Kaytee Gourmet Variety Diet

[megatron_mcd]

PetSmart employee led me to this food because that's what they were feeding the chins, does anyone have anything to say about it? Do you like it? Do your chins like it? Is it good/bad for them? I feel like its not the best because of all the "goodies" in it, my Marzipan picks those out and then won't eat the pellets!

 

[Cat75]

That food is not good as it has all the junk in it. Stick to a pellet only food like Oxbow or Mazuri. I'm surprised that store is feeding that to there chins as corporate has the 3 store near me feeding Oxbow brand to all there small animals.

 

[AZChins]

I'd stay away from it. The pellets in it aren't exactly that great, the treats in are really bad for chins.

 

[javachin]

Toss it and get something like Oxbow or Mazuri as the others have said. I can't say enough bad things about anything made by Kaytee.

 

[megatron_mcd]

Ok, I'm sure now that my gut instinct about this food was right. Thanks all! Also where do you all buy Mazuri? Do most pet stores carry it?

 

[greychins]

I get it from a local feed store in 25 pound bags. A lot of my adoptive homes buy it from me, I ship out 11 pound boxes pretty regularly, as it's not super easy to find.

If you'd use a 25 pound bag, you can go to mazuri.com and use the "dealer locator" to find some place close to you that carries it. But before you go, call the place and ask if they carry mazuri, because a lot of places can get it, but not all keep it in stock.

If you don't need that much food at once, I'd suggest buying it from someone. I sell it, and I'm sure other members do as well (maybe even someone close to you, so you could just drive out to their place), check the sticky "Grand master chin supplier list" on the Chinchilla Supplies for Sale section. Most chins eat about 2 pounds a month, and I can fit 11 pounds in a med. flat rate box, that lasts most of my customers ~6 months.

If you want a food you can get from a pet store, most pet stores do carry Oxbow chinchilla... it's in a red bag... http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3135798&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No - usually about 5 pounds for $18, which I think is expensive, but maybe for one chin it's not bad.

 

[e.murphy518]

Just a side note about Oxbow: it is way overpriced at Petsmart. I have ordered it from wag.com and found it at a local pet store for the same price but a 10lb bag instead of the 5lb bag.

 

[nikkik0720]

Personally, I do not like any Kaytee products.

I know this forum is about chins, but a note on how bad Kaytee really is;
Hamsters are pretty hardy little things. They can eat pretty much 'garbage' food and still thrive. (I speak from experience. I've had many over the years.) Well I have fed about 90% of the brands of hamster food out there. I have had success with about 85% that I have tried. The only brand I had very little/no success on is Kaytee and other 'brands' under their name. While feeding this, I had very small, weak litters of hamsters with a very high mortality rate. I experienced more deaths while feeding this than I had with my whole Hamster experience.

So even though hamsters are completely different from chinchillas, this just further justifies what I have heard and experienced with Kaytee products.

 

[akane]

You can use rabbit pellets. A lot of people do. Try feed stores in your area but make sure it's a quality brand. Manna pro, purina, and nutrena are some of the common ones used. You can freeze some of it to preserve it and make sure to keep in an air tight container. Feed should be used up in 4months or 6months frozen. Even if you have to throw a bunch out it's cheaper than the pet store. We've got rabbits as well so we go through a bag a month of nutrena and a bag a week of kent.

 

[nikkik0720]

Personally, I would stay away from Manna Pro for awhile. A lot of people (myself included) are having issues with corn in the feed.

 

[megatron_mcd]

I bought a bag of Oxbow from petsmart, I wanted to get her on it asap, it was a little expensive but now I see I can get double the amount for the same price at wag.com at least. She seems to enjoy it right now while it's mixed in with a little of the old food. Also, greychins, I just now saw on your website that you have a list of safe pet store products, that's awesome!!

 

[ChinChiq]

I use Oxbow and I can get a 5 lb bag for about $12 at a local pet store. Since I only have one chin, it lasts her a few months so I don't think the price is too bad for me.

 

[EternallyCynical]

I just switched my chin to Oxbow off of the food he came with, which was Ecotrition Rabbit Food. The pellets were AWFUL..... they were so crumbly and the bag was mostly full of dust from crushed pellets.... Also, the pellets were BIG, and my chin would tend to pick on up in his lil' paw, take a bit or two, throw it away, and go back for a different one... 9.9 It wasnt full of 'junk food' like fruit or colourful mystery bits, it was a plain pellet, but it was not really good quality.When I started introducing the Oxbow, he would go and actually painstakingly pick out all of the Oxbow pellets and ignore the rabbit pellets unless there was NO Oxbow left and he HAD to eat the rabbit pellets. Eventually, when I got the balance to half Oxbow and half rabbit food, I just switched him right onto the full Oxbow since that was all he was eating anyways. He's been much happier since, and he doesnt make a mess of his pellets anymore either. Not fond of Kaytee, a lot of their stuff that I see is basically junk food. Would highly recommend Oxbow.

 

[e.murphy518]

Glad you found wag.com helpful, also if you google wag.com coupon codes there is often a really helpful option. Right now it is 25% off animal food, and the code is 25FOOD

I will usually use a coupon code and order two 10lb bags and it lasts me a longggg time. Just leave the unused bag sealed until you need it so that it stays fresh