letting them out is making them suffer.  A lot of these animals don't have food, cause the owner ran out "last week," or they live in glass tanks, or they're fed wildly inappropriate diets, or they're housed with other species, or the cat bit them and they need medical care, or they're housed without AC, or without dust, or... you get the idea.  I don't personally think playtime is essential, like many people do, and partially I think it's because so many people find it so difficult just to handle basic care... playtime is sort of an afterthought.  Plus, many chins don't even like it.

Anyway, I'm not familiar with any Chicagoland chin rescues... other than say, like, a humane society that might take in chins, so I emailed back, and asked if she could tell me where she took them, so I can use it as a reference for people.  And really, if it is a legit place, I would.  It's always good to have places to send people, if I'm full.

Sad to say... the place she went to was FurryLovables.... she told me a bit about what the lady was like.  Unfortunately... well, let me put it this way...she's not known as a "good" rescue... this is what I sent back:

Well, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, she's known in the chinchilla community as the place to not take your chins.  She's known for keeping in the females that come in (like keeping vs. rehoming), and breeding them, and rehoming the males, well, and the females that don't breed.  She breeds without regard for health or genetic issues, versus breeding to better the breed / to show.  I personally know of 5 people who've gotten chins from her that weren't just sick, but literally on death's door with dental and other genetic issues, and when taken to the vet for a health check, the vets told them, the chins didn't develop these problems overnight, they were sick for a long time and their health issues were literally ignored.  Someone who adopted several chins from here, came here after adopting one from her... she took it to the vet the same night for an exam, just like a wellness check sort of thing, and the chinchilla had such bad teeth that the mouth was full of puss and oozing, open absesses in the mouth.  The vet said there's no way the chin had been eating for at least a week or two, if not more, and that any reasonable owner would have noticed that something was wrong, as the chin was also slightly drooling, due to the puss.  The chin was put out of it's suffering, and the adopter contacted Tracy.  Tracy told her... "oh, sorry for your loss."  Nothing more.  Personally, we have a health guarantee on our chins, and would replace one that was sick and passed (that almost never happens... four times in 15 years), but my response sure wouldn't be "oh sorry."  Of course, I don't know that those chins weren't unhealthy when she got them... but they never should have been adopted out in the conditions that they were in, health-wise, and of course, the backyard breeding, which is creating many of the genetic issues, isn't exactly smiled upon, to say the least.

Since the chins are there now... you might ask her to rehome them to a place that would let you contact them to know they're doing well, so hopefully to light a fire under her to actually rehome them and not hang onto them for creating the next generation of pets.  She puts on a good front, don't get me wrong... but she's a place we all steer people away from.  

It's like, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but unfortunately, not the best place for those chins.  :(

But good news!  Apparently this lady's gut feeling told her not to drop off the chins there, so she wasn't thrilled with everything as it was... she decided, she's going to get them back and bring them here.  Win for the chins!  This one ended well, but they don't always...