greychins
NWI Chinchillas
So, in March 2012, a couple in their 20's purchased one of our pedigreed chinchilla kits. I received an email from them a bit ago, stating:
Hey, there isn't really an easy way to say this so I am just going to come out with it. We are having some financial issues and are having a hard time keeping the house cool enough for Keisa and giving her everything she needs. We don't have the time to give her the love or attention she deserves either. We are so busy just trying to make it that we feel she deserves a better home. We wanted to know if you'd be interested in taking her back, we may try and get her back when we are back on our feet but as of right now we just don't really have the means to take care of her like she deserves. I'm not sure how we would transport her as we don't have a car that could make it up there with working air conditioning.
So, long story short, I pay one of my friends to drive down to their location (2.5-3 hours from here) to get the chin and bring it back. That was done with the ok of the owners of this chin.
So the conversation continues:
Their email:
Looks like she is going to pick her up on Sunday, do you plan on selling Keisa or will she become part of your breeders or pets?
My email:
We have more than enough breeders/pets, we actually started adopting out some of our pets cause I had waaay too many pets and not enough room for rescues. So, likely, Keisa will be adopted out. Though, depending on how she's turned out (now that she's a bit more grown up), she might be kept for us to show her, see how she does, and if she did well, then she could be added to the breeding program. We'll just have to wait and see when I get her back.
Their email:
Well, Keisa will be coming with a cage and a ton of other stuff we got her over time, so you'd only need table space.
My email:
Unfortunately, that's beside the point. The space taken by her cage could be used for a cage that would hold rescues. I don't have endless tables to put these cages on, just what I have, and usually those are all full of cages holding rescues.
As for her being kept here, in all honesty, if I thought she was show quality, I probably would have kept her in the first place, and as I didn't, she will likely be adopted out. I understand your concern, but I have been very happy with the homes our chins have gone to - we've only had a handful of chins returned in 9 years, so it's not common. Usually, we have homes that are just nuts about chins and think they're the greatest and spoil them to death.
And, it's usually one or two-chin homes. The thing with the rescue is that when I have a ton of chins here, each chin gets a lot less attention than it would in a home with one or two chins. Part of the reason I've adopted out some of my own pets is because I realize they'd get a lot more attention elsewhere. Currently, the rescue is just about full. We have 22 chins (some are ours), 3 guinea pigs, the prairie dog, 4 rabbits, and 8 rats. That's 38 animals. With more coming in a few days. I can't say each animal gets individualized attention every day the way they would if they were in a home that didn't have quite as many critters. Sure, they get attention maybe every other day and they get spoiled and all, but it's not the type of attention they'd get in a one-chin home. Unfortunately, I can't spend hours with each chin even if I wanted to. That's why I've been only keeping the pets that I can't live without (which, at the moment, are only 2 chins as pets - my 1st and 3rd chin), cause I don't think it's fair to the others to keep them here when I'm so busy socializing rescues.
When she gets here, I could try to pair her up with another female and see how that goes. They could get adopted out together and then they'd have a playmate and a new family.
So I don't hear back from them, until today, when Keisa arrives. Now, the people picking her up forgot to have the forms filled out and signed, so I don't yet have my surrender forms in hand.
Now, Keisa is a bit more grown up, doesn't look too bad, but I want to give myself a few days to judge this for my own. But, I figured I'd email and let them know she got her.
My email:
Got Keisa today. She looks pretty good actually. No promises, but we may hang onto her and show her in October and see how she does.
I heard that my friend forgot the forms that would normally be filled out/signed, so I'm attaching them for you. If you could get those back to me, that would be great. Thanks!
Their email:
We are so thrilled to hear that! We have been upset all day, just missing her. If you can show her we would love it, we would even pay for her food when we get back on her feet, along with any other supplies she may need while shes with you.
Now what does this sound like to you? To me it sounds like they want me to pet sit the chin, even though they supposedly understood that they are surrendering this chin to the rescue.
My email:
I'm giving myself a few days to decide if we're going to show her or not, so I can see her at different times and see what I think.
