Oats

[wolfy2449]

So a few times a week I give Elsa oats as a treat for letting me put bag balm on her ears or to try and teach her how to use her wheel (never very many though). Anyway we did have a container of old fashioned oats and those seem to have been replaced with whole grain quick oats. I asked my mom about this and she said the quick ones would be fine since they're whole grain, but I'm fairly sure I've always read to only feed them old fashioned oats and never the quick ones. Am I remembering this right?

 

[Amethyst]

You want the old fashion oats not the quick oats, quick or instant oats are precooked then dehydrated, so it's the processing not the whole grains that is the issue. They absorb water faster, which is good for a quick human breakfast, but that can cause gut issues for chinchillas since they eat oats dry.

 

[wolfy2449]

That's what I was thinking but I wasn't quite sure. Also thank you for your quick reply Amethyst

 

[ticklechin]

Just make sure you go easy on the oats, calcium absorption can be highly influenced by oats due to their phosphorus content. Excess phosphorus in the diet greatly reduces calcium absorption, because both minerals are absorbed by the same area in the GI tract...so they compete for absorption. Excess phosphorus can lead to a calcium deficiency, so they are not a innocuous treat.

 

[wolfy2449]

That's great to know ticklechin, thank you and don't worry I might give her about 5 oats every few days. Sometimes it's more like a few weeks in between.