How much pellets should a 2 1/2 month chin be eating?

[kenko]

Hi--quick question. I've had Mips for about a week now, and while he's been eating lots and lots of hay and drinking daily (and producing a LOT of poop!), he doesn't seem terribly interested in pellets; either the Oxbow that I got or the pellets that the breeder sent me home with. I'll occasionally seem him dig through the dish and munch on one, but the pellets in the bowl are decreasing very, very slowly (I put in about 4 tablespoons full this monday and four days later we're down to maybe about 2.5~3...

As I mentioned in the thread title, he's about 10 weeks old--I went through the sticky and some of the older posts, but I couldn't find exactly how much pellets they optimally should be consuming at this age. The Oxbow bag just says "Unlimited supply" for a baby chin, so that's not been terribly helpful, haha.

He's been peppy and inquisitive and does not seem to be visibly overstressed from the transition(happily perches on my arms and sleeps on my open hands of his own volition). Should I be at all worried, or should I just continue to do the pellet transition and make sure to have plenty of hay available? (I'm getting a kitchen scale tomorrow so I can keep an eye on whether he's gaining)

 

[Spoof]

If he's getting free choice hay he is likely eating that over the pellets. If you want him to eat more pellets you can quit giving hay, but you don't need to. They eat what they need.

 

[javachin]

I wouldn't be too concerned. I used to think chins could only have a small measured amount of food too, but now I free feed all of my chins. It basically means, fill up the bowl and don't worry about the measure. Oxbow is a good brand to use so I wouldn't worry, and as Tara said, maybe offer less hay if you're concerned. Chins can be picky!

 

[Riven]

Generally theory with chins diet... If there's healthy poop, all is well!

 

[mistywaterwoman]

Sometimes they want "fresh" pellets versus "stale" pellets (not that there is really a difference) so I put two tablespoons of pellets in their dishes every morning. Some eat a little more than that, some a little less, so you can adjust as she needs you to, by refilling the bowl in the evening if it's looking low.
The key to get her to keep eating is to throw out the old pellets every morning and put "fresh" ones in, she'll rush over to taste the new ones.

 

[Cuddlebug]

A 10 week old will not eat much to begin with. They have tiny tummies! As long as the chin is gaining weight, there should be no reason for concern.