Hand Feeding Questions

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ChinchandChilla

ChinchandChilla

Chinch and Chilla
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
48
Should I be microwaving the food at all? How many hours apart should I be feeding the food? Any tips or suggestions ?

I fed her once already a 12:30.
 
I feed the food at room temp. Feeding amounts and frequency depends on why you are feeding-sick chins or dental problem chins can deal with being fed 3 times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner-I feed those chins 20-30ml of mush per feeding, 3-4 times a day for a total of around 90-100ml of food. Chins with digestive issues such as bloat or stasis get fed small meals all day, 5-10ml every couple of hours. I use a 10ml syringe and fill 3 of them up at once so you don't interupt the feeding by refilling and at the end of the meal I like to give 1-2ml of water to wash it down and clean out the food in the mouth-just squirt a couple of drops of water on the front of the incisors and let the chin swallow it-makes it less likely for the chin to aspirate.
 
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My chinchilla has a bacterial over growth, and the medication has made her loose her appetite :( Poor little baby.

I think I'll feed her again around 5:00. Thank you for all your help, you have been so helpful to me in this new experience.
 
Do you have a gram scale? If so start weighing her daily same time of the day-this way you will know if you are feeding her enough if she does not lose weight-if not, then feed her at least 60 ml a day if she is also eating on her own. Her gut most likely hurts some, so more frequent feedings with smaller amounts is what I would do if you can, 5-10ml per feeding several times a day. You also should get some baby gas drops-simethicone is the ingrediant you are looking for and have them on hand in case she gets gassy. I would, if this was my chin in this situation, give her a dropper full or so twice a day-the ingrediant is inert-it is not absorbed by the body and stays in the digestive tract so it won't hurt her if she does not need it but it will help with any gas bubbles she may get.
 
Alright. One more question. Just did the dinner feeding. But she was being really squirmy and some got onto her fur. How do I go about cleaning it off? I wiped as much as I could with the towel, but it's still kind of damp and brown. Any ideas?
 
from my reading, you can use unscented baby wipes and then dry the fur thoroughly after. or just wait for the food to dry and groom it out, then give her a dust bath.
 
What I do for wet chests is flip them on the back, sprinkle dust into the area, use a towel to gently rub it in then comb the chest hair out, repeat until dry.

Actually hand fed chins become very tame very quick, my tamest chins were long term hand fed ones-the figure out real fast you are not going to eat them and you are the gravy train!
 
So my chinchilla is being more active now, but her poops are still really small. They aren't round. They are just like smaller versions of normal poop. Any ideas?
 
I've been feeding her 3 times a day, with the syringe up to 13. The vet said anywhere between 10 and 15 would be good. So I've been feeding exactly in between.
 
I also felt her stomach for bloat. I pressed her around the stomach and she didn't seem to be in any pain. She also didn't seem to be bloated. I even rubbed her stomach incase she had some gas or something
 
ChinchandChilla said:
I've been feeding her 3 times a day, with the syringe up to 13. The vet said anywhere between 10 and 15 would be good. So I've been feeding exactly in between.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately vets get this wrong all the time. 10-15 ml/day just isn't enough. Like Ticklechin mentioned earlier you need to be shooting for 60+ ml/ day. Ideally 90-100 if you can.
 
Vets don't live in the real world of hand feeding chins, I argue with my vet every time about the food needed and he is a chinchilla expert-he thinks 45ml a day is good, I tell him double, he tells me its too much, I tell him the chin will lose weight, he does not believe me. She needs more food for good poo!
 
How much per session should I be feeding her do you think? If I'm feeding her 13 each time. So should I go to 20? Or
 
Because this is a gut issue, smaller meals more often. 6 15ml feedings would be good, if it was a oral issue, bigger meals less frequent because of the pain in the mouth.
 
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