Rescue chinchilla not eating pellets

[Lucylastic]

I rescued a 6yr old chinchilla 4 days ago, he had been neglected and came with no food or hay. They had been feeding him on digestive biscuits because they said they couldn't afford any food.

I went out and brought 4 diff types of food pellets & museli and lots of different types of treats. He turns his nose up at everything i've brought. He's hardly eating and hardly drinking.

Checked his teeth and they are fine. He's underweight and i just want him to start eating.

He is very friendly and likes to come out for a run around.

I have previously owned 2 chinchillas who were very greedy and would eat anything so to have charlie who wont eat anything is worrying me. Just looking for some advice. Thank you

 

[6Dusters]

Had to look up Muesli :
Is a popular breakfast dish based on raw rolled oats and other ingredients including grains, fresh or dried fruits, seeds and nuts, mixed with milk, soy milk, yogurt or fruit juice.

I wouldn't dare give my chinchillas Muesli. It's great healthy human food. But not for a chinchilla. They need lots of fiber. Fiber comes from a good pellet diet and hay. Good hay smells fresh like the outdoors. Don't buy a bag full of stems or a tan colored hay. They won't eat it. Nice green ( not dyed ) leafy. Look up first and second cut hay articles. Limit the snack to something small once or twice a week. Plain pinch of oats would be a good choice.

A nice poo from lots of fiber and good water consumption looks like a long wide round type oval. If its not that shape, you are asking for trouble. Dry and small is compaction or in human terms constipation. Continuation of small to smaller waste and you could end up with a dead chin. It is from too many snack type items and not enough fiber from feed and water. Adding good hay as a treat is the best action you can take. My chinchillas consider hay a treat.

Mark the water bottle with some sort of grease pen that wipes off. You will know how much your chin is drinking. You can even use an eyebrow pencil or a darker lipstick if you have one around.

I'm guessing this chin was fed such a poor diet, he doesn't know where to begin eating healthy. Just like a human eating junk food.
I would start with a good pellet only feed. Place hay in the cage at all times.
And water can be a tricky item. Try bottle DRINKING water. Not distilled. He still needs the minerals that are in a bottled drinking water.
Weighing your chin as a baseline reading now. Then weigh once a week and keep a log. Following with the above will put weight on this animal. Chinchillas will not starve themselves unless there is some underlying illness.

It is very easy to use "emotional" logic with this chin. Trying to give it anything to eat other than a premium pellet based diet is not helping this animal.
Best of luck. Give us an update with results. It really helps someone who may have the same problem in the future.

 

[Amethyst]

As said for now just stick with offering a good quality pellet only food (I don't know what the good brands are in the UK, but there are people on here from there so hopefully they can help), hay, and water, chins wont starve themselves to death unless there is an issue. You can't be fully sure the teeth are good unless you had an x-ray of his head done, in chins the back teeth and tooth roots grow too. Especially if the chin was on a poor diet and/or not enough to chew on the teeth can become over grown, misaligned, and/or get spurs on the molars. Also you said he had no hay, well hay is the primary thing that helps grind down the molars, so even if he had chew toys those only help the front teeth.
The best way to weigh the chin is on a scale the measures in grams, since they are so light, and make sure to weight at the same time of day every time.

 

[user 11610]

Had to look up Muesli :
Is a popular breakfast dish based on raw rolled oats and other ingredients including grains, fresh or dried fruits, seeds and nuts, mixed with milk, soy milk, yogurt or fruit juice.

I wouldn't dare give my chinchillas Muesli. It's great healthy human food. But not for a chinchilla.

Muesli here in UK can be a human food and also an animal food. Muesli for animals is just a mixture of the ingredients rather than all the ingredients being mushed up into a pellet form. It looks pretty but if the pet decided to selective feed and only eat the "tasty" bits then problems start.

The image above is of a chinchilla muesli sold here in the UK.

I believe Muesli is good for hamsters and gerbils (animals that like to forage) but not for rabbits and guinea pigs as they have a tendancy to selective feed. As for Chins, I don't own one yet but I will be feeding mine pellets. Hope that helps )

 

[aznmexaggie]

A plain pellet diet is best. If he will eat hay, that is even better as at least there is some fiber intake moving things through the GI tract. If given lots of hay and only pellets, he will eventually eat the pellets, given no other option.

 

[Lucylastic]

Yes it was chinchilla muesli that i brought along with pellets. Glad to say he's now eating his pellets and lots of hay. He still isn't drinking much but is weeing so thats a good sign. I do give him some apple and pear everyday so at least he's getting fluids from them. Know they contain lots of sugars so try not to give him too much. But not worried about him anymore. Thanks for all your advice