01/06/2007

We picked up this 'girl' Cilla today. He (underneath the matts she turned out to be a he!) was kept outside in a hutch. He was damp and stressed as kids were tormenting him and throwing stones at him.

'Cilla'

He wasn't given any hay and was not properly fed. He was given builders sand to roll in. A very kind neighbour managed to rescue him a few days ago and has tried her very best, even buying him a cage and all the things to go in such as a hammock and dustbath. She could not keep him so got in touch with us.

We have just cut off a few of the matts that cover his body. It will take a few more days to completely de-matt him. Here are a few pictures and a short video to show how bad he was. We will add more when we get some time.

05/06/2007

Cilla - most of the matts removed

We were worried about the way that he was eating last night, so we decided to get him checked out at the vets.

He has had xrays this morning (and a final de-matting whilst anaesthetised) and sadly they have confirmed that he has malocclusion. Through our experience, this could be due to a poor diet, stress and lack of gnaw chews and stimulation.

Cilla - feeling a bit better

He does not appear to be in any discomfort at the moment so we will keep a very close eye on him and make sure that he has a full and happy life for the time being.

We are making sure that he is very spoiled and are giving him plenty of seasonal mix and twigs to chew on.

14/06/2007

Cilla after ten days

He is now eating like there's no tomorrow. He seems to be much happier now that his coat is cleaner and is free from matts. He is now grooming himself and enjoying his sand bath in proper chinchilla dust!

19/07/2007

Cilla feeling better!

Cilla is doing very well and is looking much better. As you can see he is fond of a mini shreddie and loves dried apple. He has his nose to the cage every morning when he smells my toast. He always gets a little piece of the crust to munch on.

05/09/2007

Sadly, Cilla has passed away. He was a beautiful, gentle creature who I believe appreciated the short time that he spent with us. He suffered from malocclusion, and though we tried our very best for him, years of neglect took their toll. Cilla had to go to the vets to have his teeth burred down at the end of August. Sadly he would not eat hay or anything which would help to keep his teeth rasped. Unfortunatly on Monday this week, a week after his operation, he was still not doing too well. We took him back and he had another xray and they took a look in his mouth while he was under. Sadly it seemed to be a tooth root abssess and we had no other option than to let him go. We are very sad to say goodbye to Cilla, he was a very special chinchilla and will not be forgotten by any of us.

Rest in peace Cilla.

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Sugar was already an old lady when she came to us, and has now reached the grand old age of 25. She's still one of the liveliest and friendliest in the rescue.

We think that she must be one of the oldest in the UK - drop us a line if you know of an older chinny.

Many thanks to Lucy from Huddersfield for adopting Sugar.

If you want to adopt one of our long term residents, then please get in touch. You will receive a certificate and some goodies to thank you and you can rest assured that it will help to care for your chosen chinny.

Sad News 16/10/2007

I post this with great sadness. Yesterday, when I went to see the chins, I found my old girl peacefully in forever sleep.

Sugar was, as far as we know, the oldest chinchilla in the world at 25 years old.
She was very very special and has lived a very long happy life. She was always very bright and bubbly and definitely the matriarch of the chin room. She has had a few near misses in her time and always pulled through.
She was a beautiful old girl and very cheeky.
Although she was not one for being picked up she would let you have a tickle until she had enough, then she would push you away and walk off !
She was always one of the first to the cage door when we go into the room. Always wanting to know what was going on.
When we took Sugar on she had been in a barn where a rat had been terrorizing all the chins in there. The rat killed a baby, bit many of the chins and bit through one of the chins legs which was broken and badly infected (which we later had amputated). The rat also killed Sugars' 22 year old partner "Old Lad".

Run free with "Old Lad" Sugar, you will never be forgotten.

Sugar 1982 - 16/10/2007

Sadly, we now belive thta Bouncer has also passed away after a great, long life.

Hi Guys,

Had a look at your great website and thought I'd drop you a line regarding the oldest known chin! Kind regards,

Liz (Chinchilla Chat Line www.chinchat.net)

Bouncer

Record Breaking Bouncer is now officially a world record breaking chinchilla, and has a certificate to prove it. He is the world's oldest chinchilla.
Bouncer was 27 years old on the 1st July! I think this now makes him the oldest chinchilla on record ever, as the only other one was recorded in America and died at 26. Three cheers for Bouncer!
Bouncer was born on 1st July 1977 on a chinchilla ranch in Nottingham owned by Mr. Sweeney. We purchased him when he was 12 months old. He has had quite an uneventful life ( perhaps this helped towards him living to such an incredible age). He has moved house with us twice and coped well with the upheaval, and he has never been to the vets. This caused us some problems with his record attempt, it was difficult to prove his age as no vets had any details of him. Bouncer is not so fast on his feet as he used to be and no longer lives up to his name but apart from a cataract he is still fairly healthy. His secret to old age could be down to the fact he has never been overly pestered or over fed, he eats his routine pellets and hay and gets a treat of a couple of raisins most days. He has always been very good natured and handles well too.

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