Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health Chinchilla Food

[NigelAndPeanut]

im looking to switch away from Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health Chinchilla Food because I heard it was no good is this true? also what is an inexpensive better food for my chinchilla?

 

[Jawramik]

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a great chin food. Most pet food made by that brand is pretty awful.

Oxbow Essentials and Mazuri are considered the best pellets. If you go with Oxbow, just make sure you get their "Essentials" chinchilla food. They make a couple other types of chin food that has bad ingredients in it, so just make sure you're getting the Essentials formula and not the Garden Select or anything else.

I had my chin on crap pellets for the first few days I had her. Once I did some research and realised I wasn't giving her good food, I slowly switched her over to Oxbow Essentials, which she loves.

 

[NigelAndPeanut]

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a great chin food. Most pet food made by that brand is pretty awful.

Oxbow Essentials and Mazuri are considered the best pellets. If you go with Oxbow, just make sure you get their "Essentials" chinchilla food. They make a couple other types of chin food that has bad ingredients in it, so just make sure you're getting the Essentials formula and not the Garden Select or anything else.

I had my chin on crap pellets for the first few days I had her. Once I did some research and realised I wasn't giving her good food, I slowly switched her over to Oxbow Essentials, which she loves.

is this food affordable I know with dogfood the best is super expensive

 

[Jawramik]

is this food affordable I know with dogfood the best is super expensive

Here it is on Amazon, so you can see the prices for different-sized bags: https://www.amazon.com/Oxbow-Essent...2&sr=1-1-cb9ed203-36f2-497c-b389-dfec57adb781

I usually just get the small 3-pound bag, since I only have one chin and I don't want it to get stale. I've had her about a month and we're probably about halfway through the bag....so it's like $5 per month per chin, I'd say, which I feel is quite affordable. If you have more chins, you can get bigger bags, which are a better value, and it'd be even less money per chin per month.

"Affordable" means different things to different people, but just speaking for myself, I don't feel like my chin's food is blowing a huge hole in my bank account (her cage, toys, and accessories are another story, though!).

Do also keep in mind that you should also be giving your chins loose hay in addition to pellets, so that's going to be another expense, though I don't find hay to be expensive, either. Maybe another $5-ish a month, depending on how much variety I'm giving her. Lately we've been trying out different hays, so my hay budget has been a little higher than it would probably normally be.

 

[NigelAndPeanut]

thankyou so much you have been very helpful

 

[Jawramik]

Happy to help, I'm just passing along what I've learned from the lovely folks on this forum!

 

[jackie925]

Are either of these ok? One of them is Oxbow brand and when I looked in the bag it appeared to only be pellets.

 

[Jawramik]

The Oxbow Garden Select is not so good. If you're going to use Oxbow, get their Essentials formula in the red bag. That's the only Oxbow chin food that's good.

I'm not sure about the Science Selective. I'm sure Amethyst or others more experienced would know better than I if it's okay or not. Normally I see people recommend Oxbow Essentials or Mazuri chin pellets.

 

[Amethyst]

Are either of these ok? One of them is Oxbow brand and when I looked in the bag it appeared to only be pellets. View attachment 21624View attachment 21625

The garden select oxbow is not good, it is only pellets, but the pellets contain things like peas and tomatoes which can cause gut issues. It's also a timothy based pellet, ideally you want an alfalfa based pellet since even adult chins still need some alfalfa in their diet, either as pellets or as hay, but not too much. Alfalfa is higher in calcium, protein, and fat then grass hay like timothy, so they do need it, but if given too much it can lead to issues like urinary tract stones in some chins as well as obesity.
Oxbow Essentials

is considered the best chinchilla food and is the Oxbow food people at referring to when they recommend "Oxbow", especially if looking at older posts since that use to be the only chinchilla formula they sold. Science Selective is ok, not considered the best, but not a bad food if that is the best you can get where you live. Oxbow Essentials, Mazuri, and Science Selective are the top recommended brands for chinchilla specific food.

 

[Jawramik]

As always, Amethyst swoops in with awesome info!

That's good to know about the Science Selective. I'd never heard of it before. My girl loves Oxbow Essentials, but it's good to know all the acceptable alternatives just in case there ever comes a time when I'm unable to get more of the good Oxbow pellets for whatever reason.