Bella’s kit is a male (checked earlier today) and he seems to be doing pretty well. He is getting to grips with the whole suckling thing and Bella appears to be finally settling down to motherhood. He’s a cutey – very quiet and shy. He’s also very small, weighing 44g yesterday but surprisingly (kits usually lose weight in the first 24 hours or so before the mother’s milk comes in) he had gained 1g today.

Here is the little chap:

"Shorty"

I popped into the chin room this morning to check on “Shorty” (I do hope that name does not stick – like “Thug“) and from the corner of my eye I noticed that Leila had gone into labour. She’s not due until Monday and I was on my way out to Roman & Jane’s Chinchilla Rescue to help out – I made a quick phonecall to Jane to tell her that Leila had changed my plans for me and I would be late. I then started hopping from foot to foot and banged on Talie’s door so she could watch the kits being born.

Leila is another Manor character. She is feisty and can be a real stroppy madam when she wants to be but I love her dearly and she has the ability to always make me smile. One of her favourite hobbies is taking off my glasses. I got her about 4 years ago from a breeder who literally gave her to me because she had a couple of tiny (5 pence piece sized) fur chew marks on her hip and so was of no use to the breeder at all.

I brought her home to The Manor and settled her into a cage which was just about at eye level and spent weeks slowly and carefully interacting with her. This is when I discovered she liked my glasses. It took all of a couple of days for Leila to settle into The Manor and she stopped fur chewing instantly; it was clearly stress/boredom related. With some toys and gentle attention Leila turned into a beautiful chinchilla – both in character and in body.The only time she has ever shown any sign of fur chewing again was when I moved her to a cage she did not like – it was too high for her and she could not “chat” to me quite so readily. She took one small nibble of her fur in exactly the same place as when she originally arrived. Moving her back to an eye level cage stopped the habit again – so now she stays in the same cage level and is perfectly happy.

Leila’s last litter produced two cracking standards (Griselda and Genville) who both won group awards – Griselda won a 3rd (dark standard female group) at the National in April 2006 which I was very chuffed with since these were the first standard chinchillas I had bred. Grenville now lives the life O’Reilly with a friend of mine, shares a cage with a chin that Debbie bred called Moley (big, squishy, cuddly lump of a chin!), and still managed to win 1st, Reserve Best Adult Standard Male and Reserve Best Standard at a show last September (Southern Region) – that’s not bad going for a 3 year old.

Both Grenville and Griselda have inherited Leila’s character – George, their father (and the father of the latest litter) is quiet, a bit aloof but absolutely amazing as a breeding male – he is suave and very gentle with his girlies and never misses a trick. Currently he’s looking a bit porky because he’s got 3 females and he pops up in each cage when you go round with the treats – if you’re not paying attention he’s snaffled 3 treats before you’ve noticed!

Currently it is difficult to tell which of the two chins is pregnant – as this photo demonstrates

George (on the shelf) and Leila a few days ago

Thankfully Leila’s labour was pretty uneventful – she had triplets this time: 2 females and a male. She was pretty tired by the end of it and when she finally expelled the placentas I did not let her eat them. I removed them, gave her a raisin instead, and left her to settle with the kits.

Talie took some excellent photos – will upload them tomorrow. Right now I’m off to watch the kits settle with their mother.

Bella gave birth today. When I went into the chin room at 6:30 there were no signs of any activity but then a chin started manic barking at 7:15ish. Talie went in to see who was making the commotion – yeah, like they are going to admit it. LOL – every chin sat there looking angelic, silently proclaiming their collective innocence. I wandered along to check on Bella again.

There was a little kit, slightly cold and a bit wobbly but beginning to dry off. I gave the kit to Talie to pop into a towel so she could help dry and warm her up and then went to see what else was happening. Bella was soaked and a little bloody and was pushing again. Unfortunately this second kit was breech and Bella had overdone it a bit on the clean up operation. The kit was stillborn – the legs and tail were intact (surprising because chinchillas often damage legs or tail during breech delivery) but she had removed the umbilical cord and had coninued to nibble the kit. I could not determine its sex because the genitalia were missing and some of the intestine as well.

