Kaytee Chinchilla food.

[Brittney]

Hi, just a quick question/concern. I am currently feeding my chinchilla Kaytee Chinchilla Forti-Diet Pro Health. He doesn't waste it and seems to like it. It has no treats in it, just pellets. My question is: Is this a good food for him? He's 8 months old and has been on this food since he was 4 months old when I got him. I have read that the best foods are Mazuri and Oxbow, but the pet store that is even remotely close to me (about 45 min) only sells the Kaytee brand foods. :hair:

http://www.petco.com/petco_Page_PC_productlist_Nav_1293_N_88+92.aspx

Here is a list of the foods available at the store I'm kinda forced to go to. I'm not sure if either one would be better, but if there is one there you see that would be better, please let me know. Thank you.

 

[Silverrose]

While its not really a great food... at least it doesn't have weird treats in it. Another concern is that I don't think Kaytee prints mill dates on their bags, so you don't know how long a bag of food has been sitting on a shelf. Do you have any feed stores near you? Chinchillas can also be fed a high quality rabbit pellet such as PANR, Manna Pro, Nutrena, Blue Seal, etc. It is much cheaper, and you can usually order them so you know it's fresh. If not, there are many sellers online, including myself, who sell feed, and it will be much cheaper than what you are paying for right now, even with shipping. And you will know that the food is fresh.

 

[threewingedfury]

Kaytee doesn't offer the healthiest feed for animals. There are many people on here you can order feed from. Feeds such as Mazuri, Oxbow, PANR, Nutrena are available from members on this site who can ship it to you at a much cheaper price than you would find in a store and it's much healthier.

 

[AZChins]

Brittany...I see you're in Phoenix.

I offer free delivery of supplies when I make a trip up there. I have Mazuri at about 1/4 the price that the petstores charge for it.

 

[danakscully64]

I absolutely hate to share this, but I need to. My Mom purchased Kaytee food for my chinchillas one day when I was at work, I asked her to stop by Petco for basic pellets (I don't remember the details, but it was an emergency situation). My Mom asked the girl working and she suggested a bag of food full of treats. It was only going to be a temporary thing, so I didn't stress. Since it was already purchased, I held on to it to use as a treat. I had only opened the corner to pour it out and one day, I opened the whole thing. This is what I found:

My chinchillas could have died from eating that, that bacteria could have ended up in their system. I got the most general, unapologetic response from Kaytee:

Thank you for contacting Kaytee Products. Please provide the following
information so that we can follow up with our Quality Control
Department:

UPC/Bar Code
Best Before Date

We would be happy to send a replacement coupon to the address you
provided along with additional valuable coupons in an effort to
apologize for the inconvenience you experienced with the Kaytee Fiesta
Chinchilla.

I don't buy from Kaytee anymore, not even hay.

 

[Sandi]

Oh my ****, what the heck is that? Yuck! Good thing you did not give that to your chins!

 

[danakscully64]

Oh my ****, what the heck is that? Yuck! Good thing you did not give that to your chins!

A big ball of MOLD. I did give some to my chins. You can tell the bag is still full, but they did eat at least a few servings each. My poor babies. Luckily none got sick from it.

 

[starleomach]

I would return that to the store

 

[danakscully64]

I would return that to the store

I didn't have the receipt and they're Petco, they wouldn't have cared. Kaytee sent me a coupon for a free bag of food. Very reckless! I wonder how that ball of mold got there... they must not have quality inspectors.

 

[rach_leigh]

Eww that is so gross! Someone definately forgot to inspect that bag before letting it get sealed. That shouldn't happen, regardless of what kind of food it is!

Britteny, when I got my chin (sold by previous owner) she did a good job raising him socially, however failed with the food. She fed Kaytee Timothy Complete (without treats) and decided not to give him hay since it had hay in it! The first thing I did was give him hay when we got to my house - he ate it all! After 3 weeks of him being picky and picking out the Oxbow, I switched him cold turkey to Nutrena Rabbit Pellets and he loves them. You can order food from many members here in the classified section too. Good luck!

 

[Brittney]

Thanks guys. I'm getting the problem handled next week, switching him to Mazuri. He will only have to be on it for another week and then very little through the transition period. Thanks for your help!

