Food Issue....big one.

[Mikayla]

We are totally out of the crap food we used to feed that we were trying to wait out enough to change. I though we had more in the bag but obviously not. (It was a rabbit food :wacko

Now we live in the middle of absolutely no where. The pet store sells Kaytee.... But that's it. I'd have to check on what rabbit food, but I would doubt they have anything good.

So basically, what are acceptable foods to feed? And what are foods that I can feed (That I might be able to get) that can hold me over until I can get better?

On a different note, is there anybody that you know of that carries feed out here? (Northeastern Colorado) Or know of a place I can get food, like Petsmart or anything?

I feel like such a bad person for not knowing... :cry3:

 

[Christina Noraas]

You could ask a vendor on here who lives close to you and ask them that they ship it ASAP. I had just about the same issue with dust last night when I realized hey I don't have another jug, but I don't have a pet store around here that sells anything for chinchillas period. So I had to order from Alli who lives about an hour and half away from me; back to the point venture around and see if any one in Colorado is on the forum that sells food.

 

[Silverrose]

I'm not quite sure I understood correctly, but are you in the middle of a food transition and ran out of the crap food? If so, you can just cold turkey switch to the better food and it shouldn't be a problem. For now, PetSmart should carry Oxbow Chinchilla Pellets. Or you can order some from Sandi on here and she ships pretty quickly and has it fresh at a great price. Other recommended chinchilla feeds are Mazuri, Tradition, Purina Rabbit Chow Show, Manna Pro, and more and can't think of off the top of my head. Just look in the classifieds, tons of people sell feed. In the meantime, just give the chins plenty of hay. A couple days of eating hay while you wait for pellets to arrive is fine.

 

[~SG~]

call your local farm supply or feed store and see if they have Naturewise 16% rabbit pellets

 

[Stackie]

I'm confused as well...but anywho,

Don't get some random feed that you can get your hands on just to feed it to them. Switching around their feed too much can really upset their GI systems. Go ahead and buy a good quality feed and start giving it to them. Many chins are fine with cold switches; just give plenty of hay and suppliment with some acidophilus. What are you wanting to switch to? Good feeds include Oxbow, Mazuri (both can be found at Petsmart, Mazuri has been known to cause stool problems however), Tradition, Nutrena Naturewise, and some Purina feed that I forget the initials to. Until you can get one of these good brands of feed, just give them a lot of hay. They will be fine on an only hay diet while you get feed.

I prefer either Oxbow or Tradition. If you can't get to a Petsmart, Sandi on here sells Oxbow for a good price and gets it shipped quickly.

ETA Shoulda read all the posts, Therese covered pretty much everything I said.

 

[Mikayla]

No, we have no feed whatsoever. Well like half a cereal box thing. And with eight chins...that don't go very far. I might try Petsmart, I don't think that we can order because my parents don't really want to pay shipping. Understandably. But we will have to like cold turkey switch them. I feel terrible. I though we had half a bag more feed. (We keep it in a box so we can get to it, and we must have thrown out the bad of food that we apparently ran out of.)

I'll call my feed store tomorrow when it's open. And if they don't have Nutrenawise I'll see if I can get to Petsmart about 80 miles or so away. But, even though we have minimal dust left too...We do have HAY! I think I'll be fine until at least tomorrow, when now that I think about it we have friends coming from Denver....I hope they have Nutrena. *Wishing*

(Now that I read over it, it was totally confusing...most of what I say is )

 

[~SG~]

ok if I was your parents I'd rather pay shipping then waste time and gas money$$ to make the 80 mile drive.....

 

[Mikayla]

I'd agree, but then again most of the time I don't get most of their reasoning.

 

[tunes]

Why were they still on crap feed in the first place? You didn't say you were switching them over, you just said they were on their crap feed while you "waited it out." Crap feed is crap feed for a reason. You don't "wait it out." You get rid of it and you get better feed. And you should NEVER run out of feed for any reason, crap or good. That is just something that you should plan for, especially in Colorado, where you can have sunshine then a blizzard 5 seconds later.

