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Jlieberman

Jlieberman

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 19, 2012
Messages
48
Location
Glendale, AZ
hi just joined the forum tonight and wanted to introduce myself

my name is Julie and I am on the board of directors for a wonderful rescue group called Piggie Poo we are a no kill shelter that manly takes in unwanted homeless guinea pigs but from time to time we get other critters needing our help ( rats , rabbits , hamsters , and chins )

currently we have 2 female chins that came to us from 2 different families

the first one is a standard grey named Juliet ( her Romeo died earlier this week ) of course neither of them had been altered so i have her here at my house waiting to see if she is pregnant or not ... she is very friendly and easy to handle and a real sweetheart .. roughly a year old

the other girl we just got from the humane society yesterday is Channell another standard grey .. she also was housed with a male so waiting out her pregnancy watch too ... she has some issues though ..she is missing most of her tail , has a front foot she does not use much but rather keeps curled close to her chest she can walk on it and hold food but most of the time it is curled up .. she also has one eye that is always slightly closed .. she is also a nasty bitter .. we think she is roughly 6months - 1 year

both girls are living together and are getting along fine .. I need some tips / advice on the biting habit that I can only imagine is from a crappy home life

along with the chin girls I have been adopted by 2 rats ( one is a red eye white that is slowly losing her eye sight ) also a 5 year old guinea pig who partially blind in one eye and is borderline diabetic .. a guinea pig who came to me as a biter from humane society.. another elderly guinea pig who is nearly blind and really showing her age .. and a little "mini" guinea pig who is from a backyard breeder so is now stunted in his growth .. and 1 goof ball dog who thinks he is a guinea pig

I also take in anywhere from 10-12 guinea pigs at any given time if our shelter is full or the piggies are hurt / sick / pregnant , or too young to be adopted .. they all manage to find a way my house :)

plus my regular jobs I am pretty busy but would not have it any other way
 
The first thing I would do is take Channell in to see a qualified, experienced chinchilla vet. When an animal is sick or in pain, they bite. She may have a broken paw in addition to either an eye infection or a tooth issue. Before you try and fix her biting, find out what's wrong with her. If THAT can be fixed, the biting may fix itself.

Welcome to CnH. :)
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. Sounds like you are busy.

As far as the biter goes, I wonder if there is an issue with her front paw and maybe she is in pain? I would keep an eye on her, maybe a vet visit is in order. I would also watch the two new roommates closely, especially if they could be pregnant...

We always recommend a quarantine period with any new chins brought into a new home, it is too late now, but for future reference. Quarantine is separate cages, separate rooms and lots of handwashing between handling the different chins. This should last for about a month to insure that the new chins do not spread any illnesses they may have from a previous home.

There's lots of information to be found here. Read away... :)
 
Welcome to the forum! :)

About the rescue chin with some problems...Are the problem eye and problem foot on the same side? If so she might have had a minor stroke at some point. But I agree that ruling out the possibility of fracture or infection to be a good idea. And missing her tail! Does that look like a birth defect, or is it from an injury? Poor thing. Sounds like a really rough start. I hope it gets better for her.
 
Welcome to the forum Julie. Glad you are here and took both girls in. I hope Channell feels better soon.
 
I had to go look but yes the foot / eye issue is on the same side the foot she is having problems with is actually smaller than the other one she is able to hold food and move her toes she jumps and runs around like normal but I will make an appointment with our vet just to make sure

I don't think the tail is from a birth defect .. we can see the tip of the tail since there is fur missing on the very tip of the tail her balance is a little off when jumping so i think she may of lost her tail at some point i would think if it was gone from birth she would have adjusted better instead of being off balanced

I am really considering adopting them myself once the pregnancy watch for both girls is over with
 
Welcome !! Besides all the good advice I want to say you should NEVER spay a female chin unless it is to save the chin's life. Just make sure they go to a pet home without a male chin
 
both girls are going to stay together and I have talked it over with my husband and we are going to adopt them .. and since I don't have a male chin we are safe lol

I had them out today for some play time and they were into everything !! Channel seems to be getting around perfectly fine and moves just as quick as Juliet but she does have an app later this week
 
i can not get over how much i am loving these two little fuzzy butts .. i don't think i am going to get much sewing done with the around i was having to much fun watching them explore and play

they even jumped into the cages of the guinea pigs scared the piggies half to death at first lol but thankfully everyone gets along
 
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