I was curious as to whether chins can get bored with their pellets. I feed mine Mazuri brand chinchilla pellets and also provide timothy hay. I have a chin named Houdini who has slowly started eating less pellets over time. I noticed this because when I would go to fill his bowl at night, it would still have a decent bit of pellets left from the night before. This has been going on for a bit. He is drinking and eating hay, but just seems to have lost interest in the pellets. He is still active and hoppy as usual. It is important to note that this problem has gotten worse this week, but his cage mate died this past weekend so its been a rough week for us both. He has seemed more down at times this week. I am worried he is not getting proper nutrition by eating only hay. Since this problem has been going on for awhile, is it possible for chins to get bored of their food and should I change him to something new like Oxbow?
Bored with pellet food?
- Thread starter Asha
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ticklechin
Well-known member
Has his weight been steady? If so I would rather have a hay hog than a pellet hog, you can try another brand and see what happens.
I weighed him sunday evenimg and again last night. He has dropped some weight so we are headed to the vet this evening. I at least caught him eating some pellets this morning but it wasn't as much as usual. I just want to get him checked out to be safe since his weight has dropped.
I hope all is well... Let us know the results.
Ok, so we just got back from the vet. I described everything that has been going on and they checked for URI, malo/spurs, hair ring, giardia, and crypto. I wanted to make sure we ruled out everything. Two hours later....nothing! He checks out as healthy which is good, but I still don't feel like he is eating enough or something since he has lost weight which bugs me. The vet does want me to call in tomorrow for an update just in case anything changes. He was kinda lethargic-ish sleepyish at the vet but now that we are back home he has perked right back up. I refilled his food and hay and also gave him a dust bath which he loves and always lifts his spirits. Perhaps he is just upset about Sonic, I'm really not sure at this point. I am going to continue to keep a close eye on him. He acts normal overall for the most part, its just the weight I'm concerned with. I think I'm still going to try and mix a bit of Oxbow pellets with his food for a bit of variety and to see if he likes it. It could also just be that I'm in extra watchful mode even more so than usual since Sonic died so suddenly.
