Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[akaangela]

Hi all.  I have my 3 girls together in one cage (they are all the same age, JB, Snowball, and Hopper).  I rescued a poor girl who is suppose to be 4 years old and pregnant.  This poor girl is in BAD shape.  Her ears are tattered, her coat is icky.  I named her scruffy.  

Scruffy was in with other females and males so I am guessing she is pregnant.  I have her in a small cage with one shelf.  The cage seems really small (it is about 15"wide x 18"deep x 15" tall) Is this cage too small to keep her in till she delivers?

 I am making a new cage for my girls and thought I would divide it so Scruffy could have a bigger cage of her own, but not in with my other 3 girls.  Is this a good or bad idea?  Do you think the scruffy would get along with my girls?  

I put the cages close to let them see each other and scruffy bit JB's paw (JB had to try and touch Scruffy) I thought the cages where far enough apart but poor JB now has a sore paw for her troubles.  Could it be Scruffy is just scared and irritated?  From what I was able to tell she was in a large cage with many other males and females and was picked on a lot.

 If scruffy delivers and has girls I will probably just keep Scruffy and her girls in one cage and the other 3 girls in another.  If she has boys then I would like to put Scruffy in with the other girls and keep the boys in Scruffys cage.  Now the cages are going to be close together (on top of each other with a solid floor between them).  Will the girls and boys fight because they are so close together? I am assuming that Scruffy will have babies.  If not will she be lonely being by herself?  Should I try and get her introduced to my other girls?
Thanks for your help.  

BTW Scruffy is away from my girls so there is no way they can touch or even see each other now.
This is scruffy.  The photo is not good.  This is after almost a week and she is looking 100% better than she did before I got her.


These are my girls

[Jhenderson27]

Right now Time is your best friend, Take the time to let her acclimate to her new house.  Let her trust you and get used to you before introducing her to potential cagemates.  Not all Chins will get along, most will in due time, but its harder when they are older, not impossible.  If you have a fear she is pregnant then do not introduce her or cause un-needed stress.  Just let her relax and do what she needs to.  that cage is a little small, but it will be perfect for when the babies are here, remember 111 days, its only 3 months so you should know in a relativly short time if she is due.  Im just hitting the basics as I am at work, however i am sure someone else will come through and elaborate more.  The basics though, give her space, give her time, and let her trust you before another chin, a move is a big deal to them, just take baby steps.

[dianah]

she's a very pretty girl and so are you other girls.

i agree with j. give her time to get settled. in the future, you may be able to introduce her to your girls but it depends on the chins - i would wait until she either has babies or until it turns out she's not pregnant.

great for assuming she may be pregnant. she may not be, even if she's been housed with boys, but only time will tell. if she has boys, you will not be able to keep boys together if girls are present where they can see or smell them.

i would keep handling to a minimum, it's generally recommended you don't pick up pregnant chins unless they are happy to be handled and given she doesn't really know you that well.

sorry, brain not working, time to bed!

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Yes you have at least 4 months to make sure she's not pregnant, and at 6 if she is.
Take your time. Sit in front of her cage and talk to her offer her treats,let her come to you. Time & patients are great tools in gaining a chins trust.

[opaldamour]

I had a similar problem. When I got my two girls, they had been beat up durring breeding attempts. They were also undersocialized terribly, and my violet wrap, Dharma, was badly fur bitten. That is why the breeder was selling them, they were to stressed to attempt to breed again and she was 'reducing her herd'. Really, I think she had gotten over her head and didn't have enough time to spend with all of the chins that she had, and was good enough to recognize that the animals weren't getting th attention they deserved individually.

When we got Lily and Dharma, they were very stressed out and didn't want anything to do with us. If we even went near the cage they would freak out. It took us 2 months alone to get them ok with us being in the room and to get them to come out of the cage at all. After months of coaxing, treats, and patience they will now come out of the cage on their own, sit in our laps, crawl on our shoulders, and greet us when we come in the room. Dharma grooms my boyfriend's ears (its funny to watch), and Lily likes to play massage therapist. It just took alot of time.