 

[Stackie]

Why were they still on crap feed in the first place? You didn't say you were switching them over, you just said they were on their crap feed while you "waited it out." Crap feed is crap feed for a reason. You don't "wait it out." You get rid of it and you get better feed. And you should NEVER run out of feed for any reason, crap or good. That is just something that you should plan for, especially in Colorado, where you can have sunshine then a blizzard 5 seconds later.

Agreed. Espeically if you are breeding...

 

[starleomach]

Crap feed causes irreversable liver damage.
Pet stores now often sell Oxbow and Mazuri

 

[Mikayla]

I don't want to sound rude...but this is why I questioned posting this. I don't want to be jumped on. I'm sorry. I told my dad as soon as I found out, we were changing, we've been looking for food. We really have. But I don't want to ask for too much because I don't want them to get mad at me. I'm trying to do things right. I just needed help.

Just thought I'd say, I thought I had feed. And I can't find Oxbow and Mazuri. It troubles me why though.

 

[cindyv3737]

Sandi's prices include shipping. Plus buying Oxbow from her will cost less than Petsmart. Just thought I'd throw that in if shipping is an issue.

 

[~SG~]

Does your parents know you have pets that have no food?

 

[tunes]

Mikayla - You're not getting jumped on, you're getting told the truth. You want to breed but your parents won't get you feed for your chins? What happens when you have a $1500.00 vet bill because your female is dying with a kit stuck and it's 2 a.m.? Are you going to worry about the chin or about your parents being mad??

This is why the majority of the forum is so against kids breeding. Because it's not your money, it's not your car, it's not your house. It's your parents and their rules are what you have to follow, and that is as it should be. But if they are not going to be behind you 100% with your animals, and that means food, vet bills, everything financially, then this is no time to even be considering breeding. It's not going to mean death and destruction if you wait until you are in your own place, with your own income, and no worries about having to ask permission to do anything and everything.

 

[ErinsChins]

Mikayla-
If you can get your parents to pay 10.70 for a flat rate box, i'll stuff it full with Mazuri, no charge for pellets.

 

[Mikayla]

No, no, no, no. We have like a fund set aside in case something like that should happen, Tunes. The feed issue is, I don't think they are doing well on it, but they are maintaining their weight and are vivacious and active. We were nearly out of food, like half a bag, (Or we thought) and we figured we'd look for food, or try to find a way to get delivery. Like a show or something. You know?

Erin, that's really nice of you, thank you. I'll be sure to get in contact with you, if we turn out to really be living in boondocks.

 

[Ash]

You twist your story so much. You are either so out of food that you can barely last til today, or you still have crap food which you already know is bad for them. It doesn't take long to look up feed stores on line and find places that carry the food you need. In fact, most companies have a place on their website to find the closest dealers to you. It takes all of maybe half an hour, then however longg it takes you to drive and get the new feed, meaning these chins could have been on good food the day you found out what you were feeding is bad. Stop making up stories and do what is good for your animals.

Heck, give us your zip code. I'm sure someone could find a dealer for you in a few minutes.

 

[~SG~]

I'd still like to know if the parents even know there is little / no food.

 

[Mikayla]

No, I'm not twisting my story. I'm saying the same thing. It's hard to explain. SG, Yes my parents know.

Here's my story, it's hard to explain in text, I'm not twisting it, it's just...hard to explain. We thought we had a half a bag of food left. We know this isn't much, considering it was a 25 lb bag. We have been looking diligently for vendors in my area, and for food in pet stores. We couldn't find any. I was just getting ready to discuss the issue with my parents about how we need better food ASAP. But I was getting ready to feed, I discovered my food bag was gone, we must have ran out. That's is when I posted this to get help. I have now been told off my multiple people on here, and my parents for making this mess. I'm sorry.

Ash-I didn't know vendors did that.

I have the information I need to get food now, I think it would be appropriate for a moderator to close this thread. Thank you in advance.