i was wondering the same thing. both of my chins were raised on sunaturals vita-plus by their breeder. i know most of it is junk, but are the actual pellets any good?
when i got my first chin Momo in january, she was only 13 weeks old but happily switched straight to mazuri pellets without any problems at all.
my baby Midna came from the same breeder in april and he told me she was three months old, but i doubt she was even close. even now she fits in one hand and only weighs 280g. i tried feeding her mazuri pellets too, which she ate and subsequently had terrible diarrhea. since then, she has been back on the sunaturals.
however, i only pick out the actual pellets, white seeds, and occasional bite-size dried carrot flakes. shes a cuddly lap baby, so she sifts through the food bag with me and picks out the white seeds for herself. i never give her any fruits from the mix at all, even as regular treats. every now and then she does manage to steal one from the bag though- they can be difficult to sift out once theyre coated in loose pellet dust and she can be very sneaky.
i plan on slooowly trying to switch her to mazuri again soon when shes a little older and hopefully has a less sensitive tummy.
First: When you tried to switch her to Mazuri, did you do a "cold" switch (meaning you filled her bowl with Mazuri) or did you do a gradual switch?
A gradual switch takes at least four weeks to complete, but some make their switches much longer. My switches take 30 days. This is how I do food switches:
First 10 days: Mix 1 part old feed with 3 parts new feed
Second 10 days: Mix 2 parts old feed with 2 parts new feed
Third 10 days: Mix 3 parts old feed with 2 parts new feed
After that: All new feed!
I like to go in 10 day segments because I feel it gives the chins more time for their systems to get used to the new food. Again, that's just me. I also like to give a chin lifeline three times a week during a food switch if they're not doing the best, which happens sometimes.
Second: I would not buy from that breeder again from what you've said here. Sounds like a BYB if I've ever heard of one.
Third: I also would not let your girl eat the "white seeds" and definitely not the carrot flakes AT ALL. If you want to give her a treat, there are plenty of other good and healthy options such as: bite size, non sugared shredded wheat; rose hips; an old fashioned oat or two; etc. There's a list floating around here somewhere of safe treats.
If anyone else wants to chime in on this, please do so, especially if I'm doing/saying something wrong.
