Chinchilla Care While Away

The combination of having pets and taking a vacation can be a major headache. Caring for your chinchilla while away, not unlike a dog or cat, requires some important decisions and preparation time.

If you’re going away for a weekend - two or three days – you really just need to provide extra food. You can’t do this if there are ongoing health concerns, but otherwise your chinchilla will be fine on its own for a couple of days. If it’s longer than a weekend, though, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

You won’t be able to call your average pet kennel. Many will have never seen a chinchilla before, and they don’t have the knowledge to deal with them. Not to mention I’ve never seen a kennel with air conditioning for the pets. There might be an exception somewhere, but with a chinchilla you will almost certainly be looking for a pet sitter.

The wonderful thing is that, given a cool environment, there is very little for a pet sitter to do! Check the water and feed once a day, and have a look to make sure there are no health concerns. I would not suggest, unless the sitter is familiar with your chinchilla, that they remove the chinchilla from the cage. One slip and that 15 minute stay could turn into two hours! Not to mention the increased risk of injury.

Make sure your pet sitter can come before you leave to become familiar with your chinchilla and anything they should watch out for. They should have a sheet to fill out with the specific directions. If they don’t, you may want to consider another pet sitter! Make sure you give the sitter your recommended veterinarian.

Another option is finding someone familiar with chinchillas where your chinchilla can stay for a period of time. Many chinchilla owners or breeders will be happy to help out another chinchilla owner. You might also try whoever you bought the chinchilla from, if they are not too far away.

There is also the consideration of cost. Having someone come to your house will probably be $15 to $20 and up (per visit), whereas leaving your chinchilla with someone might be as little as $5 to $10 per day.

With some preparation, your next trip will not be spent worrying about your chinchilla!

If you need chinchilla (or other small animal) care while away in New Jersey or Eastern Pennsylvania we may be able to help.