Raisins

[Veronica]

I would like to get more educated about raisins. I have only had my chins for two years and it seems now, more than ever, raisins are strongly discouraged. What are the specific reasons for this? Have some of you previously used raisins within reason, but have now discontinued the practice?

And with all the posts lately about constipation and other digestive issues, it makes me wonder if these problems have increased as raisin use has decreased?

I'd really like some educational answers - really don't want to start WWIII.

Thanks!

 

[Jenn]

I can't answer this except to say that I used to feed Tinkerbell a couple of raisins here and there and she really loved them. I think raisins are a no-no because of the high sugar content and chin's inability to process sugar. It would be the same with honey and other fruits as well. I know somebody can answer this better, but basically it all comes down to the sugar content.

 

[starleomach]

I think it is like the plastic thing. For a long time people were against plastic and it is coming around to plastic is ok. A lot of old timers still give raisins like they have for years. I rarely give treats at all anymore which is for no particular reason. I do ocasionally give a crasin to the chinchillas, but not even once a week.

 

[kaykay]

Everyone's opinion on this may differ but I'm against sugar. Reason being is Sirius is having sugar issues because his breeder gave them 2 raisins per day almost from the time they were born. And now they don't get sugar here and he gets a bit lethargic from playtimes because of dropping in blood sugar levels. So no more playtimes even until they adjust better.

Just my $.02.

 

[Siylvat]

We used to feed our chins raisins, probably a couple a week. When I moved in with my boyfriend though, I started doing alot of research on chinchillas cuz now they were my chins too. After I read about raisins, we both decided that we did not want to risk anything if we didn't have to. We started giving apple sticks, shredded wheat, and rolled oats. now we give treats maybe once a week, if that(-well, except apple sticks, they get those all the time lol).

One of our original two chins has some blood sugar issues, not sure if that is related to raisins or not.

 

[InkedupTara]

I know raisins in dogs and other animals can be toxic but didnt know that until I had given Fuzzy a raisin or two as well.

I then did my research and decided against it. If it is that bad for a bigger animal and can cause renal failure I personally would not want to give it to my chinchilla then either.

 

[alli713]

If you look at the basic biology of how a chinchilla digests it's food, it would only make sense to stay away from sugary treats like raisins and other fruits.

Chinchillas are hindgut fermenters meaning that they need bacteria in their cecum to assist in the digestion of their food. Without these bacteria, a chinchilla could not digest their food properly. Chins need these bacteria to process their food.

The bacteria in the gut that are responsible for fermentation are sensitive to diet changes. Under normal circumstances there's a balance of bacteria in their gut some of which digest sugars and others that digest the rest of the food. When you introduce sugar into this system, it causes the sugar and starch loving bacteria to grow rapidly and causes the normal gut bacteria to die off. Now you have a chin who's gut is way out of whack.

The beneficial bacteria that under normal circumstances digests their food has been replaced with sugar loving bacteria. So now your chin is going to have issues with digestion.

So, if you only give say, on raisin or half a raisin a week, at that time, the chin's gut is going to get out of whack from trying to digest all those sugars. Their body is just not meant to digest sugars, it's made to digest plant matter and fibrous material.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that constipation and digestive issues are caused by the lack of raisins. To me that goes opposite of how a chin's body actually works if you look at the science of it. Although our chins of today are obviously different than their wild friends, I think it's safe to say that the wild chins are not finding raisins and other sugary material to eat and they aren't dealing with huge outbreaks of constipation. And in all reality, I haven't heard of too many people having issues with constipation without some other issue leading into it.

 

[Chinniechantel]

If you look at the basic biology of how a chinchilla digests it's food, it would only make sense to stay away from sugary treats like raisins and other fruits.

Chinchillas are hindgut fermenters meaning that they need bacteria in their cecum to assist in the digestion of their food. Without these bacteria, a chinchilla could not digest their food properly. Chins need these bacteria to process their food.

The bacteria in the gut that are responsible for fermentation are sensitive to diet changes. Under normal circumstances there's a balance of bacteria in their gut some of which digest sugars and others that digest the rest of the food. When you introduce sugar into this system, it causes the sugar and starch loving bacteria to grow rapidly and causes the normal gut bacteria to die off. Now you have a chin who's gut is way out of whack.