Losing kits is always difficult but sometimes there it just nothing you can do – had I been in the chin room 5 minutes earlier I might have been able to help the kit out and it might have been alive ……….. you can drive yourself crazy with “might have” or “what if”. Some things are just not meant to be and nature can sometimes be a cruel mistress – knowing that does not make it any easier though and each loss is felt. If  each death did not touch me then it would be time to stop keeping chins – everybody who knows me knows that I’m too soft for my own good really! A sucker for a sob story and a push over for a misfit.

I took the poor little kit away from Bella and left her to settle a bit and pass the afterbirths (which she did successfully). Talie had, by this point, dried the first kit off some more but she was still a little cold. I popped her down my pyjama top and waited for the wriggling to start. Sure enough, after 5 minutes or so, the little kit was moving about and was nice and warm.

I popped her (keep saying “her” but need to check properly later) back in with Bella, changed the cage’s bimble pad for a clean one, made sure the heat mat was nice and warm, and left Bella to it.

So far all is quiet ………………. Bella seems to be settling with the little kit and the kit seems to be gaining in co-ordination.

Bella had twins in her last litter but the little charcoal only survived for a few hours and died snuggled on my chest. It seems she is destined only to have 1 kit survive.

Good grief! How time flies. Tonka (aka Fingerbobs) is a year old today.

He celebrated his first birthday with an extra mini shredded wheat and a good old tickle under the chin. The shredded wheat went down well; the tickling did not. “Mr Independent” has become a stroppy adult, even more so since he lives with Gracie. Oh yes, he’s quite protective of his Mrs. Tickling, it seems, is not dignified for a chinchilla in his position – I had my hand firmly shoved aside and he proceeded to nibble me in disgust. Gracie just watched from her dust bath.

Today was also marked by the sad passing of dear Maya. Recently she had begun to show the earliest signs of discomfort when she was eating and would only take the syringe food. Debbie and I discussed her future and we both agreed that the time was right for her to be given a dignified, peaceful, and pain free rest.

I took her to see Jade after giving her one last syringe feed – she went in her beloved cozy bed, warm and with a full tummy. Just as I promised.

Putting any animal to sleep is heartbreaking but putting a spirited one to sleep is even more heart-wrenching. Maya had such a zest for life but her body (her teeth in this case) betrayed her. I popped her in the anaesthetic box still tucked up in her bed and bless her she just sat there…. and sat there ….. and stubbornly sat there! She fought the anaesthetic. There was no struggling, just an iron-willed defiance as she sat in her bed. For a few moments I agonized over whether I was doing the right thing for her. I almost asked Jade to stop – just for a split second – but I looked at Maya’s little face and I just could not put her through any more. To do so would have been incredibly selfish.

In some respects it was the hardest euthanasia I have participated in – others were excruciating in different ways but Maya; dear, stubborn, feisty, precious and amazing Maya had made me question my decision. No other chinchilla has ever made me do that – regretted having to do it because the loss is painful, yes but question the decision? No. When I took the emotion out of it and looked at the situation from a purely clinical viewpoint I knew it was the right decision.  Maya had rocked my confidence – even though, in my heart of hearts I knew I was doing the right thing for her.

Jade was brilliant – she has carried out so many euthanasias for me over the last 3 years or so and she knows me very well. When Maya was gone she felt Maya’s bottom jaw and simply said “1 million percent right decision”. In that moment it was one simple sentence which meant so much.

I brought Maya home, now forever sleeping in her beloved bed – she will be buried in The Manor alongside all the other precious little souls. I should imagine chinny heaven is in for a wake-up call.

Sleep well, Maya – I hope you’re causing chaos wherever you are!

Maya on her cozy towel

Maya the grump - love her attitude!