10/07/2025
The other day, we got in a 10ish year old chinchilla at our chinchilla rescue, named Tiago (pictured). Tiago’s owner was very sweet, and you could tell that she would have kept him if she could, though unfortunately, her change in life circumstances would not allow her to.
While of course this is sad, Tiago’s coming to our rescue brings up a larger issue that spans not only chinchillas, but rehoming animals / pets in general. This topic is something that not everyone may agree with, and that’s ok! I find the divergence of opinions to be interesting, so I wanted to share it here.
As some of you may know, we live on a farm. When we moved to the farm, we jumped in feet first. Scratch that, head first, and bonked our head on the bottom of the lake apparently, because we got a handful of everything. We didn’t buy a goat or two, no, we bought a herd or two. Mind you, we already had our chinchillas and our dogs. But heck, we could now have dairy goats, to save us having to constantly buy goats milk for the puppies and chinchillas that I occasionally had to hand feed. We could have our own chickens, to save us from buying eggs. Now, this was not irresponsibly done -- we have *always* been able to care for, feed, and pay for the veterinary needs of said animals. But here’s the thing – we got to the point where we couldn’t spend as much time as we wanted to with all of them. While all the animals were being appropriately cared for… it was just too much. I want the best for all my animals. Not *just* that their needs are met, but that they are happy, have enrichment, and are living their best lives.
So, this year, we started downsizing. We started with the goats, and went from like 30-40 head, to more like 15. We made a big push to re-home Dova (one of our livestock dogs) and she is now living at another farm where her skills are appreciated. And then we moved onto some of our smaller dogs, the shelties.
First, we rehomed Roxy, who had just turned 9. Roxy was a dog that thrived on human attention. Toys? Eh. Treats? Eh, she could live without them. But human pets and lovings?? OMG she *lived* for those. In my opinion, we could no longer give her what made *her* life worthwhile, so we found her a home that *could.* Did I want to keep her? Sure. Do I think she will take a bit to adjust? Well sure. But I have no doubt that she still has plenty of years of life ahead of her, and *she* will be happier with someone who can devote their undying love and attention to her. Moving on, we have Sky, who is 11. Similar to Roxy, though not quite as Velcro, Sky is a great farm dog with a nice medium energy personality. Sky really enjoys her people, and one-on-one time, which again, we don’t have a lot of anymore. As I write this, she’s laying by my feet, and eagerly awaiting her appt to go to her new home this upcoming weekend.
I know you’re saying, Ashley, what is the connection between the dogs and the chinchillas? Get to the point! Here’s where I’m going with this -- when I posted Sky as looking for a new home, people lost their ever-loving minds (and similar, though not as drastic for Roxy). My sheltie page normally has something like 3000 visitors when I post something extra exciting. Sky’s rehoming post generated enough interest (read, hate) that the visitor count skyrocketed to 34,000 (yes, thirty-four THOUSAND). I had to ban people and limit commenting to what facebook calls “established followers.” Why? Because I was “rehoming a dog that had spent most of its life with me.” Now, was I doing just that? Sure.
But hold on! People do that to senior chinchillas EVERY. DAMN. DAY. and NO ONE blinks an eye.
Why is that? Apparently there’s differences. But… are there really?
--A small/medium dog can live into it’s upper teens if cared for well. At worst, early / mid teens. So can a chinchilla.
--A dog knows who its owners are / who feeds it / who cares for it. So does a chinchilla.
--A dog can be affectionate with its owners. So can a chinchilla.
--A dog can remember if someone’s been nice / mean to it. So can a chinchilla.
--A dog can be happy (or not) to see someone. So can a chinchilla.
--A dog has a personality and can express if they want to be touched / handled… or not. So can a chinchilla.
I CAN GO ON.
To quote a Disney movie… “Them? Us? Look at them. They ARE us.”
But somehow… it’s *not* ok to rehome a senior dog. But my chinchilla rescue is CHOCK FULL of senior chinchillas, most of whom are unceremoniously dumped by their owners who grow tired of them, don’t have time for them… you name it. And for some reason, no one is up in arms about this. This is just “ok,” when it’s a senior chinchilla.
I personally don’t fault anyone for rehoming their pet. If that person doesn’t feel like they can give the animal the appropriate life / care any longer, who are we to say that they can? Some people feel differently, and that’s ok. I would rather rehome an animal that I feel could live a better life elsewhere, versus keep it / warehouse it. To me, it doesn’t make sense to keep the animal, just because I “shouldn’t uproot it”… when it might be able to live a better life elsewhere. Whether that pet is a chinchilla, a dog, a rooster, or what have you… sometimes rehoming IS the answer.
But IMO, it shouldn’t be perfectly ok to rehome a senior animal of one species and get crucified for rehoming a senior animal of another species.
