Dehydrating Food

[mishellyshel]

I know there has been much debate regarding feeding our chins fresh vegetables. In fact one exotic vet said I should be feeding fresh greens and my current vet said it is not necessary but if I wanted to vary their diet a small amount is ok.
Prior to this group I did feed my chin some of the snack mixes sold at petsmart (the fruit/nut mix). The one thing he really liked was the dried Peas.
So I was wondering if anyone here has tried to make their own "dried" foods and feed to their chins?
There is no added sugar and I thought the crunch might be good for their teeth.
I have a food dehydrator at home that I have used to make banana chips for myself and it works great.
I was thinking of purchasing organic peas and trying it BUT wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts??

 

[LovableFuzziezandCrawliez]

I would avoid it all together. dont bother trying to feed them ANY veggies.

They don't need their diet to be "varied". Strictly high quality pellets and hay. You can give shredded wheat as a treat if you want.

Edited to add: If you want them to have something crunchy for their teeth just give them plenty of safe woods and toys.

 

[Jenn]

I have the same advice, to only feed pellets, hay, and the occasional shredded wheat or cheerio. Give your chin plenty of apple sticks, lava bites, or pumice stones for their teeth. No need to vary their diet, their pellets have everything in them for proper health.

 

[Chinmama]

I'm too paranoid of GI trouble to do anything to potentially upset my guys systems.

If you do feed your chin anything fresh or dehydrated, I would suggest you use caution and only introduce one thing at a time. That way, if something causes a problem you'll know what it is.

 

[mishellyshel]

He has eaten them before but as I said they were from those fruit/nut mixes.
The reason I even brought this up is because right now he has a mouth infection and is not really eating anything hard, like wood or pumice or even loofah. I am having a hard time getting him to eat anything right now while he is on this antibiotic.

I was just wondering if anyone else had tried to do something like that.
Maybe this weekend I will try it and see what happens. If he likes it I can just add it to his "menu" of treats and maybe give him one or two a week, kinda alternate with the cheerio, shreddie, rose hip, etc..........

 

[Chinniechantel]

Oh please don't give him something new if he is already not feeling well! That is a recipe for disaster. New foods can give him runny poo, bloat, tummy aches, or worse. Get him some Lifeline and force feed him critical care if you must, but please, if you try something new, at least do it when he is healthy.

 

[Essentia]

If he's not eating, or even barely eating you need to start him on CC. If you don't have some crush some pellets and acidophilous in a blender and mix with water for a poor man's CC until you get the real thing. Syringe feed him at least 45ml a day.

Chins go downhill fast, especially if they aren't eating. That's causes a whole nother start of problems you don't want to have to deal with. When Buttons was on antibiotics he wanted nothing to do with food at all, even if it was something he normally really liked (like rosehips). I doubt he will eat a dried pea, and even if he does it may make his tummy upset. Because he isn't eating his regular food I would recommend against it even more than normal.

 

[mishellyshel]

I did get him to eat some crushed up pellets last night, i also added 1/4 of crushed shreddie to entice him. He ate it from my hand and I left the rest in a small bowl and he ate it all. So i mixed up some more today and hopefully he will eat it. i should have the flavored CC in the next day or so and will add that.
He will eat any of his softer treats (shreddie, cheerio, 1/2 raisin and LOVES oats) but I dont want to only give him that.
But I think I will hold off on the dried peas for now. Maybe after his antibiotics and make sure that he still doesnt have any mouth problems than I can try it out.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. Good to know there is someone I can "talk to" when I am just not sure what to do.

 

[LovableFuzziezandCrawliez]

Why would you want to "try it out" later...everyone has already told you no veggies of any kind. Just cause he ate it before doesn't mean that it is good for him....he will get healthier if you stop giving that to him all together. If there is a chance it will cause him health problems in the future - why risk it?

I hope he starts eating on his own again soon.

Watch the Shreddies as well - they are loaded with sugar. Best to get some plain shredded wheat. It's pure fiber.

 

[mishellyshel]

thats what i give them the plain mini shredded wheat? im confused?

 

[Sasha]

I would NOT recommend giving dehydrated veggies. They do NOT need it. The nutrition they NEED is in their pellets and hay, and if hes not eating then you force feed him CC and LifeLine and that's it. If he is sick, on antibiotics, AVOID treats! Force feed him 70-90ml of CC daily and that will be fine.

When he is healthy, the OCCASIONAL shredded wheat or cheerio or rosehip (once a week) is fine. I would also avoid raisins, sick or not, it contains way too much sugar which isn't a good mix especially if he is sick. If he's on antibiotics to kill bacteria, sugar can make it worse. Bacteria live off of sugar, so adding sugar can just make the situation worse.

 

[LovableFuzziezandCrawliez]

The Sreddies brand cereal isn't shredded wheat. That was what I understood by your post - that you were feeding the shreddies cereal.

 

[mishellyshel]

whew!! i give them the mini shredded wheat........about 1 or 1/2 of one every other day. alternate with 1 cherrio or rosehip or oats (they love the oats!) today I tried to mix the lifeline in with the oats and my standard (on meds) picked out most of the oats, my mosaic ate it all up! my standard is so so picky. and my mosaic will eat whatever I give him!