C&M Small Animal Rescue

C&M Chinchilla and Small Animal Rescue saved my sanity so I HAVE to give them a shout out in honor of #nationalpetday. If you’re looking to add a small furry friend to your family, please look them up on FB. They were so kind and knowledgeable, the kind of place you want to get a pet from!! And if you read my story, you will learn why you do not want to get a small animal from the pet store.

Story time if you’re curious: (buckle up, it’s a doozy)

It was August 2019 and I wanted to add guinea pigs to my life. I had previously owned some, but always one at a time. I went to a chain store in town and found 2 ladies I liked. One of them had a very dominant personality, so when she started getting fat, I just thought she was stealing all the food. Boy, was I wrong.

In February 2020 I came home from working an overnight shift, exhausted and thinking I hallucinated when I saw a miniature version of one of my ladies. With a closer look, I realized I had 3 babies! Her being pregnant made a lot of sense this time. They were all adorable and I had enough cage space so I decided to keep them all. I didn’t really see any other options. I separated the male and took all 3 of the babies to the vet.

While at the vet, they determined that all 3 of the babies were girls. Perfect, the 4 ladies could live in one big cage and the male could live in the old cage.

Now, enter quarantine. I had a lot of time to observe these pigs. I noticed that one seemed to be getting bullied. I separated 2 of the babies and then one of the babies with the mom (they were all weened off at this point). When I watched all 4 of them play, I was incredibly suspicious. I kept telling people I had a feeling that one of the babies that was supposed to be a girl was actually a boy. Everyone thought I was crazy, so when they got a little older and the bullying seemed to have stopped, I combined the 4 girls again.

Fast forward to July 2020 and I’m convinced the girl that was paired with the one that was giving me big vibes is pregnant. I separate them and sure enough, I lay down to go to sleep and start hearing ~birth~ noises. Boom. 3 more babies. (This makes 8 total pigs).

At this point I know there is no way I can keep all of these pigs. I had discovered C&M Chinchilla and Small Animal Rescue so I reached out and explained the story. I told them I was willing to keep all the girls, but could they PLEASE take the newly discovered boys and the babies when they are weened. They were so helpful and explained to me that gendering baby pigs is extremely difficult which is probably why I had been the victim of 2 wrong ‘genderings’. I told them that I was suspicious that the other two girls were also pregnant because they had been exposed to the male. They told me it was no problem, just let them know.

A few weeks later, not long after I had surrendered the babies, I found myself with 7 more babies . They were gracious enough to take these off my hands as well.

Words cannot describe how grateful I am that this organization saved me from an adorable nightmare. I was able to give these 3 week old babies up knowing that they would make it to good homes.

If you are looking for a small animal, please reach out to C&M Chinchilla and Small Animal Rescue first. Both of the owners care about these little furry creatures. Learn from my mistakes or you could end up with 15 guinea pigs in a one year frame.