Oxbow Garden Select

[Chinchillaville13]

Howdy!

Hey, I recently bought a 20 lb. bag of Oxbow Garden Select chinchilla food. I like their freeze-dried small animal treats (literally all they are is tiny pieces of freeze-dried strawberry or banana. Pedro loves them, as well as my rabbit, goats, and dog. Sometimes I even eat one), and I use their chew toys a lot, so I am sorta familiar with the brand. I just don't know what their food is like.

I have done my research and it seems fairly healthy, especially since it has timothy in it (Pedro gets meadow hay from our fields, so he still gets hay. He just doesn't get timothy). I just want to know if your chins like it.

So any Oxbow Garden Select users out there, give me some feedback please! Do your chinchillas like it? If not, do you get them to eat it some other way? What is said other way?

Thanks y'all!

 

[Amethyst]

The garden select is not actually good for chins. Unless your chin has a medical issue and can't have alfalfa the pellets should be alfalfa based not timothy based. Timothy hay should be given unlimited. The Oxbow Essentials is the only recommended Oxbow food (it use to be the only Oxbow in case you looked up food and it just saw "Oxbow" is the best). Adult chins still need some calcium and other nutrients that are found in alfalfa in their diet, just not a lot. It's a lot easier giving pellets with a premeasured amount then hoping they eat the right amount of alfalfa hay (too little and you can end up with a calcium deficiency, too much can cause bladder stones in some chins). Also the Garden select has ingredients like tomatoes that can cause diarrhea, and peas that can cause gas and bloat. Chins should not have any fruits or veggies, they are not good for them, they can make them sick or even kill them.

That includes freeze dried strawberries and bananas, the biggest issue is the sugar, drying it does not remove the sugar. Sugar you may not notice the issues it's causing right away but it can lead to issues like, tooth decay, diabetes, liver and kidney failure, blindness, and can cause seizures due to the spike and drop and blood sugar (can happen at any time so just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it wont even the next time you give your chin a piece of fruit).

 

[Chinchillaville13]

The garden select is not actually good for chins. Unless your chin has a medical issue and can't have alfalfa the pellets should be alfalfa based not timothy based. Timothy hay should be given unlimited. The Oxbow Essentials is the only recommended Oxbow food (it use to be the only Oxbow in case you looked up food and it just saw "Oxbow" is the best). Adult chins still need some calcium and other nutrients that are found in alfalfa in their diet, just not a lot. It's a lot easier giving pellets with a premeasured amount then hoping they eat the right amount of alfalfa hay (too little and you can end up with a calcium deficiency, too much can cause bladder stones in some chins). Also the Garden select has ingredients like tomatoes that can cause diarrhea, and peas that can cause gas and bloat. Chins should not have any fruits or veggies, they are not good for them, they can make them sick or even kill them.

That includes freeze dried strawberries and bananas, the biggest issue is the sugar, drying it does not remove the sugar. Sugar you may not notice the issues it's causing right away but it can lead to issues like, tooth decay, diabetes, liver and kidney failure, blindness, and can cause seizures due to the spike and drop and blood sugar (can happen at any time so just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it wont even the next time you give your chin a piece of fruit).

Darn, I just bought the 20 pound bag a few days ago.

Could I maybe mix it with another safer food?

 

[Amethyst]

If it's not the food he was eating before I wouldn't. Chins have sensitive digestive tracts switching between foods can cause some real issues and should be done slowly if possible. I would see if you can return the food, if you got if from a pet store like Petsmart or Petco they normally have a satisfaction guarantee and will take returns if you explain you got the wrong Oxbow food.

If he has been eating it for awhile then you can slowly switch over to a safe food like the Oxbow essentials (or if you were feeding a safe food before without any fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, animal products, or colorful bits), slowly mix 75% bad food with 25% good food the first week, then 50%/50% then second week, then 25%/75% the third week, and then 100% good food by the forth week, and just throw away any left over garden select after that.

 

[Chinchillaville13]

If it's not the food he was eating before I wouldn't. Chins have sensitive digestive tracts switching between foods can cause some real issues and should be done slowly if possible. I would see if you can return the food, if you got if from a pet store like Petsmart or Petco they normally have a satisfaction guarantee and will take returns if you explain you got the wrong Oxbow food.

If he has been eating it for awhile then you can slowly switch over to a safe food like the Oxbow essentials (or if you were feeding a safe food before without any fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, animal products, or colorful bits), slowly mix 75% bad food with 25% good food the first week, then 50%/50% then second week, then 25%/75% the third week, and then 100% good food by the forth week, and just throw away any left over garden select after that.

I got it from Chewy. I think they do returns. The food still isn't actually here.

So, if I changed his food, could I put the new stuff in a bigger container and dump the old stuff on top of it? Then he'd get a little more and a little more of the new stuff each time.

 

[Amethyst]

Oh if the food isn't even there yet I would just return it as soon as it arrives, or cancel the order if it hasn't been shipped out yet.

I wouldn't just mix all the food together, you want to make sure you are actually getting the right amount each week. If you just pour it all together you can't really slow the transition if needed. For example if you go from 75% old to 50% old and the chin starts getting soft poops it's best to slow down and go back to 75% for a bit longer, you can't do that if it's just all mixed together.