Chinchilla rejecting Oxbow pellets

[Luciole]

Background: I have been feeding both of my chinchillas Oxbow pellets for years. A couple months ago, Arthur significantly decreased his intake of Oxbow pellets and would only eat hay or treats. His weight has dropped a bit as a result and I took him to the vet today out of concern.

Thinking that there might be an issue with the Oxbow pellets, I gave him a sample bag of Mazuri (sent to me with an order from Lonestar) last night and he began eating them right away.

My questions: Has anyone been having quality or palatability issues with Oxbow pellets or has anyone's chin ever decided that he/she no longer likes a certain brand of pellets?

My other chin is doing just fine with the Oxbow, but he is less fussy.

 

[Marie5656]

First..what are you giving as "treats"? Maybe you neet to D/C them. I I had a similar thing with Trixie. I switched her to Mazuri, on the advice of folks here. She ate it great for a long while. Suddenly, she seemed to want no part of it..so I weaned her off and switched to Oxbow, which she is doing well with, seems to eat it and enjoy it.
Maybe yours just needed a change. How will your other chin take to a switch to Mazuri..so you would not have to buy both? I have been told they are nutritionally similar.

 

[perabalaofmystery]

i would say try switching to matzuri or similar. you might just have a really picky chin. idk. im not an expert at all on the subject
i personally feed oxbow and they love it. but i have had cats that refuse to eat the same type of food every month. ( i used to have to switch every 2 months or so.)

 

[Lillybabe]

How fresh is the Oxbow? Some chinchillas are picky about freshness even if it is technically still good. I wouldn't have switched foods cold turkey without knowing for sure what is up. Also do you have enough access to stay on Mazuri now that you've switched to it? Your chin might only be eating the Mazuri because it's fresher than the Oxbow. I had a chinchilla that wouldn't touch older pellets. They had to be 3-4 months from the mill date.

 

[Luciole]

Great input everybody, thanks.

Lily: The freshness aspect is a great point. I used to purchases the 5 lb bags of Oxbow but just recently began ordering the 10 lbs bags because it was much cheaper. It was about midway through the first the 10 lb bag that he got picky. I divided the 10 lb bag into two sections and stored the second half in a container in my closet. Maybe the storage conditions weren't optimal and it lost its freshness.

I am going to order a fresh bag of Oxbow and some APD timothy hay from Drs Foster & Smith today. I don't know if they sell Mazuri, but I'll check. I think there is a store that sells it locally, but haven't purchased it from them in several years.

His vet and I discussed an endoscopic tooth exam, but we are going to wait a few days to see if he responds well to the new pellets. Arthur had some health problems in the past year that required me to syringe feed him, and I'm worried his teeth may have become overgrown as a result. However, his vet said it would be unusual for a chin with tooth problems to reject pellets and favor hay. Usually, hay is the most difficult thing for chins with tooth problems to eat. And he has been eating a lot of hay.

 

[mistywaterwoman]

I noticed a while back - say like 6 months or more - that Oxbow's expiration dates suddenly became a WHOLE lot longer, which tells me they changed the formula by adding preservatives, so it could definitely be a palatability issue for your chin.

Since you already started a cold switch, you can keep giving him the Mazuri. Adding a little acidophilus to the pellets will help soothe any tummy issues he would have gotten from switching.

 

[Gumby and Elmo]

Have heard from my chin supplies store friend that some of his customers have complained about their chins not liking the oxbow either. My boys are on oxbow but luckily I'm having no issues with them.
Maybe they've changed it or something.

 

[VillageVoice]

I know they changed the formula in their rat formula to make it more palatable to the rats as not any rats liked Oxbow. Maybe they did it for the chinchilla formula as well?