Junky food

[Filia]

So a little story time:

I've been using good ol' Oxbow chinchilla food for 2 years now...however, I've recently discovered that my mother bought some off-brand "premium chinchilla food" and I didn't realize this until I just finished out all the Oxbow. There's no way to return it now since it's been a long while since she bought it...and she doesn't want to return it even if we could, saying "The vet sells it so it's completely safe for chinchillas" but after reading the ingredient list, it looks like I'll be feeding them a bowl of death.

Ingredients: Timothy Grass Hay, Wheat Middlings, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Ground Oat Groats, Soybean Hulls, Cane Molasses, Ground Wheat, Oats, Calcium Carbonate, Steamed-Rolled Oats, Yeast Culture, Dicalcium Phosphate, Dehydrated Banana, Flaked Peas, Raisins, Ground Corn, Magnesium Oxide, Vegetable Oil, Salt, Ground Flax Seed, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Anise Oil, DL-Methionine, Dried Yeast Product, Choline Chloride, Potassium Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Yucca schidigera Extract, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Bifidobacterium bifidum Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus oryzae Fermentation Product, Torula Dried Yeast, Vitamin A Supplement, Algae Meal, Fructooligosaccharide, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Ground Steam-Rolled Oats, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Biotin, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, and Color Added (Blue 1, Yellow 5).

Dried fruits, artifical colours, a long list of I don't know what....I wouldn't feed this to my dog nevertheless my frail chinchillas.

The 10/11 reviews on the website are all 5 stars...the one bad review gave 1 star for the food containing colours, but they never mentioned it harmed their chinchilla.

So my question is...is it absolutely a terrible idea to give my chinchillas this junk food, or would it be alright to "choke it down" until the bag is finished and I can feed them Oxbow again?

If not, any idea what to do with the food? :T

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

don't give that crap to your chin. get some Oxbow immediately - give your chin hay until then. Either throw the crap out or if you leave in the country, give it to the deer.

 

[Amethyst]

I agree, don't give that junk to your chin. One of the biggest issues aside from it not being good food is that a sudden food change can cause digestive upset. Chinchillas have a delicate digestive tract so a sudden change, even if you removed all the dried fruit and stuff in food and just left the pellets it can cause, gas, bloating, and/or diarrhea, just to name a few issues.

Just because a vet sells it does not make it safe, it just means that the vet has been paid to sell it in the vet office. Also it seems most vets don't actually know much about chinchillas, they are an exotic and aren't as common as other rodents yet. They commonly suggest fresh fruits and vegetables (which a chin can't properly process) with the thinking that because they are a rodent about the size of a guinea pig or small rabbit, and both those need fruits and veggies in their diet, chins must too.

As to the reviews, saying it didn't harm their chins doesn't really say much, unless they have a chin that's been on that food it's whole life and is in it's upper teens to early 20s. It's like someone saying they eat greasy fast food all the time and they don't seem to have any health issues. That doesn't mean it's good for you and that they don't have issues they don't know about yet or that they aren't developing one and that it's not shortening their life.

 

[mmarcus03]

I agree with everyone. I see that there is ground corn in it which just acts as a filler. There is also a lot of unnecessary ingredients in the food. I used to feed my chinchilla food with all sorts of things in it and he ended up just eating the color bits. Selective eating is a huge problem with food such as yours. Having just straight pellets help make sure that the animal is getting enough of the nutrients and minerals that it should have to live a healthy life.
I hope this helps!
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Marcus