New chin Persephone comes with a sad story

[Chin_Parent]

We adopted a new chinchilla this weekend named Persephone, who has literally been through Hades a few times in her life (we didn't name her that, ironic). She's around 5 years old, and apparently has been in five different homes in her lifetime, one of which was a barn, where she spent three years of her life. Needless to say, she's a bit beat up and scared, her previous owner (who rescued her from the barn and only had her for a few months) said that when she first got her, she had burrs and knots in her fur. It also looks like she's chewed her fur pretty badly, not that anyone can blame her, though she's stopped doing so since leaving the barn and it's slowly but surely growing back.

She's been home with us for several hours now, and hasn't really eaten any pellets or drank any water, but she's gladly eaten a handful or two of orchard grass. It just brings tears to my eyes to think about how much this little girl has gone through, and she's going to be getting the crap spoiled out of her from now on. I'll post some pics tomorrow for you all to see, she's got the most gorgeous face ever, but her poor fur needs some work.

 

[Twilight Chinchillas]

We have a Persephone! Poor girl, glad she has a forever home, and won't be bumped around anymore! Look forward to pictures ,and getting to know her.

 

[mishellyshel]

looking forward to pictures. thank you for rescuing her.

 

[Pikaia]

Awww.. poor little girl. It's gonna take a while for her to adjust. Glad she found a good home with you!!!

 

[StevieP]

I love when chins are rescued and find a home that will spoil them forever. You are awesome

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

I love a happy ending!!! Little Miss Persephone has won the chinnie lottery and her life will now be one of constant love and spoiling!!! :hearts:

Can't wait to see pictures...

 

[Chin_Parent]

So I was going to post pictures yesterday when I was awake, but my husband recently switched my operating system to ubuntu, which is a PITA to figure things out on, however, I finally got a picture edited, and I'll post the rest when I'm done.

She came with one of those Super pet lime green tunnels and plastic purple shelves cages, which I'm not a fan of, eventually I'm probably going to get her an FN 142 for her and Chalupa. We're hoping we can introduce them to each other at some point, but I kind of want to wait until Persephone's hair grows back, which looks like it may take months. Does anyone have any suggestions to encourage or help the fur grow back, she's my first fur chewer and I wonder if there's anything we can do other than changing the quality of her life, feeding her well, and giving her regular dust baths.

I've been busily working on getting her fleece liners, and I'm going to make fleece covers for the shelves tonight when I get some more thread. However, she's going as well as she can now, considering what she's gone through. I know she's had water and hay at least, and I'm sure she'll settle in soon. She's been hopping around her cage a lot, and doing things that reassure me that she's still a chinchilla, lol, like snatching a willow stick from me and chewing on her lava ledges.

 

[Chin_Parent]

And here are the rest I took last night. I'll continue to take photos and make updates as I alter the cage, and I'll get some better ones without bars once she's a little more settled in.

 

[addictedtochins]

What a joy it will be to make her happy and healthy!

 

[Chin_Parent]

Pic Updates!

Here are some more pics of her and improvements I made to the cage. I finally got a good pic of her without bars. She really does have a beautiful face.

I made her covers for the plastic ledges, and added a terra cotta pot, which fits perfectly into the hole in the ledge. I also made her a GIANT corner hammock. Chinchy doesn't like his as much because it's sort of flimsy so I improved the design of this one, adding a layer of terry cloth in the middle for stability. She likes it and uses it like it's a ledge to hop up to the next level. She hardly ever used the cheap nylon hammock that came with the cage apparently, so we're going for improvements, lol.

When I first put in the ledge covers she went up on the top shelf and slept on it. Chins are great with positive reinforcement, they always seem so appreciative.

 

[Mikayla]

When I was at a show the judge said that it takes three 90 day cycles for fur to fully grow back in, but if you pull it out then it only takes one 90 day cycle. She might find this uncomfortable if she has severe fur chewing, and she may never stop, she might do it forever.

She's such a pretty Congrats!

 

[Chin_Parent]

Wow, that sounds horrendously uncomfortable to me, lol. That's interesting though. I'd rather not stress her out more and pull it out, especially considering she's already been through 90 days, and thus it wouldn't make it come back much faster. I've been watching her and she hasn't been chewing anymore, and the girl who rescued her said that she'd stopped since leaving the barn, but we'll see. I'd love for her fur to grow back and reach it's full potential, but I'll be fine either way as long as she's happy.

Thanks!

 

[comtnmama]

So happy she has found someone to spoil her silly! She does have a sweet face!!!

 

[RDZCRanch]

You could try offering her different types of hay. Alfalfa seems to help a bit with fur chewers, but really anything that lessens stress and keeps their mind off chewing can help. At the same time, there is often no help for fur chewers and they will always chew.

She's a pretty girl, congrats!

 

[Chin_Parent]

I do really think it's stress related so maybe there's hope, since she hasn't done it since she's been here. She's actually very mellow. Thanks for the suggestion.

I am worried about her eating pellets, she tends to stick to hay right now, although I do think she's eaten a couple pellets since she's been here. Hopefully her appetite will pick up soon, but otherwise she seems to be doing well.

 

[Chin_Parent]

Off topic, but rather than making another thread for it, I thought I'd share a pic of Chinchy I got this morning. Sleeping chins are so cute.

 

[xcdnchinx]

Congrats on rescuing her.. what a story she has. I bet she will be spoiled. Chinchy is super cute as well

 

[Chin_Parent]

She's officially eaten pellets now, more than the one or two that I saw her nibble on previously. Yay!

She's slowly becoming more comfortable, and now she doesn't freak out when I open the cage like she used to.