Chin Poop

[Hyde]

I noticed a couple of days ago that my little mans poop isn't as hard as it should be. It's not diarrhea, but it's uber soft and he's stepping in it and ketting it all over his wheel and ledges :/ Fuyu, my little girl, is fine.
I havent changed the brand of food/hay, and I dont think it's stress, is there something I need to add to his diet? Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Lillybabe]

What kind of food is he on? What kind of hay? What treats is he offered? What type of water? Is Fuyu in the same cage and eating the same things? It's hard to know what is causing it without having more details. Is he still eating and drinking the same amounts? I'm pretty sure squishy poop in chins is pretty much considered to be similar to diarrhea.

 

[Hyde]

They are on Kaytee Timothy complete food, Sunaturals Spring Harvest Timothy Hay, and they are in seperate cages. He's been acting, running, eating and drinking normal but I know prey animals like to hide illness. Also the poo is normal colored and still a pellet and its solid; its just moist rather than hard....Maybe he's stressed? Now that I think about it Oklahoma had those tornadoes and we had a scare, also I've been stressed about finals and gone for two days, but I thought Fuyu would be acting simular too...?

 

[Hyde]

Oh and Fuyu is on the exact same diet, cage, everything! Sorry about that!

 

[Lillybabe]

What about water? The food you have them on isn't a great one but I don't see anything immediately horrible in it. I would recommend switching to Oxbow Chinchilla, Tradition Chinchilla or even Mazuri Chinchilla. There are also a few good rabbit brands recommended here. Kaytee food isn't known for being very good and tends not to be fresh. Have you weighed him recently? If you don't have one I would get a kitchen scale that measures grams and weigh him several different days at the same time to see if he's losing weight. You might also get probiotics to sprinkle on his food. These won't hurt him if there's nothing wrong with him. Probiotics can be found in capsules in most grocery stores or in nonflavored tablets. Open the capsule and sprinkle it on his food or offer half a tablet as a treat. It's possible it's stress but it's also possible it's the start of something more serious. What about the quantity of his poop? Is he pooping about the same amount? What's the temperature like where he's at?

 

[AZChins]

It definitely could be stress that is causing this change in droppings. Chins gets stressed when we are stressed or when there are sudden changes.

Definitely get some better pellets, it will be very worth it. Kaytee isn't something I would recommend for many reasons. Probiotics will help for sure. Watch his droppings and make sure that the problem doesn't get worse. Chins are very susceptible to parasites and bacterial infections/overgrowth. If he doesn't get better in a week or so, you may want to take him in to the vet for a fecal test just to make sure he doesn't have any issues that require some treatment to clear up.

 

[Hyde]

Taking him to the vet, finally found his weight chart and it looks like its dropped some. Got an appointment for today, thank you guys and sorry for being such a spaz!

 

[Hyde]

For anyone whose wondering poop test came back negative, was proscribed some probiotics and his poo is already looking less moist! Vet thinks it might have been a bacterial imbalance but I'll be getting a call tomorrow for the final answer.
He was SOOO good at the vet! My sweet sweet baby boy XD