jamtastique!
Member
Not on purpose of course, but out of ignorance.
Before I got little Kila, I bookmarked http://www.chincare.com and considered it the bible of chinchilla.. ness.
I read all the basic care and blah blah blah, but of course focused mostly on the nutrition section. I knew chinnies have sensitive little tummies and I didn't want to be that stupid pet owner that ended up doing all the wrong things and sending my chin to an early grave.
Well, looks like I managed that anyway. (don't worry, he's not dead! he's using me as springboard and doing a jig on the keyboard as I type this)
The website has a "treats" section, with all the do's and don'ts of treat giving. Concerning fruit, it acknowledges the high sugar content in dried/fresh fruit but states giving tiny amounts a few times a week is acceptable.
In addition, the breeder I bought him from sent me with a packet that corroborated with that information.
So that's what I've been doing. Every other day (give or take), I gave him a little piece of fruit (the smaller, wimpy raisins, a piece of a banana chip, little papaya chunk, etc) 2+ hours before playtime. I tried giving him a whole rosehip before but he didn't really try to eat it so I gave up on them. I have a whole canister of raisins, papaya, apple chunks, apple pellets, goji berries, coconut shreds, granola chunks, split peas, and.. some kinda little flat round things that remind me of those gross rye chips in Chex Mix. Many of the treats came from a sample treat bag the breeder gave me.
Then I come here and.. frankly I wish I came here first. Everything I've been doing treat-wise has been wrong! No fruits! No veggies! I feel so horrible, I've been leading my chin down a slippery slope to an early death because I was too stupid and looked pretty much everywhere but chins & hedgies.
I love my little baby to bits and it kills me that what I thought was harmless spoiling is fatal.. I tossed her packet, I only look at chincare for links.
I'm sorry, I really am. I really didn't want to be another ignorant pet owner, I wanted to take perfect care of my chinchilla. He's the first pet I've had in a while and I didn't want to mess up.
But from now on, I know to ask questions here! I'm throwing away the treat canister (i would totally eat the raisins and berries but they've been in chinchilla food, eech..) and only giving him chin cookies if I absolutely cannot resist treating him to something.
While I'm at it, should I toss the supplement she gave me too? From what I can see, it has oats, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds.. dunno if there's anything else. I didn't pay for it, so it's no loss to me.
I really appreciate this forum.. and Kila does too!
Before I got little Kila, I bookmarked http://www.chincare.com and considered it the bible of chinchilla.. ness.
I read all the basic care and blah blah blah, but of course focused mostly on the nutrition section. I knew chinnies have sensitive little tummies and I didn't want to be that stupid pet owner that ended up doing all the wrong things and sending my chin to an early grave.
Well, looks like I managed that anyway. (don't worry, he's not dead! he's using me as springboard and doing a jig on the keyboard as I type this)
The website has a "treats" section, with all the do's and don'ts of treat giving. Concerning fruit, it acknowledges the high sugar content in dried/fresh fruit but states giving tiny amounts a few times a week is acceptable.
In addition, the breeder I bought him from sent me with a packet that corroborated with that information.
So that's what I've been doing. Every other day (give or take), I gave him a little piece of fruit (the smaller, wimpy raisins, a piece of a banana chip, little papaya chunk, etc) 2+ hours before playtime. I tried giving him a whole rosehip before but he didn't really try to eat it so I gave up on them. I have a whole canister of raisins, papaya, apple chunks, apple pellets, goji berries, coconut shreds, granola chunks, split peas, and.. some kinda little flat round things that remind me of those gross rye chips in Chex Mix. Many of the treats came from a sample treat bag the breeder gave me.
Then I come here and.. frankly I wish I came here first. Everything I've been doing treat-wise has been wrong! No fruits! No veggies! I feel so horrible, I've been leading my chin down a slippery slope to an early death because I was too stupid and looked pretty much everywhere but chins & hedgies.
I love my little baby to bits and it kills me that what I thought was harmless spoiling is fatal.. I tossed her packet, I only look at chincare for links.
I'm sorry, I really am. I really didn't want to be another ignorant pet owner, I wanted to take perfect care of my chinchilla. He's the first pet I've had in a while and I didn't want to mess up.
But from now on, I know to ask questions here! I'm throwing away the treat canister (i would totally eat the raisins and berries but they've been in chinchilla food, eech..) and only giving him chin cookies if I absolutely cannot resist treating him to something.
While I'm at it, should I toss the supplement she gave me too? From what I can see, it has oats, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds.. dunno if there's anything else. I didn't pay for it, so it's no loss to me.
I really appreciate this forum.. and Kila does too!