Chins and Dogs - partners in crime

[dystopias]

Hello, I wasn't sure which forum to post this in, so I guess this is the place.

Our local pet's mart has been out of our usual chinchilla food for a while now, so we got them a different brand. I put it in their dish and August (our white chinchilla) reached in, grabbed a piece, took a bite, and threw the rest of it on the ground! since then whenever we fill their dish with the new food the two chinchillas just scoop it out of the dish onto the floor of their cage. Later that night I noticed that our maltese, theodore, was spending more time near the chinchilla cage than usual so i began to watch him. August was picking up pieces of food from the floor of the cage and was throwing them out of the cage. The dog would eat it and then August would throw another! My chinchillas are feeding my dogs!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I just ordered a 25 lb bag of their favorite food so my dogs don't get sick eating alfalfa.

by the by the food they like is Kaytee's Forti Diet . . . i thought one brand of compressed alfalfa pellets was the same as the next, but evidently not.

 

[Rickman]

That's funny - now if you could just get him to like brown tic-tacs, you'd have the perfect pair!
Dogs are weird. sometimes! My female pit just decieded she liked apples today, shared one with me, and ate the core, too! Go figure!!

 

[seachin]

That's funny - now if you could just get him to like brown tic-tacs, you'd have the perfect pair!

BROWN TIC TACS!!!

:biglaugh:

 

[MyFuzzies]

I'll never look at another Tic Tac the same

 

[Parkerspetchins]

That is a really cute story . Kaytee is not a great pellet, I know your chinnies seem to like it but it contains Ethoxyquin (a preservative). Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

There has been some speculation that ethoxyquin in pet foods might be responsible for certain health problems. To date, the US FDA has only found a verifiable connection between ethoxyquin and buildup of protoporphyrin IX in the liver, as well as elevations in liver-related enzymes in some animals. It has been shown to cause mortality in fish.

There are other links to related articles on Wikipedia as well. Just some food for thought. I don't know enough about Ethoxyquin to know what a safe level is for Chinchillas (but I highly doubt Kaytee does either), but I do know that manufacturers have halved the amount they put in dog food to make it safer. That makes me wonder if it is worth the risk to feed to chinchillas at all when there are other choices out there that do not contain this particular preservative. Every one needs to decide for themselves what to feed their pets but until this was brought to my attention I had no idea it even existed and thought you may be interested in the information as well.

 

[Diva Chins]

Kaytee is not a great pellet

I thought I was getting rusty on my info and didn't want to appear stupid by saying "I thought those were bad?"

To the OP, a lot of members sell PANR and Tradition pellets a LOT cheaper than they charge for the Kaytee. I recommend PANR, my fur kids love it. PANR gets 12 paws and 2 thumbs up review!

 

[Jenn]

But if you switch brands, your dog won't go visit the chins so often!

 

[Rickman]

But may enjoy dark beige tic - tacs!!

 

[Sandi]

I was reading this and laughing because my pug is a non-stop eater of EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. I spotted him close to the new chins cage and sniffing around like he always does and the next thing I see is him licking up one of their pellets and a poop, and I'm about to yell out his name, when he suddenly starts hacking and then spits it out like "YUCK" and with an awful look on his face and I just burst out laughing. I guess he has his limits.

 

[Cuddlebug]

My Min Pin likes to eat the pellets that my chins throw out of the cage. My best friend's dog, Bella, used to come over and clean up the poo for me. Yuck!

 

[CerLynn]

:rofl: Yet another example of why chins are just so amazing! That is too funny!

If you prefer to keep shopping at Petsmart, they may carry either Mazuri or Oxbow chin pellets - those are both great brands, though they are admittedly incredibly overpriced there. If you can find any of the quality brands (those two, PANR, Tradition) in bulk, it will be much cheaper in the long run.

 

[shaeway]

My new puppy likes to bark at Syd, but I think he's the one throwing out the last bit of his hay cubes so she can eat them...:err: I knew the little furballs were smart but how in the world did he figure out to throw a hay cube at her and shut her up I'll never know. LOL. And since she's a poo eater, that may be why I've had less chin poo on the floor.

I don't know what's funnier, the chins that feed dogs, or the dogs that eat hay!!!:hilarious:

 

[Cinder and Me]

LOL, cute story. My male dachshund will eat Cinder's: food, hay, wood toys and "brown tic-tacs". Its really funny to see him chewing on a stick of hay, with part of it hanging out of his mouth like some sort of little hillbilly dog. lol



Oh, and I agree....get your chins off Kaytee. :thumbsup:

 

[dystopias]

I had no idea . . .

I didn't know about kaytee . . . and I should be receiving a 25lb bag of it in the mail on friday! Oh well, I'll look into it and try to find something that it is better that they'll eat.

I've got a maltese and an american eskimo, and let's just say that I've had to clean up a lot less chinchilla poo since we got dogs.

here's a picture of my two chins, august and titus (who are still revolting against the food that I got them (which, btw, is sunseed sunaturals natural chinchilla food).

 

[Cuddlebug]

I don't see any pictures. You can get Oxbow and Mazurri at most pet stores. Both are good brands.

 

[Lolie]

My dog loves the brown tic-tacs, although I think kitty snickers are her favourite! I've been sweeping up around the chin cage much more often to keep her from them. She's constantly trying to steal their wood toys too. I had to start keeping the chins' play time toys in a cupboard because the dog would ruin them.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

My dog cleans up the poo too and then gags herself trying to eat hay...ugh what a dummy she is

 

[dystopias]

picture

sorry the picture didn't upload; here it is:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y96/dystopias/351987015_d2a6730304.jpg

 

[shaeway]

My dog loves the brown tic-tacs, although I think kitty snickers are her favourite!/QUOTE]

:rofl: KITTY SNICKERS!!!! As a side note, not try to steal the thread, I caught my dog with her entire front half in the litter box, grazing!!!

And this morning I find her chewing on the apple sticks that lay around for playtime. Maybe I should switch her food to Mazuri, :thinking: