Pedro and Nutmeg

Pedro

I am an animal rescue worker at a shelter that takes all kinds of animals, not just cats and dogs. I work in the small animal section, where we have rabbits, guinea pis, rats, hamsters, gerbils, the occasional ferret, and less often, mice. I never thought we would get a chinchilla. They are just too cute to want to give up. But I was wrong. I had always wanted a chin of my own, so with the first call, I said I would adopt it.

As I was ending my shift, one of the other workers at the intake desk rushed into the room and said "Oh, my God, we just got a chinchilla! What do I do with it?" The girl had brought everything that the chin would need, and I was greatful for it. She was worried that he would have to stay in the shelter for a long time, but I told her it was ok, I was actually going to be the one taking him home, and I was leaving right then. She didn't want to say goodbye, she said it would make her cry, so we left him in his carrying box until she had gone.

I still hadn't seen him yet, and I was excited to meet my new friend, and hoped he was as friendly as I wanted him to be. He was sweeter than I'd ever hoped!! When I opened his box, he jumped right onto my chest and started to sniff my face, tickly whiskers and all! I named him Pedro, after Napoleon Dynamite's friend, because of his giant black whiskers.

I took him home, and let him play in my bedroom.

Every night I let him come and play in my bedroom (with my door closed, so he can't go anywhere I wouldn't be able to find him). Pedro's favorite place is, of course, under the bed, right in the middle where I can't reach him. One night, I was getting ready to go to sleep, and I was going to put him back in his own "home". I chased him around for about two hours, with no success. Then I lost him. He was simply gone. I thought he had hidden himself in one of my old car speakers (it no longer has anything inside, my cat usually sleeps in it) that I use for an end table. I knew I could never get him out of there, so I set out a dish of food and another of water. I woke in the middle of the night to strange chattering and a weight on my chest. Pedro had climbed onto my bed and was sitting on me! I tried to go back to sleep, but he wouldn't leave me alone, so I got up and tried to catch him again. This proved fruitless, and I went back to sleep. A short while later, Pedro was on me again, chattering. We repeated the chase game. When I went back to sleep a third time, and was again woken up, I realized something. Pedro wanted to be chased! We were, in his mind, playing tag! At that point I decided to completely ignore him, or I was going to get no sleep at all (it was already 4 am). When I woke in the morning, he was sleeping between my pillows next to me. I caught him just as he was waking up, and put him back in his home. He yelled at me the entire time I was getting ready for work, and started in immediately when I returned home.

Now that I have Pedro, I couldn't imagine life without him. Who else would yell at me every day?

A Precautionary Tale...

I found that, unbelievable as I thought it was from looking at my very round and fluffy Pedro, that chins really can squeeze into spaces that are only and inch and a half. The other day Pedro managed to get himself underneath my bath accessory cart!
It was like watching Houdini at work, he turned himself into a fuzzy pancake. I was completely amazed... One he got himself in, he did have trouble backing out, and started to call for me, so I helped him wiggle out. The second time he did it, I told him if he was going to get into tight places, he was going to have to get out of them himself. (I did stay with him to make sure he could do it.) I think he learned his lesson, because he didn't go back for a third try. :o)

Nutmeg

Nutmeg is a very young chin, only about seven or eight months old, and was surrendered to the shelter because he "did not make a good pet". They also thought he was a female, and that was how he got his girlish name. The family had only had him for two months. The woman's largest complaints about him were that he ran away when they tried to catch him, did not like to be held, and bit. When we received him, he had sore, cracked feet from his cage being dirty, was a little shabby and rough from improper diet (the food they gave us was well past it's "use by" date) and no access to a daily dust bath. He was terrified of anything that moved. Anyone with a chin knows that "catching" is always a bad idea. It made Nut very mistrustful of people in general.

When he first came to live with me in foster care, he was perpetually depressed. He would hide in a corner of his cage, and his ears were always down, causing us to nickname him Eeyore. Any hands in the cage were met with vicious nips, and growling. I have had rabbits that were like this, and I knew all he needed was time and a gentle hand to learn to trust people.

His cage is located in our living room, near the television where my son Tyler plays video games and watches his movies. Nut started to take an interest in my son's favorite activity, and now loves the T.V., becoming excited (chirping and hopping) when Tyler comes home from school. He will watch for hours, holding the bars of his cage, and sticking his nose out! It's adorable! I am recommending that his forever home place him where he can see the T.V. since he loves it so much. He doesn't like to be held yet, but with time he will come around, I'm sure of it. He has discovered that being touched is not all bad, either... He loves to have his ears rubbed, until, of course, he realizes that he's being touched! Nut is meeting some potential adopters soon, and we hope that they will be understanding and patient enough to want him in their life.