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Author Topic: A hay, pellets and treats question.  (Read 2842 times)

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Jenova

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A hay, pellets and treats question.
« on: August 26, 2007, 02:05:22 PM »

When I got Cheech from the pet shop she was given meadow hay. I swapped to Timothy hay but I noticed her poos got really small. When we got Chong he was just given alfalfa cubes. As soon as I gave him the timothy his poos got smaller so obviously I stopped giving it to them. At the moment they have the alfalfa cubes but I wanted to know if I could give them a bit of meadow hay as well because they both love it so much. It's fresh delivered to my local pet shop.

Also I've swapped their food over to what I believe is some better food but I wanted to know if I can give the other food as treats.

ChinchillAZ

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Re: A hay, pellets and treats question.
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2007, 02:34:53 PM »

What type of pellets are they being given?  (Since you're in the UK, you may want to list the ingredients as well.)  If you are feeding an alfalfa based pellet, you will want to give primarily timothy hay.  If you are feeding a timothy based pellet, you will want to give primarily alfalfa hay.  The change in the size of their droppings may be attributed to the fact that they were switched suddenly to a new food instead of doing it gradually.

As for treats...
Raisins, bite sized Shredded Wheat squares, raw almonds (no more than two a month), dried cranberries, plain Cheerios, dried apples, a half of a fresh or frozen grape, very small pieces of fresh or dehydrated banana, uncooked pasta, horse cookies, dried papaya or dried pineapple (said to help prevent hairballs), rose hips (a source of Vitamin C), rolled oats... The list goes on! Remember, everything in moderation. Too many treats are bad for chinchillas and can greatly affect their health and well-being. No more than one treat should be given each day.

Jenova

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Re: A hay, pellets and treats question.
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2007, 02:50:51 PM »

I have listed the ingredients somewhere before. And I always switch food over gradually. The problem with food in the UK is it isn't hay based. The new food I have now is from the breeders whom we bough Chong from and to be honest I haven't checked the ingredients of that food, but that one might be hay based. I'll go and find out.

Here's the post: http://www.chinchillaclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,458.0.html

They get all their papaya, raisins and bits of dried pineapple occasionally, but as the other food is going spare I wondered if it was okay to feed them one or two pellets a day as extra treats, instead of wasting it.

ChinchillAZ

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Re: A hay, pellets and treats question.
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2007, 11:52:28 PM »

Ah yes!  I remember this discussion now!   ::nod::

Since the pellets are not Timothy or Alfalfa based, giving loose Alfalfa is the way to go.  The meadow hay can certainly be given as a treat but should not be the primary basis of the diet.

And I'm so sorry!  I totally read your last question wrong.  Yes, the other pellets can be given as treats.

Jenova

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Re: A hay, pellets and treats question.
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2007, 04:21:02 AM »

Don't worry about it!  :)
I will certainly take your advice and give them loose alfalfa. I'm sure my rabbits would like a bit of that too as the chins are stealing their meadow hay.  ::silly::

ChinchillAZ

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Re: A hay, pellets and treats question.
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2007, 01:40:13 PM »

Share and share alike!   ;)
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