Question Regarding Slight Diet Change

Hi Everyone,

Many of you have provided wonderful suggestions and advice regarding my little Raisin with GI stasis. Well i've been reading thought the threads and have come across multiple topics of soft droppings, or large and soft droppings. Well i've never paid close attention to the size and consistency until now due to my one guy being sick. Well, my two healthy boys seems to have very large and soft droppings lately. I have not changed anything for Dusty. However, for Houdini, I have started to give him loose timothy hay as opposed to timothy hay cubes (he prefers the cubes). I switched it up because I wanted to make sure he was getting all the good nutrition the loose hay has to offer. Could this be why his droppings and bigger and softer? He has been eating the hay, as that is all he gets plus his pellets. I also am wondering if maybe it's just the food I am giving my boys. I give them KayteeChin fortified-complete. Is there a better brand? Should i consider making a switch?

Yes, there are much better foods. I personally would not use any food from a pet store, unless it is one of the ones listed below:

Nutrena Naturewise 16%
PANR
Oxbow
Tradition
APD
Mazuri

Those are pretty much the recommended feeds on forum, and the ones that are the most available.

plus with 3 chins that is enough to warrant purchasing a 25 lb bag of food from a feed store. i used to buy Mazuri from petsmart and it was 8.99 for a 2.5lb bag of food, i can get 25 lbs for 13.25
if i dont use it, i could always give it away.
you can go on the mazuri or purina or oxbow website and find where there is a feed store in your area that sells it
I also notice that some of my boys just have bigger poop than others. they all get exactly the same food, hay, treats, etc.....
the change in the hay may be what is doing it since he is getting more fiber.
i have switched almost all my boys over to the PANR but of course they just changed it, so now I have to do another switch!

tunes said:

Yes, there are much better foods. I personally would not use any food from a pet store, unless it is one of the ones listed below:

Nutrena Naturewise 16%
PANR
Oxbow
Tradition
APD
Mazuri

Those are pretty much the recommended feeds on forum, and the ones that are the most available.

Click to expand...

Are these foods advertised for chinchillas? What do you use?

mishellyshel said:

i have switched almost all my boys over to the PANR but of course they just changed it, so now I have to do another switch!

Click to expand...

What do yo mean they changed it? If I were to purchase a large bag, where would I go to find it? Plus can I freeze a large bag so that it lasts?

How do I go about switching foods?

Oh so many questions. I really am enjoying learning much more about these wonderful chinnys that I have the absolute pleasure of owning. I'm sorry I didn't search sooner for answers on chin care.

all of the ones peggy mentioned are approved for chinchillas. The PANR (Purina Advanced Nutrition for Rabbits) is the only Rabbit food that many of us use with GREAT results.
I currently use a Mazuri/PANR mix on a 2 of my boys. The other 5 are on straight PANR.
I puchase all my food from a feed store. I usually buy a 25 lb bag of Mazuri & a 50 lb bag of PANR and with 7 chins it lasts many months. I have froze it in the past (the mazuri bag recommends that) but with 7, I just keep it in a plastic storage container.

To do the switch you start slowly. If you do a search, I think Stackie just posted a nice conversion method with percentages.
there are many people here who sell the food for extremely good prices if you want to try it out. when you need some supplies, do a search in the classified section. People also post specials all the time.
When I only had 3 I would buy from someone here. Now that I have 7 it is more cost effective for me to buy from the feed store.

I use Nutrena, as do quite a few others, though I have used Mazuri and Tradition in the past. Tradition would be hands down my favorite feed, but I can't get it out here anymore. I am not a fan of Mazuri.

I do really like the Nutrena. Several of us had a bad time with a particular feed not too long ago, with a lot of weight loss and deaths, and my chins have just come back really well from it on the Nutrena. It's less expensive than pretty much all of the others, and judging from their website store locator, they are pretty much everywhere. My chins are mostly back up to their normal weights again and some have exceeded where they were even while on Tradition. Their coats are full, they are energetic, and they are doing well.

So I was about to go purchase Nutrena, when I brought my guy to the vet today. I saw the office just started carrying Oxbow. I decided after all to go that route. I could buy a smaller bag and not worry about it going bad. I started tonight with the food changeover. They first jumped into their bowls, and Dusty must have grabbed a new pellet first. He tasted it and threw it out. It made me laugh. Hopefully he'll warm up to it. In the mean time, per tunes' advice they have tons of hay in their cage.