New chin problem Soft sticky stool

[Ribbonheart]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and I am also a first time Chinchilla owner. So my chin came from a petsmart and it seemed healthy,active and stool looked totally normal. On the way home from the pet store there was some barking and I did my best to calm it. I set up his new cage and would offer my hand to him from time to time. His stool inside the carrier was soft but shaped. Not diarrhea but not the very firm stool I am use to seeing from my hamster. Well I gave him a yoghurt treat I know huge mistake! I also changed his diet to alfalfa hay and a mix by natational geographic. I now know this too is a mistake. He's semi friendly and I let him out of his cage the next day after getting him. Well he got spooked and barked so I backed off for a couple hours before catching him and putting him into his cage. Stool is still squishy soft but has shape. I removed the mix and left him with hay. I believe the stool is a due to stress and diet change. What can I do to get my chins poop back to normal? How many days will it take etc... Thanks so much in advance everyone!

 

[chins1222]

petsmart feeds oxbow food so the switch to the national geografic which has a lot of unhealthy bits in it and the yogurt drops and alfalfa hay probably upset his tummy.
make sure his main hay is a grass hay like timothy hay and not alfalfa. and no treats of any kind(even healthy ones) until his stool is normal, a few days on grass hay and he should go back to normal poos

 

[Dreamlite]

Pull his pellets and feed grass or timothy hay for a few days. If the stools dont firm up in a day or 2 then you may want to get a fecal run. Bacterial over growths and parasites can also cause soft stools.

 

[LYChinchillas]

Definitely simplify the diet as these members have said - no treats, fresh timothy hay, and pellets. It should take just a few days to firm up - at that point, you should invest in some high quality pellets like Mazuri or Manna Pro Premium and sloooowly switch him off of his current pellets (I'd suggest over 2 weeks to be safe) and carefully monitor his food and water consumption. There are a lot of great threads on the forum about diet, and I wrote a little in my blog about what I feed my chins as well. It's a lot of information initially, but once you get it down to basics, it's quite easy to monitor and keep your chin healthy

 

[Stackie]

I wouldn't worry about slowly transitioning off the bad feed. I would just do a cold switch after only feeding hay for a few days. No sense in offering a food full of unhealthy treats which can do more harm than not doing a slow transition.

 

[StitchAnd621]

Giving about a square centimeter of burnt toast is okay. Only give the hay and toast until it is back to normal. I haven't had this problem (I just got mine a little over a week ago) but I've researched most health problems they can have. Good luck!