Here's the thing. Even if I do keep her and show her. Say she does good at show and we decide to breed her. There's not a real "nice" way to say this, but say I decided to keeping Keisa and use her for breeding as part of my herd... she would be my chinchilla then, and would be staying here. I understand you want to get on your feet and get her back, but this is not a pet sitting business -- this is a rescue that breeds chinchillas on the side. If you wanted someone to pet sit her, you could have found a pet-sitter or something of the sort, but that's not what we are. You signed (or should be filling out, signing, and emailing back to me) the surrender form that I emailed you. That form gives Keisa over to the rescue and relinquishes any ownership right you have in her. That's how it works. It even says on the form --> "I understand that once surrendered, this animal will not be returned to me. " This wouldn't be the first time that someone has said, hey, hang onto the chin for a year and I'll come back and get it. I'm not saying you wouldn't come back, but giving a chin to the rescue means you have given it up. If we decided to adopt her out, and she happened to be up for adoption at the time you were ready to bring her back into your life, you would be welcome to adopt her. But that's all I can tell you. What you're asking for is for me to pet sit her until you're back on your feet, and that we don't do.
So... I'm trying to be nice, I really am. But first, he's asking me to keep the chin. Ok, even if I did... then I feel that it's my chin, and he wouldn't be "getting it back" if I decided to keep it. But then later, with what he says, he makes it sound like he wants me to just pet sit the thing. But then... that wouldn't be surrendering it over to the rescue. And in the first email I sent him, the one where I said "I got Keisa today, she's doing fine... yadda yadda" I sent him the surrender form and the info sheet that I have all surrenders fill out. Needless to say, he has not filled out and returned those.
So... I'm not quite sure what to do here.
On a side note -- we DO actually do what we call "boarding" --- that's when someone's had a rescue on hold for longer than a month, we charge $5/week for them to keep it here after the month. That started as a result of people putting animals on hold, and then pushing off picking them up.... for months at a time. So, it's not like I couldn't board her... but, that was NOT the impression I was under when he told me she needed to come back to the rescue, so I almost don't even want to offer that to him. Not to mention, I had to fork over the money for gas to get this chinchilla ($40), and if I'm being thought of as a pet-sitting service, I feel like I should be reimbursed for that.
Any thoughts on this entire situation?
Also, I'm iffy on whether, if they are having financial problems now... who says they'd be able to afford the air conditioning and have the time for the chin later? Most people don't go from "too broke to afford air conditioning low enough for a chin" to "rich beyond all means." But that's just my thoughts.
Everyone else?
Hey, there isn't really an easy way to say this so I am just going to come out with it. We are having some financial issues and are having a hard time keeping the house cool enough for Keisa and giving her everything she needs. We don't have the time to give her the love or attention she deserves either. We are so busy just trying to make it that we feel she deserves a better home. We wanted to know if you'd be interested in taking her back, we may try and get her back when we are back on our feet but as of right now we just don't really have the means to take care of her like she deserves. I'm not sure how we would transport her as we don't have a car that could make it up there with working air conditioning.
So, long story short, I pay one of my friends to drive down to their location (2.5-3 hours from here) to get the chin and bring it back. That was done with the ok of the owners of this chin.
So the conversation continues:
Their email:
Looks like she is going to pick her up on Sunday, do you plan on selling Keisa or will she become part of your breeders or pets?
My email:
We have more than enough breeders/pets, we actually started adopting out some of our pets cause I had waaay too many pets and not enough room for rescues. So, likely, Keisa will be adopted out. Though, depending on how she's turned out (now that she's a bit more grown up), she might be kept for us to show her, see how she does, and if she did well, then she could be added to the breeding program. We'll just have to wait and see when I get her back.
Their email:
Well, Keisa will be coming with a cage and a ton of other stuff we got her over time, so you'd only need table space.
My email:
Unfortunately, that's beside the point. The space taken by her cage could be used for a cage that would hold rescues. I don't have endless tables to put these cages on, just what I have, and usually those are all full of cages holding rescues.
As for her being kept here, in all honesty, if I thought she was show quality, I probably would have kept her in the first place, and as I didn't, she will likely be adopted out. I understand your concern, but I have been very happy with the homes our chins have gone to - we've only had a handful of chins returned in 9 years, so it's not common. Usually, we have homes that are just nuts about chins and think they're the greatest and spoil them to death.
