Chins do not overeat - true or false?

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ysy

ysy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2011
Messages
81
Everywhere I've read says that chins do not overeat. However, in my very limited experience of owning chins, I find that they do. Not all the time but they still do it.

I have 3 chins. 1 is very good about not overeating, the other 2 are absolute gluttons. Before one of them is suspected of having a wheat intolerance, both chins used to stuff themselves silly with pellets. They would just eat the pellets and ignore the hay and only when the pellets are finished would they consider the hay. Which is also the reason why I can never free-feed. If I do, they won't get enough hay, and I get tummy problems due to lack of fibre.

Sometimes I do wonder when people post posts that mention their chins having gut problems out of nowhere with a perfectly respectable diet, is it because their chins went on a binge and couldn't shake it off.

The last time I dealt with a constipation issue (I've had bad gut cases and have since learnt how to spot them early) was mainly due to the fact that I changed the brand of timmy hay (from oxbow to APD) and one of the chins went a little crazy on the hay and the pellets.

I would like to hear other people's experiences on this if possible so that we can all learn from this :)

Thanks!
 
Are your chins grossly overweight? If they aren't, then they are not overeating. Most chins eat the same way - they take a pellet, take a bite off the end, then throw the rest down. It may seem like they are eating a ton, but they really aren't. I have free fed ever since I had my first chins and I have never had a chin overeat to the point of obesity.

Keep in mind too, large ranchers never offer hay. It's too costly and too messy. Their chins neither overeat nor do they have gut issues because of it.
 
Chins NEED to eat alot, the diet is low protein and fat and high fiber, to make up for this low energy diet they need quantity. Chinchilla teeth grow 1-3+ mm a week, in order to keep the molars trimmed they need to eat alot of pellets and hay to grind those surfaces. Having chins and working with the rescue for 11 years I have never seen a obese chin on a pellet and hay only diet. Blame the owner if the chin is fat, they are feeding the chin junk food even if they swear they are not.
 
I free feed all of my chins. I have never had a chin severely overweight. Some are on the larger side, but thats just their genetics. None of them are "fat" or unhealthy due to over eating. Everyone has a full feeder. I do not think they over eat.
 
In 11 years of having chinchillas, I have never seen a problem of a chinchilla overeating causing gut issues. If that is happening, more than likely it's a problem with what you are offering them. If the pellets are not nutritious enough or have too much corn, a chin could overeat in an attempt to get more nutrients in their body.

Also, not having access to food at all times could cause a chin to over eat when the food is offered because in their short term memory, they don't know when they will have food again. If food is always offered, they eat when they need it and don't get desperate to stuff themselves. It's not a good idea to feed chinchillas at set times during the day because you don't know exactly when they need to eat. Their metabolism is so high that they do need to eat continuously throughout the day.
 
I agree with the above. I have never personally seen an obese Chin and only seen one picture of a chin that looked too big. Her breeder said she had a problem with folds of skin/fur rubbing and causing bald spots. She was however an older breeding female who had gone saggy - rather than fat it could have just been excess Skin.

I have a lad who is the opposite. He goes nuts and binges on hay, rarely seems to eat pellets but he's a growing boy and still a good size. Hopefully it'll keep his teeth in good shape.
 
i always free fed an no one over eats... some days they may eat more than others, but no overeatnig
 
I have had 2 rescues come in that were overweight. Both were being fed crappy pellets and trail mix containing dried fruit, seeds and nuts. They were also fed peanuts every day. They both lost about 100 grams of weight when put on a diet of a quality feed and hay, but were by no means underweight. It's not too hard to figure out why they were so fat when they got here.
 
I've never had a chin over eat, but I absolutely believe that they would allow me to over treat them if given the option-- despite the fact that it is detrimental to their health...

I agree with CuddleBug. If they are fed unhealthy food, I could see them becoming obese. However that's from the type of food they are being given rather than the chin overeating-- IMO.
 
Thanks everyone for their input! It was interesting to know that large ranchers never offer hay. How do they keep molars in check?

My chins are not overweight, they are cutely round but not obese. I'm not worried about obesity, I'm more concerned with gut problems.

All 3 are on Oxbow and have not had treats for 18 months barring apple sticks.

The reason why I'm posting this is that I've often seen posts where people say that their chin is not eating all of a sudden. So what is the cause if it's not the type of food they feed and not husbandry issues.

Because it had happened to me, my chins constipated and stopped eating several times. First, yes, it was the treats. So I cut out everything and they were not allowed treats except apple sticks. Then I had 2 mysterious gut issues which gave me a little **** but ended well with me finding out that probably one of my girls Kelly was wheat intolerant.

Then, it happened to another chin Becky, not serious, but definitely could tell she had an issue. I caught it extremely early and she was back pop-corning in a week. Then it happened again a few months later. Again I caught it early and she resumed her appetite. Both incidences I observed were preceded by a binging session. In one day, she ate more than she usually ate and felt sick the next day. The change - I gave them some APD timmy hay in addition to the usual Oxbow timmy and pellets.

