A couple of questions.

[DramaMama]

So lots of you know that I just got Mojo this weekend. I got him on Sunday, and he spent from Sunday until Tuesday afternoon at my house in Calgary, and then we moved up to Lethbridge. Because it was such a long time that I was in Calgary I also took Edgar with me.
Firstly, he (Mojo) hasn't been urinating. His stool has been fine (no constipation or diarrhea), and I've started marking his water bottle to make sure he's drinking (I also have witnessed him drinking and can hear him drinking at night so I know it's not a leak or anything). I checked for hair rings, and we were all clear there. I've avoided all unnecessary stress (though moving and all of a sudden being given daily runs when you haven't been let out of your cage for a month or more probably offered some shock to his system), and he seems happy-go-lucky and doesn't appear to be in any pain and is not acting abnormally. I check his cage every morning and night, as well as several times throughout the day for urine, even shifting some of the shavings to make sure he's not burying it, and thus far no luck. So I'm wondering if it's normal that going through moving stress can cause this? I mean, I remember when I got Edgar he had some diarrhea, but nothing like this. I've been giving him some time to adjust and all but I'm worried it could be an underlying issue. I mean, I haven't been too stressed about this because Edgar hasn't urinated since we got back here either but also, I haven't been able to find much of anything about it on the internet, so I'm tempted to take him to a vet if the issue doesn't resolve itself soon.

Secondly, his (Mojo) previous owner kept him on Kaytee Fiesta food. I know its a horrible food, but until he settles in I want to give him the least stress possible so I've sifted through a bag and picked out as much of the bad crap as possible.
I've been feeding Edgar Oxbow lately, did a proper transition and everything, but he still hasn't been eating as much lately as he used to and I don't like where his weight is going because he's quite a small chinchilla to begin with.
So where I'm going with this is I'd like to switch them both onto a new food which is better quality and more nutritious. It seems like all of the pet stores I've been to lately (I've trolled through both cities that I frequent) have stupid frivolous food with way too much bad stuff in it and Oxbow. So I'm pretty certian that I'm going to have to order food off of the internet, so my question is...What do you guys suggest?

Sorry for my extremely poorly-worded, long-winded explanation, but any replies would be very apprecieated.

 

[Olallie]

I hear Oxbow is pretty good I would stick with that, unless you want to order Alderpark Chinchilla feed from Lilchinchilla her site is called Chinchilla Park Place. She's on the west coast.
Can't help you with the pee issue, i think if it goes on for awhile he should be seen by a vet, all that backed up urine would not be good.

OH one thing to check if they have access to a higher ledge, they may be able to pee outside the cage,... i would check for that too.

 

[proudmom25]

It can be quite hard seeing pee on shavings. Could you possibly line his cage with fleece? Maybe it would be easier to detect.

 

[Laurie]

You could also remove all the shavings from his cage--you will be able to see the urine with no shavings present, or just but down newspaper or plain paper to see if he is urinating.

 

[DramaMama]

Those are all good ideas! I don't have a fleece liner yet for his cage (I'm in the process of making one for the dimensions of his cage) but I'll try putting down the newspaper.

Olallie, I've considered keeping them on the oxbow, but as I said, Edgar hasn't been eating it and his weight has been suffering because of it, which I'm not comfortable with because he's quite a small boy to start with.
I'm thinking of maybe ordering some Mazuri, what do people think of it as a food?

 

[Laurie]

I did not care for the Mazuri because many times it gave my chins loose stool. I switched my chins from Mazuri to Nutrena Rabbit pellets and they love it and have not had any loose stools since the switch. But I do know several forum members do feed Mazuri with no issues. I do believe between the two though, the Oxbow is a better choice.

 

[saphire]

you can try aromatizing it with some flower salade or herbs from Essentia(forum name) or Fuzzy (sponsor top) see if he likes, if so, put some in a container with pellets. The arome will disperse to the pellets. See if he will eat.
If he does, over time you reduce the amount of flower salade or herbs. See how that goes, he just must get to the point of enjoying Oxbow. In the mean time you can always give him CC and LL to put on weight.

OR make it easy and you can order some feed from Chinchilla Park Place.

 

[Maia]

I use Mazuri, I buy it from Camphor Chins (website) and my boy likes it and I've never had a problem.