Over and over again I am reminded of all the ways that we as humans have failed and it never changes the way we are destined to be. We are destined to be these horrible creatures hell bent on destroying ALL life around us at all costs. The worse cost being their salvation for our own sick twisted needs. I can go on an on forever but the truth still remains. Each and every one of us is guilty of destroying something else in order for us to gain. I have killed countless of spiders and although I feel guilt I can not guarantee that I will not kill again. There was a time a hit a squirrel doing 180 (don’t ask why I was going so fast oh ya my Dad just bought me my Lemans and we were trying to top it out ). What I say in the rear view will forever change and haunt me. The things that humans are capable of doing.

Like the Holocaust. I can not wrap my head around that. Here is one deranged man who was able to corrupt the thinking of other beings and convince them to murder INNOCENT people. Beyond murder there was the perverted tests and experiments and the rest of the world just sat idly by. For one I don’t understand what it is he hoped to accomplish. World domination? For What? To do What? To KILL every human? To sit alone in a war torn world that is incapable of any life because you massacred it all? Who would worship you if there was nobody left? But besides all the insanity where was the rest of the world? No matter who you are as a human being there is SAFETY in numbers so why didn’t the WHOLE world just build a wall and take him down? I would NEVER allow another human being to suffer but now here we are allowing it all to happen again.

I can’t imagine being in Afghanistan right now with my family but there is guaranteed a mother just like me barely hanging on. Watching others getting airlifted to safety and hearing no ma’am there is no room for you. Please just take my son he is far to young to die. The president of the country that was keeping things somewhat sane fled away like a coward in the middle of the night. Now families are dying and this country is gone. Where does one get faith that the rest of the world will step in? Bless the families and children stuck in Afghanistan I will pray that your life of terror will come somehow to a peaceful end. Not of your lives but for your salvation. Your lives have meaning to me beyond being the beacon of how mankind has failed. Everyday you fight for your freedom I will send you my strength so that you can.

So from the giant world perspective things do look rather dim so I concentrate on what I can focus and that is what makes my own heart sing. My home is my salvation and I take all the lives here into very serious consideration. My sweet Pippin, my chinchilla, I believed. Deserved a chance of having a friend. In all my research I couldn’t find out whether or not they needed to live with a companion. Guinea pigs need to have a friend that is what made me look. Maybe my guinea pig, Barney, died of heartbreak we will never know. What is important to me know is would Pippin thrive with a companion. Imagine that overwhelming feeling of am I the only species in the world? So began my quest for finding her a friend.

I got Pippin from the Humane society so I started my journey there, no luck. I wanted her to be female too because I am not looking at starting a community of hundred of chinchilla’s. They are a rodent and we all know how fast they can breed so it was absolutely ESSENTIAL that her life partner was female. There was one chinchilla on the web and then there was also this breeder site. The thought of paying 3,000 for a friend was kind of not overwhelming just not happening. How could I support a breeder who was probably selling these chin’s for fur? At least that is what my husband said. Vomit-o!

So we enquired about Cinnamon and then we tried to make arrangments to pick her up. I noted that they had their post up for at least 17 days. At least that is what the time stamp of this add had to say. They delayed us going to get her and made arrangments the following day. I cleaned the critter room meticulously. I was so exicted for all that could possibly be. When we got to the door they handed me her in this rodent ball and dragged out this really haggard looking cage. What I noticed was everything that they were handing us was SOAKING wet and if you know ANYTHING about chinchilla’s if they get wet they will die. They are incapable of drying off their dense fur in time before the hyperthermia sets in. That is why they bathe in dust and not in water. WTF is happening. I wanted to ask them what her favourite treats were but I could already tell. They hated this furry girl, her last little bit of life her would have been hell. I had no idea just how heartbreaking her story would end up being.

As soon as we were on the road I opened up the top. She was a dirty little chin I could see the dirt in her fur. Beyond that there was something wrong with her back end. I couldn’t tell what was going on so a once we got home a vet appointment was booked. We were lucky that there was a cancellation the next day and I will tell you why. All the signs that she was showing was a definite sign of ringworm. Looking back I kinda wish it was but I guess that is the direction that she was heading. Chinchilla’s are prone to ringworm and it is because of the owner’s lack of care. I think we forget that what we are looking at is a rodent. We need to keep their cage’s clean and cleaning is kind of easy.

Ringworm is highly contagious so they had to quarantine the vet clinic. I waited 3.5 hours and watch 3 other owner put their pet’s down before they were able to suit up and go and see her. What they found was a dirty little chinchilla who sat in her own filth. Long enough that she had urine burns and stains on her feet and belly and her little nails were eroded. They couldn’t confirm whether or not it was a UTI without further tests ($1500). In addition to resting in her own filth she was severley malnourished. So much so they were sending me home with baby formula where it is primarily just timothy hay. OMG!! Timothy hay is the #1 ingredient in any rodents diet and you are now telling me I have to give her a tim hay slurry orally? And another medication to stimulate healthy gut health by syringe. This little friend of Pippin’s was in real rough shape.

The first day of me feeding her she did try to bite me. It wasn’t too hard but that was because she didn’t have the energy. The one thing that soothed her was when I put the ointment on her burns. She would relax for a moment then would go right back to biting. I don’t blame her she spent the last 8 years in hell. The family that had her before mentioned that Cinnamon’s sister had died. They told my husband the two were kept separated in cages never to see each other again. This is a well off family that watched a poor lil gal suffer. She would have been screaming in agony. I have seen the burns on her skin to confirm this. She gave up crying because she knew that her cries were never going to be heard. Now as I sit here feeding her I kind of question if there is any decency left in this world.