Does anyone give their chins Sunseed Sunatural Chinchilla food?

[Fergggie]

Hi! I usually feed my chinchilla Sunseed Vita Prima Formula but the pet store did not have it. Instead I got the Sunseed Sunaturals for chinchillas. He seems to LOVE it and eats all his food (even the pellets) but I noticed there's a lot more in it than just pellets. I made sure there wasn't any corn in it but there's little leaves, soybeans (I believe), dried carrots, and even little pinecones. Is this food okay for chinchillas? Thanks for your help!

 

[Amethyst]

Sunseed is not a good brand, chinchilla food should also only contain pellets. Looking up the Sunseed Sunaturals for chinchillas it says it contains seeds (bad because they are high in fat), berries (high in sugar and can cause gut issues) and vegetables (sugar as well as can cause gut issues). Anything other then pellets, wood, hay and water are considered treats and should get given very sparingly, like a couple pieces a week, or a piece a day at most not lots everyday. There are also a lot better treats to be feeding then fatty sugary junk. Better food options are Oxbow, Mazuri, Tradition, as well as some high quality rabbit foods (don't know any off the top of my head).

 

[Nerk]

I used to feed my chin the food with the little treats in it, but with chinchilla behavior she picked out all the treats and left the pellets. I switched to Oxbow and she went gaga for it. I suggest going to an only pellet brand like what Amethyst suggested.

 

[AZChins]

Definitely get something better. For the same price (or probably less) you could get a better quality pellet that is actually fresh and not full of treats that could cause health issues.

 

[Fergggie]

Would the Sunseed Vita Prima be ok?

 

[AZChins]

It's still full of treats, I'd avoid that.

 

[Fergggie]

There's no treats in the vita Prima. It's all pellets and Timothy hay

 

[Cat75]

The Vita Prima Chinchilla food ingredient list it shows Raisins, Dehydrated Papaya, Dehydrated Carrot, Dehydrated Apple, Dehydrated Banana.

 

[AZChins]

Yeah, I looked it up and it looks like it has treats in it. Sorry if I was misinformed by the ingredients.

Still, even if it were just pellets, I wouldn't use it. It's one of those petstore brands that I really do not trust with chinchillas.

 

[Fergggie]

Pet stores are the devil

 

[Fergggie]

Shoot, I might as well give him antifreeze to drink too!

 

[Vyxxin]

Fergggie- no worries, you're here right?!? It's a learning experience, nobody on here expects you to be a chin expert I think (not sure as I rarely shop at pet stores) that a lot of pet stores carry Oxbow which IS an approved feed. If you cannot find that locally...do you have a Tractor Supply Company near you? They almost always carry MannaPro feeds. I feed the PRO variety though I know SHO is also acceptable. They usually have MannaPro Show Hutch Delux which is also a good feed after having the Sunseed feeds your chin may not be thrilled with any of those, don't fret...she's not going to starve herself give it a few days, make sure she's eating SOMETHING (even if it's just hay) and make sure she's pooping good...switch her though. It'll be better for her in the long run to be on a quality feed!

 

[ChinChild]

When I first got Gizmo at the store they had him on the Vita Prima. Took me a day or two (after reading posts here) to catch on that it was riddled with seeds & various treats, and switched him to Oxbow Essentials over the course of a few weeks. I'd just slip a bit in at first with his regular food, then gradually put more Oxbow and less Sunseed each day until he was converted. He loves his Oxbow now though! Our newest little guy Mojo loves it too, but he's younger & is taking longer to switch over

 

[akane]

Better than poor Aime. When I got her they were feeding her hamster food and not even good quality hamster food so it had all the treats and sugary junk plus cheap animal products and known cancer causing preservatives that are not allowed in human food.