I'm killing my chin.

[jamtastique!]

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!

 

[PetoftheDay]

We're glad you found this site, it is a good resource!

I read up a lot before I got my bunny, and this was many years ago, and was pretty appalled to see "treats" marketed for bunnies that were loaded with sugar and raisins, when I knew, based on my particular bunny's weight, that 3 raisins per day was IT for sugar she could have.

And while you cannot change what you fed him in the past, obviously you can move forward in a healthier way, hopefully to no long-term damage to your feisty boy.

The treats with the raisins and berries you could put outside for the wild birds, they'd enjoy them as a nice treat, and wouldn't care if they were dusted with chinnie food crumbs!

 

[3CsMommy]

The sunflower seeds might not be a good idea, but plain rolled oats are an acceptable treat. Not sure about the flax seed; user Tanya is the one to ask about herbs etc. for chins.

And the only thing that would make you a "bad" chin owner is finding out about a mistake and not changing based on the better information. Cervantes (my ex's chin) had occasional bites of dried banana and raisins before we learned better; it's hard to sort the wheat from the chaff in online information. But you're in the right place now, and learning how to do better, which is the important part.

 

[Jadebf700]

There should be a list somewhere here with acceptable treats but FYI...

Plain shredded wheat (the unsugared kind), plain Cheerios, Old fashioned oats (make sure these are not quick oats) Rosehips can be given. Some chins have a hard time breaking them apart so maybe if you get it started for your little one, he'll go for it. My chin LOVES them.

 

[StevieP]

Jam,

No need to feel bad. You were doing what you thought was right. Unfortunately there are probably thousands of people doing as you were, not knowing any better. The important thing is that you found the right info.

 

[Laurie]

Jam don't beat yourself up. Before I found the forum I used to feed my first chin, Bobo, pieces of my cherry turnover! The chinchilla bible truly is the forum--what you learn here from knowledgeable members is what's most important.

And I do have to say--those gross round rye things in chexmix?! Jam! Those are the best part of the chexmix! See you're even misguided in your chexmix favorites lol!!!!

 

[3CsMommy]

You can always feed *me* bites of your cherry turnover Laurie.

 

[momenteller]

And I do have to say--those gross round rye things in chexmix?! Jam! Those are the best part of the chexmix! See you're even misguided in your chexmix favorites lol!!!!

Exactly! Was going to comment on this but Laurie beat me to it. No important chin insight to offer, but I could have a serious discussion about ChexMix with you... :crazy:

 

[Dusty Foot Prints]

When you know better, you do better
Welcome to the forum.

 

[caiti]

With all the bad info out there on chins, you have to try really quite hard to find out what is correct and what isn't. That's why the forum is helpful. The more people you get saying "I've been doing this on X amount of chins for X amount of time" you can corroborate stuff and figure out what really does work or doesn't.

And yes, those things in the chex mix are delicious. I'm sorry you feel that way about them, Jam.

HAHAHA.

 

[Chintastic!]

As everyone else has said, its not what you've done, its what your doing now and continueing to do. When I had my first chin I must have given him 10 raisons a day. I still have him, but I met someone in my community who knew chins and set me straight.

On another note, Im going to save all those rye chips and send them to the highest bidder, I dont like them either Jam.

 

[ticklechin]

Many years ago, some from CNQ may remember, I bought some rabbit cookies from the local rescue display at the Mom and Pop pet store, the cookies were supposed to be rabbit safe. They smelled sweet like apples but HEY they are rabbit safe. Most had never had anything sweet, the others it was years. So before bedtime I gave all 11 a cookie. The next morning the nightmare scene in the chin room, Tito was unresposive on his side and severely bloated on deaths door , Rocco and Guido also were lethargic with bloat, Frank and Beezy had gurgly tummies, the whole lot had loose poo. 5 chins rushed to the emergency vet with me feeling like the lowest pond scum on the planet, it was a hard lesson learned what feeding something sweet can do to a chin, I tasted the cookies after the fact and they might as well have been oatmeal human cookies.

 

[starleomach]

We have all made mistakes. When I got my first chinchilla I would give him apple slices and carrots etc..I was really lucky he wouldn't eat them.