Feeding a green diet

[mishellyshel]

Does anyone on here feed thier chins "fresh greens"?

Please dont post a million times that all they need is good hay & pellets & filtered water 'cause I already know that.

My vet is recommending giving my chin some fresh greens in addition to the hay & pellets. She said it will help with his teeth conditions and that all the chins they treat in the office are on a "green" diet.

i have been reading up a lot on this. i know here on CnH it has been widely noted that no one agrees with it but in some other documentation it is noted that pellets were made for the ease of breeders to feed multiple animals and keep their intake controlled, but in the natural habitat the chinchilla thrives on fresh grass & greens.

just want some feedback from those who have done this & how their chins reacted. thanks!

 

[Cola89]

i think i remember tunes posting something about a vet saying green is the way to go. I think not for sure. i think we all disagreed though

 

[Chinmama]

http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1648

 

[Cola89]

Yeah thanks chinmama! Im not sure if that helps any cause i dont think there are too many people on here who have tried the green diet

 

[mishellyshel]

thanks! it does help. it is so hard when there is so much conflicting advice and not many studies to back up the pros & cons. its hard to not listen to your vet who went to school to learn about exotics but then you come here and there are tons of experienced breeders & owners who have raised thousands of happy healthy chins. i guess i just gotta go with my gut and what works best with my chins.
she did say in addition to adding a little green that they shouldnt be eating ANY carbs like cheerios, oats, & shredded wheat! i dont know HOW my boys are gonna survive without their oats!!

 

[Jaina_Organasolo]

My vet, who is a specialist recommended fresh carrot to me, apparently they go mad for it - but that doesn't mean i'll be giving it to them (although I may try a small piece each). There are some owners in the uk that give small amounts of fresh veg (not the usual though). Those people believe that the veg contains macro nutrients that help the immune system.

 

[alli713]

How will eating fresh greens help with his teeth issues? What is the rationale behind that?
Even if you were to give greens, you would have to be sure to do it very slowly as to not risk bloat.

My opinion on it is that it isn't necessary and I don't know how your chin would be more healthy with it. I know our chins of today are different than the wild ones, but the chins live in a more desert area, not like rabbits who are used to eating fresh greens. So in the wild, the chinchillas were not getting fresh leafy greens, it would have been more of a dry grassy type like the hays we feed.

In my mind it doesn't make sense, but it's obviously up to you.

 

[tunes]

Keep in mind Michelle, most vets will tell you that they spent maybe a week learning about exotics. That's ALL exotics. So she may have years of experience, but I doubt it's in chins.

I, personally, would trust people who have been raising chins for years and years, especially when it comes to diet.

 

[AZChins]

I don't have personal experience with fresh greens, just what I have been told by vets and people that have done it.

One customer of mine lost her previous chinchilla because it was very sick. The vet recommended fresh greens and the chin was given the greens. I don't think that the chin ate any of them, if he did it was not very much of what was given. He ended up dying very soon after going to the vet. So, maybe if better advice had been given and something like critical care or life line had been give to the chin, he could have pulled through. It's impossible to say, I never was able to see the chin or asked for advice.

The reason why I would be against feeding fresh greens is that it can cause serious digestive issues in large enough amounts. I've battled in emails and on the phone with vets that have recommended this to people with sick chinchillas. The last thing that a sick chin needs is gas in his little intestines or even diarrhea.

If you do decide to give a chinchilla anything, consider it the daily treat and give a pea sized amount. Be careful with fresh fruits and veggies...the worst part of them is that if the chin doesn't like it and drops it in the cage it will start to decompose. I don't recommend carrots to anyone because something always gets lost in the translation and they put a whole carrot in the cage....then it starts to rot in a short time. Rotten veggies and fruits are bad for obvious reasons.

 

[starleomach]

I know several people on paw-talk feed the fresh food diet. I got in a bit of a debate about it. I will not do it I like my chinchillas alive thank you. but, they are big on vets know all over there...I have a very different opinion...Vets need to learn about a lot of animals in a small space of time and many small animals do well with veggies. I do not think chinchillas are one of them. I have seen many people lose their chinchillas right after trying fresh greens.....

 

[Cuddlebug]

I used to give fresh veggies to my chins. When I came on here (and C&Q), I read the opinions of the members. I took a long time to consider the information. I decided to see if there was a difference if I quit feeding them to the chins. I used to have a lot of issues with Diarrhea. Those have all gone away. My chins don't seem to mind not having them either.

 

[Sugarmama]

Why would you want to risk bloat? To me, the risks far outweigh the benefits, when good pellets and hay have everything nutritionally that they need.

I would not risk bloat, which is literally risking their lives. Not many chins survive bloat.

 

[ABBY W.]

I would say it depends on what the animal has been raised on. Certainly feeding fresh greens to a chin who is used to pellets and hay is going to pose a high risk. Your animal is likely going to develop diahrrea, and possibly bloat, as mentioned before.

I have heard of chins who have been raised on a green diet and do fine, but they start with it at weaning age, so their systems adjust to it. That being said, there has not been enough long-term experience with green diets to know whether they can be okay for chinchillas on a long-term basis. I would like to see more research done on this, and many other questions, to get some more definitive scientific answers. For the time being though, I would err on the side of caution, if I were you, and stick with what we know for now, which is a high quality pellet and hay diet is best.

 

[AZChins]

Kristy...it could be that those vets are just giving out rabbit and guinea pig advice. I've seen that many times before. It's not really the vets' faults for their ignorance, they really don't know any better until something bad happens and their advice causes serious problems.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

you have to remember that vets learn in 'vet school' how to treat chins with injuries and illness. They don't learn about nutrition Most that they learn is from articles that other people have written (as you know the written word is NOT gospel) or what other chin breeders have told them. Again that information may not be right