Chin's poop is soft

[kaylamg2014]

Hello,
I've had my chin for almost 3 months now. He's my first chin I've owned, so I'm still learning but we've been getting along great.

About 2 weeks ago, I came home one day and noticed that there was poop squished all over his cage. It was stuck to him as well, and caused quite the mess. I wasn't sure what caused it, but I quit giving him treats and kept an eye on him. He seemed to be doing okay, but today I went into his cage and noticed a large pile of soft poop that would get squished once again.

I've been feeding him a bag of Kaytee food (which I've read is not that great for them, and plan on switching once this bag is finished) and he has a supply of timothy hay. As far as treats go he'll get a cherrio or sunflower seed, or something of the sort. I haven't switched his food or changed anything, so I'm slightly puzzled as to why he's having issues now.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[tunes]

Pull all of his feed (get rid of the Kaytee, whether the bag is finished or not) and just give him hay for 2-3 days. You can also give him some probiotics in the form of powder sprinkled on the hay or they have it a paste form at Petco and PetSmart (or most vets). You can also use activated charcoal or toast that has been burned black. I mean burn it so that your house smells like it's on fire and there is no evidence of bread left - just black stuff. He can have pieces of that 3-4 times a day.

After he has been off food for a few days, slowly reintroduce a better quality feed to him, keeping the hay up. If his poops are still squishy after that, he needs to see a vet.

Ah, one other thing, what do you use for water? Contaminated water can also cause issues. All of my water is filtered through reverse osmosis.

 

[kaylamg2014]

Thank you for your reply!

I have taken away his pellets for the meantime. What is a quality brand you would recommend?

He's currently receiving regular filtered water. I use a brita filter with him, but it may be worth mentioning he received tap water once or twice on accident.

I will try the toast and see if that helps.
Also, he doesn't have wet stool all of the time. It appears normal the majority of the time, and he'll have a period where it's wet, then it will go back to normal.
He doesn't appear sick, could it be stress related? The first time the issue occurred I was out of town for two days, and had someone check in to give him food.
It seemed to appear normal again soon after I came back. Recently I've had my windows open since it gets warm in my room at night, and since I live in a neighborhood I'm afraid the sounds and noises could be spooking him.

 

[seachin]

What tunes said, and I would get a better feed as well. Oxbow chinchilla is a good start.

 

[kaylamg2014]

Thank you guys for your help.
I've followed your advise, and this morning he appears to be doing better. I will continue to give him only hay today, and monitor him.

I couldn't find Oxbow, so I have ordered a bag online. It won't arrive until saturday. Should I feed him the Kaytee in the meantime, or keep him on a hay only diet until then? That seems like a while to not have any pellets.