I was following this post with some interest as I enjoy giving treats now and then and my chins certainly do. Of course, the evil raisin always comes up. When I joined this community the first time, I was new and didn't say much. When I said stupid stuff, I got smacked down. Now that I've got a year and five chins as well as a thick share of vet visits, I don't feel shy weighing in. I can certainly say my single year has been highly condensed.
First and foremost, the language I see occasionally here is unnecessarily harsh and certainly counterproductive to fostering a community. "you're killing your chinchilla with those treats"? Extending that absurd logic, every time I have a bag of chips or a beer, I'm killing myself. In truth, I may be hastening my own demise as these things aren't good for me. But as Abby qualified -- in fact, stressed -- in her initial post, the key is moderation.
If I give a raisin or part of one as an exceptional treat, either to reward, correct or entice behavior, it isn't going to kill my chinchilla. Some of you folks need to come to grips. They're not children. Any one of you that smokes in your house with non-smokers present is far guiltier than anyone who gives the occasional raisin to a chinchilla. I'd even extend that to parents who take their kids for fast food.
Daily? In multiples? Of course it's bad and will likely limit good health or hasten disease. But one? A week? or every several days? If the animal is healthy and takes the bulk of its nutrition from quality pellets and hay? Logic and the vast anecdotal evidence of this body of common knowledge we call the Internet dictates otherwise.
The people who bother to sign up and post here tend to keep their animals in far better conditions than the impulse buyer at a big box petmart who eventually tires of the animal, condemning it to a shorter life of boredom and neglect. The lucky ones find new homes. When people such as Abby, who clearly has several animals and years of experience, lists raisins with a caveat of caution, you're doing yourself a disservice with bellicose statements as you did. I've seen it drive people off and I'm sure it keeps others quiet in fear of being persecuted... especially, as Abby mentioned, over issues that revolve far more around strong opinions than hard facts.
How many times does coffee switch between bad for you and good? Or red wine? One a day was healthy only a few months ago. Now it increases cancer in woman. These are from scientific studies with $millions spent for far more important subjects. People. If scientists are fine-tuning their takes on our own diets and their impacts, I'm sure the complexities of long-term effects of occasional raisins in chinchillas is far from solved.
Is it an ideal treat? Absolutely not. Is it 'killing' her chins? C'mon, folks.
I feed my chins raisins on the rare occasion. I give them half a shreddie every day. I've read in the past that a variety of food and the occasional treat is one of the few tangible joys a caged animal can enjoy. These creatures are hardwired to find and exploit food. Playtime is secondary to that. If it knocks a couple years off what... 10? 15 years? Better those years be enjoyable for both owner and animal than paranoid about the odd dried grape. Given the junk sold in the stores as REGULAR feed and purchased by the ignorant masses that never find quality communities like this, I'm inclined to think your wrath, while ultimately good-intentioned, is misplaced.
$0.02.