I have been a volunteer of the animal welfare society "Kind Heart" for many years in my city. What kind of animals we could not save, feed, treat and then build into new families! But one story was really amazing, I never encountered such beasts before.
One day my friend called me - the chairman of the "Kind Heart". She exclaimed excitedly that animals were dying in an empty house on the outskirts of the city, they urgently need to go there and save them. We collected a small group of volunteers by phone and drove off. It was an old, almost ruined house with a rotten roof and windows, boarded up. It was immediately clear that no one had appeared in the house for a long time. From inside came a desperate barking and moaning. It was necessary to act quickly. We broke the boards, smashed the windows in the window and climbed inside. In the room on the floor lay a skinny dog. She could no longer stand up and then barked, then whimpered. We were horrified! But that was not all. In the corner of the room, under a pile of rags, I noticed a large cage. I went over and saw that there was a gray lump of wool in the cage. It did not even look like an animal! I could not immediately understand who it was. And only when I looked closely, I realized that it was a chinchilla. And it was still alive! So I had Shu.
One of our volunteers took away the dog, and I took the chinchilla. Although, frankly, I had no idea what to do with it. I had a very remote view of these animals. But I really wanted to help this poor fellow. Shu was in terrible condition! He was weak, the wool crawled out, he did not react to me and did not eat anything. I'm a vet. I understood that it would be difficult to help the beast with such a degree of exhaustion. The food from him could no longer be absorbed, I had to "feed" it from the syringe. I stabbed him with a solution of glucose and Ringer's solution to relieve dehydration. All night I watched him, warmed in towels, again pricked - until the morning. The next day, Shu looked better. When, by the evening, he sat down on his hind legs and reached for the water bottle - I realized that he would live.
Shu was awesome! He understood everything I said to him. I read that chinchillas are considered smart animals, but Shu surprised me every time. He quickly gained strength, began to run around the cage and constantly asked to eat. The hungry past made itself felt - Shu was constantly hungry. Chinchillas eat a little in nature, obesity is harmful to them. I was sorry for Shu, but I was forced to keep him on a diet. I gave him a few hips of wild rose, 2-3 raisins, a piece of apple. He always sat down and with his front paws he reached out to me, as if he asked: "Give me more!"
Soon, Shu completely recovered and I began to endure him in the afternoon in the yard. He was just ecstatic! The sun, green grass, fresh air - all this gave strength. And I also introduced Shu to our cat Oscar and Rabbit Tipsy. They immediately became friends. And from that day on they always walked in the street together. Shu and Tipsy enjoyed nature and the summer sun, and Oscar protected them. Shu was very lazy to swim in the sand. I put him in a cage with a usual pan with fine sand - it was his bath. Chinchillas are very important to clean their fur. It was fun to watch Shu having fun and swinging in the sand, like little carefree children do.
Shu lived with us almost all summer. But I realized that I need to look for a permanent family. And such a family was found. The beautiful people called me, they planted chinchillas for many years and would like to take Shu and take care of him. I was glad that now Shu will have a new house, there will be his relatives, there will be family and offspring. I was a little sorry to part with him, but I knew it was better for him. Because of the cruelty and indifference of people, he could have perished in that terrible house. But fate gave him a chance and he survived. We never found out whose house it was. It was said that the gypsies lived there, and then just left and abandoned their animals. But this story has a happy end. Both the dog and the chinchilla recovered and found new loving families. And they continue to enjoy for life with their new owners.