Soft poo and hay issues

[starrynight0621]

One of my chinchillas is having soft poop. I have noticed they haven't been eating as much hay, so I think it might be the lower amount of fiber.

They have three types of Oxbow hay to choose from.. Timothy, Meadow, and Oat. They also have unlimited access to pellets. I buy the pellets from my breeder and don't know whether they are Oxbow or Kaytee.

I guess I have two questions here... one, should I be worried about the soft poop? It's just a fiber issue and not an issue of something worse right?

And two, how can I get them to eat more hay? Is it ok to take away their pellets?

 

[StevieP]

should I be worried about the soft poop? It's just a fiber issue and not an issue of something worse right?

Soft poop could be GI upset from a poor quality pellet or pellet change, treat abuse, a bacterial infection, parasite, or stress. Since the brand of pellet is unknown, I would start there and find out. Kaytee is a poor quality food and Oxbow is a high quality food.

And two, how can I get them to eat more hay? Is it ok to take away their pellets?

Yes it is ok to take away pellets for a few days. Sometimes this will bring the poops back to normal. Find out what brand of pellets you feed and let us know. What treats do you give and how often? Is this chin loosing weight?

 

[starrynight0621]

I e-mailed the breeder, but I'll call him tomorrow to find out the brand and let you know.

The chins each get one plain cheerio a night. I will cut back on those though.

Also, I don't know if they are losing weight. I don't have a scale.

Thank you for your response!!

 

[Cuddlebug]

While the chin has soft poop, completely cut out the treats. Once the chin is better treats should only be given once or twice a week, one cheerio per treat.

 

[starrynight0621]

Okay, I can cut down the treats that much.

I called the breeder and she said she doesn't sell Kaytee or Oxbow. She just said it is "traditional chinchilla feed." Is that a good thing?

 

[ChinnyMom]

Tradition is a good feed, yes.

 

[Tagna]

I have used Pet Pectillin for soft poop when I had a new rescue in who was stressed and her poop was soft.

 

[starrynight0621]

I need some more advice related to this issue. I have found that when the chins have a choice between pellets and hay, they choose the pellets about 95% of the time. When I take the pellets away, they then eat the hay. So, here is what I am wondering:

Should I give them unlimited pellets every other day?

Should I measure out their pellets daily and hope both of them eat the same amount?

Should I just give them unlimited pellets all the time and wait to see if their poo turns soft again?

 

[ticklechin]

Change brand of hay or change type of hay, sometimes you need to waste alot of hay to find one they like.

 

[starrynight0621]

Change brand of hay or change type of hay, sometimes you need to waste alot of hay to find one they like.

I got them different types, and that did not work. They have two small bags of Oxbow Oat hay and Oxbow meadow grass hay.

I had a small bag of Oxbow Timothy in May that they gobbled up in two months. Then I got a large 1/2 bale of it. Maybe it is too old or I have not kept it fresh enough for them?

 

[ticklechin]

Some chins won't touch anything made by Oxbow, some chins just are pain in the butts when it comes to hay, I would try other hay farmers since yours don't want what Oxbow sells. We even have some members who are selling local hay in the classifieds. Or some popular hay sellers,

http://www.kmshayloft.com/hay/

http://www.americanpetdiner.com/

 

[lesaldana]

Hi I have the same problem with my chins. My hay and pellets came from the breeder and had no problem until I ran out of hay. I bought a 2 lb bag of oxbow Timothy and now their stools are getting smushed. I was gonna order their old hay once I started running out of oxbow. What should I do?

 

[ChinnyMom]

lesaldana, i don't think it's the hay causing soft stools. what pellet are your chins on? what do you feed for treats? and is their water filtered by a device that filters out giardia? (like the PUR filter)

 

[lesaldana]

I'm not sure about the pellets but the breeder buys her hay from kmshayloft. I'll email her today and find out though about the pellets. I don't feed them treats and I use distilled water.

 

[Cuddlebug]

You could have got an old bag from the pet store. It might have had mold or something else in it. I know you can usually trust Oxbow products, but we don't know what happens to it once it reaches the stores.

 

[lesaldana]

Yeah I thought about that when I bought it but all the other bags were brown and yellowish and dry looking. The bag I bought actually looked really good and figured if one chinchilla has soft poop then the other should too since they eat the same hay. What should I do to try to firm up their poop?