The beneficial bacteria that under normal circumstances digests their food has been replaced with sugar loving bacteria. So now your chin is going to have issues with digestion.

So, if you only give say, on raisin or half a raisin a week, at that time, the chin's gut is going to get out of whack from trying to digest all those sugars. Their body is just not meant to digest sugars, it's made to digest plant matter and fibrous material.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that constipation and digestive issues are caused by the lack of raisins. To me that goes opposite of how a chin's body actually works if you look at the science of it. Although our chins of today are obviously different than their wild friends, I think it's safe to say that the wild chins are not finding raisins and other sugary material to eat and they aren't dealing with huge outbreaks of constipation. And in all reality, I haven't heard of too many people having issues with constipation without some other issue leading into it.

Extremely well said Allison!

 

[greychins]

I personally don't generally give them because of the high sugar content, and because of how raisins are toxic to many species. I've read numerous accounts of how dogs/cats/you-name-it has died from raisin toxicity and while I do understand that humans can tolerate raisins (so apparently they're not toxic to ALL species), I just don't think I want to risk it that chins are one of the other few species (IMO) that can tolerate raisins without harmful effects.

One of the recent emails I got talked about a dog that died from raisin toxicity. The email said that when poison control was contacted, they said that as few as 7 raisins/grapes could cause toxicity. Now, when I first got chins and before I did research, I'm sure tons of my chins had waaay more than 7 raisins in an hour (thanks to my "oooh they need another one" parents who over-treat), so clearly this isn't always the case, but if poison control said that 7 raisins could be toxic to a dog, which is much larger than a chinchilla (and we're talking about a 50 pound dog, not a 2 pound yorkie)... I'm not risking the chins...

My parents do slip the chins a raisin here or there, or even a craisin sometime, but I they DO know that they shouldn't, so this happens maybe once a month, if that... if they were all here with me and my parents didn't live with some of them, they'd never get a raisin/craisin...

 

[Cuddlebug]

I used to feed raisins. After reading a lot of information on the forum concerning raisins, I decided that it wasn't worth taking a chance on it. I have not seen more constipation in my chins since then. In fact, I believe the opposite may be true. My chins almost never have digestive issues. I do use treats about once a week or so (cheerios, shredded wheat, oats) and they also get Ryerson's supplement once a week.

 

[kaykay]

If you look at the basic biology of how a chinchilla digests it's food, it would only make sense to stay away from sugary treats like raisins and other fruits.

Chinchillas are hindgut fermenters meaning that they need bacteria in their cecum to assist in the digestion of their food. Without these bacteria, a chinchilla could not digest their food properly. Chins need these bacteria to process their food.

The bacteria in the gut that are responsible for fermentation are sensitive to diet changes. Under normal circumstances there's a balance of bacteria in their gut some of which digest sugars and others that digest the rest of the food. When you introduce sugar into this system, it causes the sugar and starch loving bacteria to grow rapidly and causes the normal gut bacteria to die off. Now you have a chin who's gut is way out of whack.

The beneficial bacteria that under normal circumstances digests their food has been replaced with sugar loving bacteria. So now your chin is going to have issues with digestion.

So, if you only give say, on raisin or half a raisin a week, at that time, the chin's gut is going to get out of whack from trying to digest all those sugars. Their body is just not meant to digest sugars, it's made to digest plant matter and fibrous material.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that constipation and digestive issues are caused by the lack of raisins. To me that goes opposite of how a chin's body actually works if you look at the science of it. Although our chins of today are obviously different than their wild friends, I think it's safe to say that the wild chins are not finding raisins and other sugary material to eat and they aren't dealing with huge outbreaks of constipation. And in all reality, I haven't heard of too many people having issues with constipation without some other issue leading into it.

Extremely well said.

 

[Veronica]

Thank you all for your comments!

