Weaned chin problems?

[Legrons]

This is my second chin, born on Dec. 19, 2011... She was the runt of the litter and has always been small. Twice a day she gets hand fed Dyne (milk supplement) because she is so small. Was taken to the vet and was told that as the runt she may always be a bit smaller but overall health was great. My problem is, it has been 3 years since our chin was a baby and I don't remember her poop getting stuck in her fur. It looks normal, right color and shape but after running on her wheel I spend about 5 miniutes picking it off of her. As this chin is meant to be a companion for the other and is also a gift to my three year old, I just need to know if this is normal and if there is anything I can do!

She has had a dust bath recently, and we did not put her in the same cage as our 3 year old chin. She is not overly noisy until I clean her and has been eating and drinking normally! Thanks for any info!!

 

[Airyn]

What kind of food, hay, water and treats are you giving her?

 

[Legrons]

She is getting Timothy hay, and Timothy essentials pellets. She has had one dandelion drop, no raisins, and part of her stick of food... Looks like the fiesta mix you can get for them. Other than that, the dyne. She is on a strict diet compared to our older chin. Also, we have well water so we use our drinking water for all of our animals.

 

[Cuddlebug]

I would stop the Dyne. It may be what is causing the sticky poos since it has both sugar and oil in it. It won't help to "catch up" either. You can not force a chinchilla to grow larger than mother nature intended it to be. Just feed her a quality pellet and hay. She will grow at her own rate.

 

[andreya]

What is a stick of food? If it's not hay or pellets you should cut that out. If it is or looks like Fiesta mix it shouldn't be fed and if she is under 6 months old she shouldn't have treats anyways.

 

[Vyxxin]

She is on a strict diet compared to our older chin

What is your older chin eating? I ask as the diet mentioned for this chin seems a bit excessive/unhealthy. As mentioned, chin should probably just have the hay and pellets, nothing more nothing less at this point (especially due to age) and I ask about the older chin as it may help me/others improve what you're giving overall as feed.

 

[Legrons]

Sorry, the older chin got the fiesta stick... Which she gets once every month or so. Princess has timothy cubes. I will stop the dyne and see how that works. Should I give her another dust bath? It has been two days since her last and I left it in her cage for about 15 minutes (she wasn't interested after that).

 

[tunes]

Dyne isn't a milk supplement. Dyne is pretty much pure sugar that some people will give their chins in small doses to try and help them gain weight for short periods of time.

I agree - cut the Dyne. Offer good quality pellets, good quality hay, and leave it at that for now. Do you feel ribs sticking out? Is the skin hanging on her body? If not, then she may just be the size she's supposed to be.

 

[Legrons]

The older chin (Black) gets Timothy hay, Timothy pellets, once a month she gets a fiesta stick, and after play time she gets two raisins... One from each of my daughters. She does have wooden toys, and a rosewood ball with walnuts in the middle. She doesn't eat or chew any of the toys. The dandelion drops are something my husband got at the pet store which Black did not eat and I took out of her cage.

As for princess, the only change in her diet from the breeder would be the one dandelion drop and the Timothy cubes. I put the cubes in because I have not yet seen her get the hay.

 

[Legrons]

I don't feel ribs sticking out or her skin hanging, her size isn't what bothers me so much. I am a sucker for runts (both of my dogs and older chin). Black the older chin is smaller but still healthy and my dogs are bigger than the vet expected. I understand that I can't force her to "catch up" I was merely continuing the diet she was given at the breeders, and slowly getting her away from the dyne. What has me concerned is the fact that her poop is getting stuck in her fur. I did not give her any dyne today so hopefully things look better tomorrow!!

 

[Cuddlebug]

Stop all treats. Not a single one of those treats is healthy and could be causing the poo problems. both chins need you to quit giving those treats to them. Healthy treats, which should only be given once or twice a week, include old fashioned oats (not the quick or instant kind), plain Cheerios. plain unfrosted shredded wheat, and rose hips. The food sticks are garbage. Stop using them. They contain nuts, seeds, honey and who knows what else. All very bad for your chinchilla. Apparently the breeder you got the chins from did not bother to do any research.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I agree All the junk food you have been giving them is most likely the poop problem. Raisins (all fruit, especially dried) and nuts, seeds, any sugar is extremely bad for chins. It can wreck havoc on their digestive system. Just because it is sold at pet stores as good for chins doesn't mean it is - most of the time it is NOT.

 

[Legrons]

Less than 24 hours of stopping the dyne, everything is well. Even after running on her wheel there is nothing!!

If i could get one more answer from the experts... She still has 21 days left of her quarentine, can they play in the same area at different times? Should it be cleaned in between the two? If not who should be allowed in that area first? I am comfortable with her having play time and have made sure, even as small as she is, she cannot get hurt. Thanks again for all the info!

 

[Cuddlebug]

Kits should not have playtime until they are 6 months old. You can take the chin out and hold it if you want, but running around like they do for playtime is not recommended. Kits do not know when to stop and have been known to play themselves into exhaustion and even seizures.

 

[Brittany85]

Definitely do not let them have "dandelion drops" or 'fiesta sticks'. If the dandelion drops are these: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3157991 the first ingredient is sugar. Just because it is sold at pet stores and has a chinchilla on it doesn't make it safe, I know it's ridiculous. Also the fiesta sticks: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4196727
That is a huge no-no. Seeds, sugar, corn all dangerous to chins. Please just give your chins food, water and timothy hay. A cheerio would be a fun treat for your kids to give the chinchilla, cut out the raisins.
Overall a few cheerios a week or Shreddies are all the treats they need, if anything.
And of course no more Dyne as others said.
I'm sure you will see huge improvements soon!

 

[Legrons]

We have cut out the raisins, we now give all natural cherrios but cannot find the old fashioned oats.. They only have the instant or flavored kind at our local store. I wish the breeder would have told me all of this when we got our first chin, we even said something about letting her have raisins because we read it somewhere and asked how many they could have. We were told no more than three a day!! Instead of treats we now let the kids give them their wood chews and they are rotating their toys daily to make them feel like they are giving them something. It has been a couple of days now and without the raisins our older chin is somewhat confused but seems to be doing better, she snubbed us for a while expecting to get the raisins back! Again, thank you for all of your feedback... I wish I would have found this site years ago!!