|
I bought
my baby Jou-Jou from Esther Evans in Holland when she was 10 weeks
old. She was the third colored girl in my chinnie group and simply
looked like a small angel with her big dark eyes, her round velvet
head and the tiny ears. She fitted in my hand at that time and
even when she grew up she retained her childlike, affectionate
but still anxious character.
She
was a well fed, round chinchilla, never avers to food, with a
slightly shy trait. She enjoyed the company of calm and reserved
Cindy more than Spotty's, whose buddylike, direct and playful
kind rather frightened her.
She was generally
quite anxious and screamed like hell when I picked her up. After
a few whispered, comforting words she would soon calm down again
and then spend quite some time on my arm.
Jou-Jou
had the thickest and most beautiful fur of all my chins - she
was the daughter of two prize-winners from Holland. Therefore
she probably hated warmth and simply loved her dust bath, inside
which she slept when she was a baby. Excursions to the room were
not so important to her, places to hide such as her sleeping house
or the PVC tube the more.
When Vinnie
joined the girly-trio Jou-Jou was not comfortable with that
at all. She was scared of that guy and became moody and grumpy.
That was when I decided to get her her own male chinchilla and
a big cage. When she and Kimba finally met it was love at first
sight! Their wedding night was unbelievably - Jou-Jou could
hardly walk the next day and I had to lift her up into her sleeping
house. This night had consequences... Jou-Jou turned into a
black cannon ball and after 111 days it was time...
I was looking forward to the birth of her babies and expected
no problems at all, since the tiny black furball had never been
ill.
Then however,
everything happened very fast and the end was near before I
could even understood what had happened. Afterwards it turned
out that Jou-Jou was pregnant with five babies. She gave birth
to four of them, two were born dead and two were alive - DJ
and Floh. Jou-Jou was in a very bad condition after giving birth.
She had cramps, was not able to run or eat and could not look
after her babies. Despite most intensive medical care including
x-ray and ultrasonic, baby number five remained undetected inside
her little body, which finally led to her poisoning and a really
painful, cruel death. She died in my arms at the age of only
one year - she surely would have become a great mother.
I am sorry Jou-Jou, that I was
not able to save both your babies - poor Flöhlie did not
make it. But I can insure you that DJ, your beautiful son, is
so much alike you - through him I will always remember you!
Marion
|
|
|