 

[danakscully64]

YAY! I swear by Mazuri, it's the best I've found and the only thing I'll feed my babies.

 

[Chinchichi]

doesnt matter if you have the reciept, at the petco i work at we'll return it anyways especially if its like that.
if theres only a Petco near you i'd go with Zupreem brand, its way better then kaytee, i used the Natures promise for a long time and my chins loved it.

 

[Isabella Whateva]

Oh my gosh, that's horrible!
My fiance and I bought a bag of Kaytee once and it was full of COBWEBS! I'm not sure if that's kaytee's fault or the pet store's, but we returned it and switched food immediately.

 

[Easterpiggy]

that is soooo gross I am never buying anything kaytee ever again!

 

[starleomach]

Ingredients Sun-cured timothy grass hay, Ground corn, Corn gluten meal, Dried beet pulp, Dicalcium phosphate, Dextrose, Salt, Flaxseed meal, Calcium carbonate, Ground vegetables (carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress and spinach), Brewers dried yeast, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, Choline chloride, DL-Methionine, L-Lysine, Natural mixed tocopherols, Zinc sulfate, Ferrous sulfate, Manganese sulfate, Copper sulfate, Zinc proteinate, Calcium iodate, Copper proteinate, Manganese proteinate, Cobalt carbonate, Sodium selenite, Vitamin A supplement, Vitamin D3 supplement, Vitamin E supplement, Niacin, Calcium pantothenate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine hydrochloride, Thiamine mononitrate, Folic acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 supplement
Guaranteed Analysis %
Crude Protein (Minimum) 14
Crude Fat (Minimum) 1
Crude Fiber (Maximum) 28
Moisture (Maximum) 12

That is from the Zupreem, really doesn't look good I would'nt feed that either....more than 1/2 the ingridients shouldn't be given to chinchillas

 

[TillyChinchilla]

Just so people are aware, all Kaytee small animal foods (minus the pro-health) contain ethoxyquin, quinoline-based antioxidant used as a food preservative and a pesticide. It has been linked to cancer as well.

 

[AZChins]

That's right... You need to stay away from that type of preservative. As far as I know it can't be used in food consumed by humans...

 

[Carol~Anne]

Uggg... that moldy bag of food is just too gross. The only Kaytee product I've bought was their dust but it was more like sand and it was way more expensive than the better quality dust that I could buy either at the pet shop or online. The only good thing about their dust is the nice little container that it came in and I use it for storing chin-goods.

 

[danakscully64]

doesnt matter if you have the reciept, at the petco i work at we'll return it anyways especially if its like that.
if theres only a Petco near you i'd go with Zupreem brand, its way better then kaytee, i used the Natures promise for a long time and my chins loved it.

I can't remember what I did... maybe I did bring it back to Petco. That's so weird, I usually have an amazing memory, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

Thanks for the recommendation, but I'm very happy with Mazuri

Oh my gosh, that's horrible!
My fiance and I bought a bag of Kaytee once and it was full of COBWEBS! I'm not sure if that's kaytee's fault or the pet store's, but we returned it and switched food immediately.

Cobwebs on the INSIDE? Sounds like Kaytee's fault... faulty packaging. Scary.

that is soooo gross I am never buying anything kaytee ever again!

I absolutely second that, I don't trust Kaytee at all.

Just so people are aware, all Kaytee small animal foods (minus the pro-health) contain ethoxyquin, quinoline-based antioxidant used as a food preservative and a pesticide. It has been linked to cancer as well.

Thank you so much for sharing that, I had no idea.

That's right... You need to stay away from that type of preservative. As far as I know it can't be used in food consumed by humans...

Now THAT is scary.

Uggg... that moldy bag of food is just too gross. The only Kaytee product I've bought was their dust but it was more like sand and it was way more expensive than the better quality dust that I could buy either at the pet shop or online. The only good thing about their dust is the nice little container that it came in and I use it for storing chin-goods.

I actually store my dust in the Kaytee container too, that's why I bought it in the first place I refill it with Blue Cloud, I think. The local pet store I buy it from packages it themselves (they buy in bulk) and don't list the brand. I know it's not Kaytee.