Chinchillas > Health

Overweight chinny

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LtWiggles:
We have 2 female chinnies.
We feed them good quality pellets and hay.
One of the chinnies got unexplained gut stasis last year, it was quite scary and we were lucky to catch it early but thankfully she's made a full recovery. She is still a little underweight compared to how she used to be, but every month she's putting on a little more weight so we aren't too concerned. Other than that shes very healthy and well. The other chinny has ballooned in weight - possibly because her sister was too unwell to compete with food?
 
Because they share a cage and we still want the other chinny to gain weight we can't really restrict the foods.

We're going to try and give her more exercise - but other than that is there anything else we can do to to help her lose weight?

GrayRodent:
That's very unusual. Chinchillas are normally self regulating as long their diet is good. Can you describe what kind of pellets they are getting? Also has your overweight chin had a recent vet exam? How long have you had them? How old are they? Can pregnancy be ruled out? Some health conditions can cause things like water retention.
It is very unwise to restrict food for chinchillas. They need a constant flow of nutrients through their bowels to prevent problems like stasis.

Renier:
Hi. Does she have an exercise wheel?
My boys eat healthy but they spend a lot of time on the wheel.
They are in great shape because of that.

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