And, it's usually one or two-chin homes. The thing with the rescue is that when I have a ton of chins here, each chin gets a lot less attention than it would in a home with one or two chins. Part of the reason I've adopted out some of my own pets is because I realize they'd get a lot more attention elsewhere. Currently, the rescue is just about full. We have 22 chins (some are ours), 3 guinea pigs, the prairie dog, 4 rabbits, and 8 rats. That's 38 animals. With more coming in a few days. I can't say each animal gets individualized attention every day the way they would if they were in a home that didn't have quite as many critters. Sure, they get attention maybe every other day and they get spoiled and all, but it's not the type of attention they'd get in a one-chin home. Unfortunately, I can't spend hours with each chin even if I wanted to. That's why I've been only keeping the pets that I can't live without (which, at the moment, are only 2 chins as pets - my 1st and 3rd chin), cause I don't think it's fair to the others to keep them here when I'm so busy socializing rescues.
When she gets here, I could try to pair her up with another female and see how that goes. They could get adopted out together and then they'd have a playmate and a new family.
So I don't hear back from them, until today, when Keisa arrives. Now, the people picking her up forgot to have the forms filled out and signed, so I don't yet have my surrender forms in hand.
Now, Keisa is a bit more grown up, doesn't look too bad, but I want to give myself a few days to judge this for my own. But, I figured I'd email and let them know she got her.
My email:
Got Keisa today. She looks pretty good actually. No promises, but we may hang onto her and show her in October and see how she does.
I heard that my friend forgot the forms that would normally be filled out/signed, so I'm attaching them for you. If you could get those back to me, that would be great. Thanks!
Their email:
We are so thrilled to hear that! We have been upset all day, just missing her. If you can show her we would love it, we would even pay for her food when we get back on her feet, along with any other supplies she may need while shes with you.
Now what does this sound like to you? To me it sounds like they want me to pet sit the chin, even though they supposedly understood that they are surrendering this chin to the rescue.
My email:
I'm giving myself a few days to decide if we're going to show her or not, so I can see her at different times and see what I think.
Here's the thing. Even if I do keep her and show her. Say she does good at show and we decide to breed her. There's not a real "nice" way to say this, but say I decided to keeping Keisa and use her for breeding as part of my herd... she would be my chinchilla then, and would be staying here. I understand you want to get on your feet and get her back, but this is not a pet sitting business -- this is a rescue that breeds chinchillas on the side. If you wanted someone to pet sit her, you could have found a pet-sitter or something of the sort, but that's not what we are. You signed (or should be filling out, signing, and emailing back to me) the surrender form that I emailed you. That form gives Keisa over to the rescue and relinquishes any ownership right you have in her. That's how it works. It even says on the form --> "I understand that once surrendered, this animal will not be returned to me. " This wouldn't be the first time that someone has said, hey, hang onto the chin for a year and I'll come back and get it. I'm not saying you wouldn't come back, but giving a chin to the rescue means you have given it up. If we decided to adopt her out, and she happened to be up for adoption at the time you were ready to bring her back into your life, you would be welcome to adopt her. But that's all I can tell you. What you're asking for is for me to pet sit her until you're back on your feet, and that we don't do.
So... I'm trying to be nice, I really am. But first, he's asking me to keep the chin. Ok, even if I did... then I feel that it's my chin, and he wouldn't be "getting it back" if I decided to keep it. But then later, with what he says, he makes it sound like he wants me to just pet sit the thing. But then... that wouldn't be surrendering it over to the rescue. And in the first email I sent him, the one where I said "I got Keisa today, she's doing fine... yadda yadda" I sent him the surrender form and the info sheet that I have all surrenders fill out. Needless to say, he has not filled out and returned those.
So... I'm not quite sure what to do here.
On a side note -- we DO actually do what we call "boarding" --- that's when someone's had a rescue on hold for longer than a month, we charge $5/week for them to keep it here after the month. That started as a result of people putting animals on hold, and then pushing off picking them up.... for months at a time. So, it's not like I couldn't board her... but, that was NOT the impression I was under when he told me she needed to come back to the rescue, so I almost don't even want to offer that to him. Not to mention, I had to fork over the money for gas to get this chinchilla ($40), and if I'm being thought of as a pet-sitting service, I feel like I should be reimbursed for that.
Any thoughts on this entire situation?
Also, I'm iffy on whether, if they are having financial problems now... who says they'd be able to afford the air conditioning and have the time for the chin later? Most people don't go from "too broke to afford air conditioning low enough for a chin" to "rich beyond all means." But that's just my thoughts.
Everyone else?