Adopted Chins + Guinnea pig food?

[Dizuki]

Well hello everyone! I've recently became the adoptive father of 2 beautiful female chins of about 2 years of age. They are first chins I've ever owned, but they already seem to be very happy and receptive of me. However a few things kinda alarmed me. First and the largest thing was that they said they have always ate Ox Bow guinea pig food, refuse to eat chinchilla food, and not to buy any chinchilla food because they simply would not eat it. Well I thought it'd be a good idea to pick some up anyway and they've been happily eating it. But with 2 years of eating guinea pig food what health issues should i be looking out for? It seems to me like they are fine, but i'm pretty New to Chinchilla keeping and would rather be safe then sorry.

 

[tunes]

I doubt there will be huge issues you need to be concerned with. I took in a cage full of chins who had been fed corn flakes, cheerios, and Doritos as their main diet, along with fruits and vegetables, and the only issue they had while with me is nasty fur and they were not as energetic as they should have been. They went to a new home on a good diet and are still thriving. Just watch for the usual stuff - normal pooping, drinking sufficient amounts of water, normal activity level, etc. Also, be sure to offer them good quality hay as well as the pellets.

 

[ticklechin]

Oxbow guinea pig food is timothy based, very low in protein and fat and high in fiber. Its fed to chinchillas when they have bladder stone issues so the feed won't hurt them. The fur quality will more than likely improve with regular chinchilla feed but you may end up with loose poo so don't be surprised.

American pet diner chinchilla pellets are also the guinea pig pellet so the two species are not too far off nutritionally.

 

[Dizuki]

Thank you all. I'm just a new chinchilla owner and have been very worried about them. I've heard that if somethings wrong they don't show very many symptoms. So i read into every little things and make myself paranoid.