Chin pellets

[red0603]

I am a new chin owner. I adopted my chins on Friday. They hadn't had hay in a while, one of them had a water bottle with algae in it and the other one just had a bowl of water in his cage. The bottoms on the cages were full of soiled newspaper. The bath house was left in the cage long enough to be full of poop that was stuck to the side. I gave them a little hay as soon as I picked it up from the store. As soon as I got them home I scrubbed both cages and threw the dirty water bottle away and gave them the new ones. The lady that I got them from said she had been feeding them rabbit pellets because they "are all the same". From what I have read, you can't change a chin's diet fast. What would be the best way to switch over to better food? They are about 4 years old. I don't know when the last time they took a dust bath was but they have little pieces of fur that is "shedding". Is this normal? Anyone have any tips for me? Thanks so much!

 

[Ash]

What kind of rabbit pellets? Some rabbit pellets are OK for chins, but it should be a good quality pellet such as Nutrena, Manna Pro, Purina Rabbit Chow Show, Tradition, and some people use the new Fibre3 from Purina.

In cases where the chinchilla has been on crap, many people just do a cold switch with no ill effects, providing lots of extra hay and giving the chinchillas some Acidophilus to help their belly keep from getting too upset. If the animal was on a good feed and you just want to switch it to something else, you follow a recipe like this

Week 1- 1/4 new pellets, 3/4 old pellets
Week 2 - 1/2 new pellets, 1/2 old pellets
Week 3 - 3/4 new pellets, 1/4 old pellets
Week 4 the animal is fully transitioned to new pellets.


Little pieces of 'shredding' could be priming, which is basically blowing out the old coat for the new coat which happens a few times a year. Or it could be remnants of fur slips that haven't quite been "let go" from the rest of the fur yet, due to any reason.

Good luck with your new guys, and hopefully they don't have any ill effects from the nasty water bottles!

 

[red0603]

Thanks so much for your reply! I think they fed them whatever was cheapest. She didn't give me a brand so I'm assuming it was changed up a lot. Poor guys . My dogs are very tempermental about their food...I can just imagine how hard it is for a chin to change food like that. They are both very active. The younger of the two loves to be petted...the older one is a lil grumpy. He will come up and smell me when I put my hand in his cage but then he will back off a little. I am just letting him take his time.