The history of Monty's Place and about the team

Unbeknownst to the lay person, Monty and his brothers and sisters haden't been given baths in days and many of them had begun fur biting due to the stressful conditions of being touched and picked up incorrectly almost constantly.

When I first saw Monty, I too was a lay person. I had no background or understanding of chinchillas but even as ignorant as I was I still knew one thing - Monty was in trouble.

As I sat and watched Monty I could see that he had a missing patch of fur right next to his right eye. It was quite a large round patch and the skin that was exposed was bright red. I also noticed that Monty didn't jump around as much as his brothers and sisters and it was very difficult to see his little front paws.

Upon holding Monty I could see that his left front paw was much smaller than the right and it was seemingly malformed and twisted. The pet shop owner told me that Monty had been born with this defect and they "lovingly" referred to him as "Gimpy" the chinchilla. Regarding the patch of missing fur by his eye, the pet shop owner told me that all of the chins had some type of missing fur because of their constant playing.

In bed that night I was unable to sleep. I stared up at the ceiling, my thoughts on Monty. I got up and spent the rest of the night on my computer, getting as much information about chinchillas as I could.

The following day I bought a cage and a few days later I took Monty home.

Upon our first trip to the vet it was confirmed that Monty's left front leg was NOT a birth defect but had in fact been a serious break which had never been tended to. He would never regain use of that leg. It was also confirmed that Monty's missing patch of hair by his eye was not the product of intense "playing" but instead, was a rather serious case of ringworm.

It took Monty quite a while to get over the ringworm and it took even more time for the fur to grow back by his eye. It took him even longer than that to be able to walk and run correctly with his useless leg and above all, it took him almost a year to totally trust me enough to touch and handle him without a fight.

There have been others since Monty. Morgan, who was obtained at the same pet shop was housed in a rusty cage with a constantly tearing eye, a rip in his ear, three missing toes, a swollen foot, and matted fur which needed to be cut out. Then there were Chili and Creedy, who at a different chain pet shop were allowed constant exposure to their old bath sand, their skin so dry that their feet cracked and bled, the employees picking them up by the ends of their tails for fun.

Most recently, there was a little standard gray chinchilla at the same pet shop from which I rescued Monty. He was so sick when I spotted him that I convinced the pet shop owner to hand him over to me free of charge. The poor thing had a collapsed lung which had been the result of some type of external trauma. He had been fur biting, the majaority of the fur ending up inside of his good lung, filling it up with fluid. Hours after rescuing him, he suffocated on the fur and fluid that blocked his ability to get air. Upon questioning the people in the pet shop, they claimed to have no idea that one of their chins were sick.

I have heard dozens of stories like this one among the chinchilla community and this is what has prompted me to start Monty's Place. We search out injured, neglected, mistreated, abused and forgotten chinchillas in order to help them to secure a better life. If you know of a chinchilla who needs help, if you have a chinchilla who needs help, or if you're looking for a wonderful addition to your family who has seen suffering and who now has a new lease on life, please, contact us.

Together we can all save lives through compassion and caring!