Adult Chinchillas, should they have alfalfa in their diet?

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chechinchillas

hmmmmmmm
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Mar 10, 2009
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I had a woman email me to say her chinchilla had a bladder stone and she took him to the vet. He did surgery and ruptured the chinchilla's ureatha so he had to put him down. He told her to switch her remaining chinchilla, who has no issues at all, to timothy pellets/hay only and that adult chinchillas should not be given any alfalfa at all. What is your opinion? Should adult chinchillas be given alfalfa or only timothy hay in their diet?
 
there is mixed opinions on this, and some people feed their adult chins alfalfa and some don't. the general consensus is that if your pellet is alfalfa based, the hay given should be timothy.

i personally give my boys timothy loose hay daily and alfalfa cubes once or twice a week. i feel the calcium in the alfalfa is important for them, but i don't want to give them too much due to the kidney/bladder issues that i've read about. their pellet is alfalfa based (oxbow).
 
I feed timothy and alfalfa hay and alfalfa pellets, those breeders and ranchers who feed pellet only diets of alfalfa pellets are feeding a alfalfa only diet, some feed pellets and alfalfa cubes-that is a alfalfa only diet, some pet chins will only eat pellets and won't eat hay-alfalfa only diet, I don't have a problem with alfalfa in a chins diet.
 
My chins get timothy hay and oxbow pellets. They also get orchard grass and alfalfa hays every once in a while.
 
Why does everyone blame the alfalfa? What about hard water? Salt spools? and all of the other stuff people use for chins that they shouldn't.

I've seen chins live up to 20 years old who have eaten alfalfa based pellets their entire life. One would think that in what... 90 years there would be more issues with alfalfa based pellets if it was a severe issue.
 
Wouldn't just certain chins be susceptable to bladder stones, etc. just like some humans? Those chins I would guess shouldn't have extra alfalfa. My adult chins get alfalfa pellets, alfalfa hay blocks, and occasional loose alfalfa (along with other various hays). Tanya advised that there are certain nutrients to be gained from loose alfalfa that get lost in pellet or hay block form, and that made sense to me.

Of course I know you aren't looking for opinions from newbies like me, but still adding my two cents because I find it interesting that this is so frequently debated year after year!
 
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Certain chins could be more susceptible but how do you figure that out before hand? Most chins don't come with a 3 generation health history or review, and there are many times that a chin may have died but the death was not pin pointed or racked up to something like old age or birth problems etc.

I think that newbies can offer a bright new view and new ideas that "oldies" have overlooked. :D
 
Alfalfa hay for the most part has the same calcium content as alfalfa pellets, depending on the cut of alfalfa.
 
So, does an adult need that extra protein in alfalfa pellets or hay or would the best feed be timothy hay, timothy pellets and timothy cubes? I was always under the impression that timothy was good roughage for their digestive system, but low on nutrients. I feed Shoots pellets (alfalfa based), lots of loose timothy hay and alfalfa cubes once a week. Plus why are most chins brands alfalfa based if that's not the best thing for them? I know some brands carry timothy pellets; Oxbow and Stanley, but most don't do they? Is it because most other animals that eat pellets need alfalfa so that's what most brands make?
 
This idea is becoming more prevalent in the exotics veterinary field. I have actually read an article in a veterinarian magazine written by an exotics vet about chins and alfalfa. She is recommending the all timothy diet as well for adult chins. I will see if I can copy the article tomorrow at work. She is also recommending a limited pellet, unlimited hay diet, probably to curb that alfalfa ingestion.

Alfalfa is what is best for rabbits, and I think all this time, that is what many people/companies have based their nutrition ideas for chins on.

I'll see if I can find the article tomorrow.
 
it's not that alfalfa isn't the best thing for them, it's just too much calcium that could cause the potential for problems. not saying that your chin will 100% for sure get issues with too much calcium in the diet, but it could happen. each chin is different.

from my understanding, timothy hay tends to be coarser than other hays, so it is best for the wearing down of a chin's teeth.

i have heard about nutritional studies being done on what is best for chins. i myself have not read any of these, but hopefully others here have the right links they could post. there hasn't been a lot researched on chin nutrition though, from what little i can recall reading about it.
 
I have fed a all timothy diet, even a all hay diet, fur and muscle mass declined, poo looked great though, I would not switch back due to my experience with a all timothy hay diet. Ranchers have used alfalfa pellets for decades without issues, vets have only dealt with chins for a few years since they were not prevelent in their practices, very little research done on chin nutrition, I will stick to the ranchers, they at least necropsy their dead chins and if there was a actual real issue they would be the first to change.
 
So on the article the vet wrote, did they actually do a study where they had several chinchillas on an all timothy diet and studied the health of those chins?
 
I don't think the alfalfa based pellets are the problems. Most pellets are alfalfa based. I've always been told and always thought that giving extra alfalfa hay (on top of the alfalfa based pellets) would be too much calcium for their needs, like mentionned above. I only give alfalfa hay to my pregnant and nursing females, babies and occasionally as a treat to my adult chinchillas (and rescues with with teeth and stuff like that).
 
The article was based on chinchillas she had seen in her own practice who had issues with stones, some reoccuring, and were placed on the all timothy diet. I can't remember the exact number. Unfortunately I have yet to locate the article.
 
I personally would not put much stock in a "study" by one vet on chinchillas, not enough there for me.
 
I wasn't putting any stock into it or telling anyone else to. I was mentioning that I had read an article concerning this issue and it may be an interesting read for others. My chins are still on alfalfa pellets and timothy hay and I'm not suggesting or recommending that anyone change over.

Concerning rabbits and bladder stones, studies have been done to determine that it is usually not diet alone that causes the stones if they are prone to them. Usually some other factors come into play, such as genetic predisposition, insufficient water intake, kidney & bladder disease. Studies have been done on rabbits being fed high amounts of digestible calcium for months, yet still didn't form stones. I would assume the same could apply to chins- I would not blame alfalfa as the sole reason for the formation of stones, however if you have a chin that is at higher risk for stones, it may certainly play a factor.
 
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