Weights and Suki Worries...

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Ristarwen

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Mar 25, 2009
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So, I just got a scale to weigh everyone. The boys are currently 6 months old and each weighed in at about 520 g. Suki is roughly a year old, but weighs in at only about 400 g. She's way tiny...and even though she has a larger frame than the boys, she's so terribly skinny (the boys, on the other hand, are little chunkers).

Suki's a bit strange as far as chins go... She doesn't like chewing on wood, though she's figuring it out (she never had anything but the Superpet mineral ice-cream cone things to chew on...ugh). She never had any issue with the hay (Oxbow), even though she'd never had that at her old home either. But she hates the Oxbow pellets, probably because she was on some bad food that was more treats than pellets...I don't even know what brand it was because the lady just sent her with a full food dish of it and that was it.

So, she's on Oxbow right now, but is only eating about 10 g a day (maybe 1/2 tbs? i have a weird scoop that I use, but the boys eat 1 full scoop, a day, she only eats 1/2), while the boys are eating twice that. She drinks regularly and always has plenty of hay available. I was feeding her cc for a bit, but thought she was getting better about eating, so I weaned her off. Apparently I was wrong...

What could be causing this? I got her May 19th, so I've had her about 6 weeks...stress from a new environment shouldn't still be affecting her, right? She acts like a normal chin, other than the fact that she doesn't eat. I'm going in to the vet school tomorrow to set up an appointment to get her teeth checked. I've also resumed hand-feeding her, and am trying to teach my boyfriend how as well, because I am gone from 7:30 am 'till 5:30 pm (classes and work) and he'll need to feed her in the middle of the day before he heads off to work.

I'm so worried about my little peanut!!! I'm thinking of switching her to PANR, too, because I've heard that it can really help with growth. What do you guys think? I'm really worried!
 
Every chin is different. I have one girl here, Kona, who is just a little midget and always has been.

But, the thing that worries me is that she isn't eating all that much. If I were you, I would try a different food. Sure, her old feed had treats in it, but by now she should be used to an all pellet food. Perhaps she just doesn't like Oxbow. Some chins choose not to like a certain food.

Of course some chins just don't eat as much pellet as some, but I would try seeing if she eats more of a pellet first before just assuming she just doesn't eat much pelleted food.
 
I have a couple of chins here that are very tiny--Mick St. John and Abigail. They both eat well but just aren't big chins at all. Some of my chins eat their entire bowl of pellets daily, others eat half a bowl and that's eat. I also fill the bowls and make sure everyone has access to pellets and hay. As far as having her 6 weeks and her being accustomed to her surroundings, maybe not. We just assume she should be settled by now but maybe it will take longer than we think or hope. I think the hand feeding is a great idea as a vet visit. Also you could look into supplementing her diet with Lifeline which is available from Dawnna and chocolatechinchillas.com
 
It may be that she is still adjusting to the new food, especially if the other one was 'treat' filled. I would continue to wiegh her once a week, and as long as she is maintaining her wieght and not loosing I wouldn't worry. She might just be a smaller chin.
 
Thanks Everyone! I ordered some PANR, and will get her started on that later this week when it shows up. I'll keep you all updated on how she's doing!
 
I hope that you see a difference when you start her on the new food. I have some chins who eat a lot and some that dont. so Im curious how she does with the new food.
 
So, Suki currently weighs 408 grams, so she is gaining...slowly...

Could it be that Suki was taken from her mother too early, and that it stunted her growth? The lady I got her from said that she was about 9 months old at the time...and that she'd had her for 8 months. At the time I thought, "nah, that can't be right..." But could it be that she was taken from her mom at only a month old? That could explain why she isn't gaining...not enough of mom's milk could have made her an unthrifty animal.

What do you guys think?
 
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