 

[minrex]

Personally, I dislike the fact that people use the "raisins are toxic to dogs" reason to not feed raisins. It's fallacious logic that is not grounded in any type of proof. Do these people also discourage humans from eating raisins? Our digestive tracts are MUCH more similar to those of dogs than chinchillas' digestive systems are, and we deal with raisins just fine. One species' inability to handle a type of food does NOT necessarily transfer to other species, especially when the species in question have such different digestive systems.

Now, that said, I don't feed or recommend feeding raisins to chinchillas because of the sugar content. Chins don't do well with sugar, as others in this thread have aptly pointed out. That's reason enough to avoid raisins, IMO.

 

[arf2184]

Very ice job explaining how sugar can upset the balance of bacteria! Another thing to think about is raisins and other sugary foods can cause a chin to eat less pellets and hay...not necessarily because they aren't hungry, but because they'd rather have the sugar. Think of a little kid who says he's full at dinner time, but then asks for a large helping of dessert.

When I first got chins, we kept a container of raisins near the cage. The general consensus at the time was that a raisin a day or every other day wouldn't hurt. The chins loved their raisins and some would sit waiting for a raisin every time someone walked by the cage. I had trouble keeping weight on several of the chins and their coats just didn't look as nice as they could, but I didn't realize this until later. At the time, I wasn't monitoring closely just how many raisins the chins were getting. Between me, my family, and regular visitors to the house, it turned out they were getting several a day. After I cut them back to one a day, they still weren't eating much pellets. They'd hold out for that nightly raisin. When I cut back to one or two a week, they started eating more pellets and hay. When I cut out raisins all together, they started gaining weight and looking healthier all around.

There are much healthier treat options that the chins like just as much, so there's no reason to feed raisins or other sugary treats. A top treat here is apple wood with the bark still on. The chins go even more nuts over that than they ever did raisins.

 

[equus_peduus]

I just wanted to say: We don't know why some dogs do not tolerate raisins. None of the work done so far has figured it out. Some dogs eat dozens or hundreds of raisins or grapes and never have issues. Some eat a handful and get sick. Current thought (at least, last that I heard) is that it may be a particular variety of grape or a geographic location that the grapes are grown that has some type of toxin in it. We don't know what it is about grapes that causes toxicity in some dogs. It may also be a genetic predisposition or other predisposition within a particular dog that causes the toxicity. There has been talk of substances in the skin of the grape, or fungi or bacteria that live in/on the grape, or certain pesticides used on the grapes. It may be one or more of the above. It might be none of them. We simply do not know.

Chances are, if the dog's been eating grapes for years without problems, they will continue to do so. But if your dog has never had grapes, then probably no reason to start.

We don't know if grapes are toxic to cats because most cats don't eat grapes. We don't know about toxicity to other species because the numbers aren't big enough, and most of the current studies are being directed at dogs anyway.

Every species metabolizes things differently. There's an NSAID (pain med) where the dose for a 1000-lb horse is THE SAME AMOUNT as the dose for a 50-lb dog. Horses need a lot less on a per-pound basis than the dog does to get the same effect. Tylenol is well-tolerated by humans, moderately well tolerated by dogs, and will kill any cat you give it to. Lily plants cause kidney failure in cats, but not as far as we know in other species. Even drug doses between related species of birds or of reptiles can be very different - certain species of Amazon parrots need more or less of certain medications than others do. There is an incredible amount of species variation, so saying that just because something's toxic to one doesn't mean it's toxic to another. If we don't know, it's probably safer to assume it might be - but that doesn't mean it is.

Sorry. This is a topic that kind of bugs me with the amount of panic and false information that's being spread. I very much doubt if raisins are toxic to chinchillas. Not feeding them for the sugar content, however, does make sense.

 

[Diva Chins]

Me personally, I used to feed raisins as treats one per day. I noticed my chin was getting diarrhea, so I switched to a mini unfrosted shredded wheat per day for 6 days, then one raisin on the last. Then I stopped feeding most treats all together other than the occasional rose hip. Ever since I stopped raisins, (I give her maybe...3 mini unfrosted shredded wheats per month at most, the rest is rose hips (about 10 times per month)) I haven't seen any digestion problems. My girl poops like a champ!