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rutherford

rutherford

i peer into your soul
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
Messages
130
Location
Maple Shade, NJ
lately, i've noticed that rutherford has been eating a lot. i'd put about 5 scoops of pellets (1 tbsp per scoop), and he'd finish that in about 1.5 days. i never really questioned whether he was overweight because he's very agile, loves to run around in his cage, and runs on his exercise wheel as he's competing in a marathon. however, the other day, as he was sitting in his creeper corner (he sits here and stares at me) i went over and rubbed his belly. i can't help but notice that he has a ring of fat! almost like he's wearing a donut around his belly! is that normal for a chinchilla? he will be 8 months old soon.

if that isn't normal, how do i control his diet so he'd be at a healthier weight? what are some suggestions?

thanks!
 
what is his weight? from what i've read, chins don't have any worry about being overweight, even if they have little fat rolls on them.

as long as he is getting active and not sitting around all the time, and is on a good pellet and good quality hay i wouldn't be concerned. what are you feeding?

and lol at 'creeper corner'! too funny!
 
i'm not really sure. where can i buy a scale for a chinchilla?

he's getting oxbow pellet and hay.

haha, i swear he sits there at night to stare at me while i sleep! i catch him watching me all the time, with his paws clinging to the cage and just sitting there.
 
a kitchen food scale works great, just make sure it measures in grams. i got one that is manual, not digital, and it is spot on accurate, even though his highness Rhino refuses to step on it lately, lol.
 
I got my digital scale for $20 in the kitchen section at Walmart and it works great :)) you can switch from units of g, kg, lb, oz so it's good if you need to get weight estimates on anything you ship out
 
I don't know very many people that measure food. I just fill the bowl about half way (so that if they go to digging it does not fly as far) and refill accordingly. He could be hitting a growth spurt and eating more. As long as you are not giving too many treats, plenty of pellet, and unlimited hay, he might get thick, but he will not be overweight.
 
so basically you just hope that your chinchilla stays on the scale long enough for you to read his weight? i wonder if rutherford will do that... i'll try!

ah, he rarely gets a treat. if he does, it's a multigrain cheerio that he nibbles greedily. i do supply him with plenty of hay and pellets. as soon as he runs out of pellets, i refill it halfway, the same way and reason you do, GorillaJTA. he's a messy eater.

thanks for all the input!
 
rutherford said:
so basically you just hope that your chinchilla stays on the scale long enough for you to read his weight? i wonder if rutherford will do that... i'll try!
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I have a scale that measures up to 10 pounds, so I put the carrier on there, zero it, then put the chin in the carrier. I also used to use their fishbowl the same way.
 
rutherford said:
haha, i swear he sits there at night to stare at me while i sleep! i catch him watching me all the time, with his paws clinging to the cage and just sitting there.
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LOL, I catch my boys doing this all the time, they just sit and stare. We've recently started calling this soul stealing because they look so creepy weird when they do that.. ie "Pirate is trying to steal your soul again, honey."

Just to keep my post on topic, our Pirate is still a baby and he's eating us out of house and home. Well, not quite, but the little guy eats soo much more than the rest and he's still under 6 months. He's a little ball of trouble and definitely uses all the energy he's eating up. Sounds like your furball is still growing and is healthy, but weighing is really going to be the only definite answer for "overweight". Plus, as long as he's not eating Dorritos and human food, he's eating good stuff for him.
 
Chub_Chub said:
LOL, I catch my boys doing this all the time, they just sit and stare. We've recently started calling this soul stealing because they look so creepy weird when they do that.. ie "Pirate is trying to steal your soul again, honey."

Just to keep my post on topic, our Pirate is still a baby and he's eating us out of house and home. Well, not quite, but the little guy eats soo much more than the rest and he's still under 6 months. He's a little ball of trouble and definitely uses all the energy he's eating up. Sounds like your furball is still growing and is healthy, but weighing is really going to be the only definite answer for "overweight". Plus, as long as he's not eating Dorritos and human food, he's eating good stuff for him.
Click to expand...
i think rutherford definitely wants my soul, one way or another. he does it all too often. especially when my girlfriend comes over to watch a movie or hang out, he spends the entire time watching us from that corner. it's creepy.

ahaha my girlfriend says rutherford is a fatty like his daddy. we both eat like crazy, so i guess i shouldn't judge him!
 
agreed. the multigrain cheerios are quite sweet (i eat them as a midnight snack often, lol), and much too much sugar in them for a chin. even plain cheerios have a bit of sugar, but it's not too bad.

Rhino loves his shredded wheat (no sugar in them at all). i buy the spoon size and break up each square into 'thirds' (they never break evenly, lol) and each broken piece is considered one treat.
 
maybe not multigrain cheerio... the one i feed him is the plain ones, not sweet at all. i've tried a few on my own, and i personally don't enjoy it because it doesn't have any sugar. sorry, typo!
 
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