All 3 are on the same bags of food (except Kelly who doesn't take pellets anymore) and only one would have a problem. So what made Becky stop eating? The only conclusion I came up with was that she ate too much in a day and felt sick and didn't feel like eating anymore. Then if she doesn't eat her gut slows down and she becomes constipated and the cycle would repeat itself unless I intervene.

p.s. all 3 chins are fine. I'm just putting it out there for thoughts :)
 
I forgot to add. I only limit the pellets to the usual amount they will eat, not the hay. Hay is always in plentiful supply.
 
ysy said:
I forgot to add. I only limit the pellets to the usual amount they will eat, not the hay. Hay is always in plentiful supply.
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How much are you feeding when they stuff themselves and how often? I dump half a cup of food in the bowl and it lasts a couple of days- but the bowl never gets empty.
 
Not convinced Becky overate...it's also a possibility that she ate something in her cage (piece of apple stick, shaving, etc.) that could have backed her up too...
 
I usually feed around 3 tablespoons. She would usually leave scraps which I throw out the next day and refill. That night, she finished everything and I added another half to one tablespoon because she was begging at the bars. I'm a sucker that way, they beg I feed. Also refilled her hay because it was running low. With Becky I usually don't have to refill her hay at night (I just refilled it in the morning along with the pellets) because she's not much of a hay eater but she really went a little crazy on the APD timmy - which was new because the store ran out of oxbow. I also gave her a apple stick - because she was begging :( Next morning, she finished most of everything (definitely all of the pellets) and I did my usual clean-out and refills. That evening, she was looking a little sad and didn't touch her pellets or hay at all which was unusual. I pulled out the CC and she refused it - extremely unusual because they see CC as a treat. That's when I know something was wrong.

Dawn - no they're not related, at least not that I know of.

I suppose there is a possibility that she ate something she's not supposed to in her cage. She is a huge chewer (of wood houses, pine litter, etc) but the first thing that struck me was that she really ate a lot that night and I find myself thinking that if I hadn't given in to the begging, she might not have had a problem.

I'm very careful about giving extra pellets now - if they beg, they get a fresh pinch of hay in their face.
 
I have never measured my girls pellets before last night so I did just to see what I was feeding them. Boy was I shocked! They are probably getting about a tablespoon a piece. They always have hay and a variety of sticks but am I underfeeding them? There are usually a few left in the morning. I only give them pellets at night when I clean and they have playtime.
 
ysy said:
I usually feed around 3 tablespoons. She would usually leave scraps which I throw out the next day and refill. That night, she finished everything and I added another half to one tablespoon because she was begging at the bars. I'm a sucker that way, they beg I feed. Also refilled her hay because it was running low. With Becky I usually don't have to refill her hay at night (I just refilled it in the morning along with the pellets) because she's not much of a hay eater but she really went a little crazy on the APD timmy - which was new because the store ran out of oxbow. I also gave her a apple stick - because she was begging :( Next morning, she finished most of everything (definitely all of the pellets) and I did my usual clean-out and refills. That evening, she was looking a little sad and didn't touch her pellets or hay at all which was unusual. I pulled out the CC and she refused it - extremely unusual because they see CC as a treat. That's when I know something was wrong.

Dawn - no they're not related, at least not that I know of.

I suppose there is a possibility that she ate something she's not supposed to in her cage. She is a huge chewer (of wood houses, pine litter, etc) but the first thing that struck me was that she really ate a lot that night and I find myself thinking that if I hadn't given in to the begging, she might not have had a problem.

I'm very careful about giving extra pellets now - if they beg, they get a fresh pinch of hay in their face.
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Wonder if it was the hay...not saying the hay was bad for her but that seems to be the only new food item introduced...eating a lot of new roughage when she typically doesn't eat the hay may have made her feel really full...
 
VolunteerChin22, I totally agree. That was my thought too, and that's why I posted the thread - that Becky probably did overeat in that circumstance. I'm just thinking that maybe chins do overeat on occasion and it seems logical (to me at least) that chins that get gut problems out of nowhere might have done what Becky did.

Happy to be corrected though :)
 
Well, granted I don't mean she necessarily "overate" the hay - she may not have been eating enough of it previously so then by eating a normal amount at one time because it tasted better or whatever it was just a disturbance to her system. Hay has a huge fiber content and maybe it just became a lot to pass. Just speculating...not likely you will ever know - sometimes chins go off their feed if you look at them wrong :)
 
i personaly find it kind of odd that a chin would 'over eat' over 6 years of having chins i have never seen any of mine over eat nesecarily ... they gourge themselves with hay some times i suppose but i would not consider it to be over eating.
ive never seen an 'obesse chin' tho i have seen a few VERY LARGE ones at shows however this i would imagine is the result of two things, breeding for a large chin. and also those chins i had seen that were massive belonged to ranchers, i imagine if those giants had a wheele or play time they would loose some weight hehe.:tease: but they were in no way unhealthy!

after having experienced Stasis and going through a two month battle to bring my girl fully out of it, i can not even comprehend limiting a chins pellet intake!

my girls had a similar thing happen when Sage went into stasis and stoped eating. i ran out of oxbow timothy and had another random brand on hand that i offered them for several days. this coupled with a persistant eye infection and likely in general not feeling 'good' with that eye infection likely caused her to stop eating, at the very least to stop eating hay, then pellets. or she could have eated some of the new brand of hay and it set her stomach off, and caused her to stop eating causing stasis . what ever the EXACT cause, i would still never even fathom that she gorged herself on hay and pellets that night and then stoped eating.

my best guess for your chin is that the different brand of hay just set off her stomch and caused the problem. many chins react diferently to new hay and/or feed, some have little to no reaction, and some have sever reations to it.
 
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