Peeing in food dish for dominance??

[SymbioticSix]

So I just introduced two males who get along wonderfully.

Since allowing them to share a cage, Ive notice that somone's been peeing in the food bowl. In 3 years it's never heappened, now that the new fella is sharing a dish with the old fella, its been pee'd in daily.

I've noticed the new guy to be a little more dominant and I'm prone to think it's him doing it, as my other chin has NEVER done it.

Has anyone seen this happen? I'm sure it can happen on occasion for no real reason, but considering they have a "potty area" and use it normally, and the dish peeing has been happening daily, I'm inclined to think this is a dominance thing???

Any thoughts??? Clearly I need a gravity fedd dish they cant stand on as well.:banghead:

 

[alli713]

I'm not quite sure why a chin would pee in it's food as a display of dominance. Some chins just pee in their food dish. Did you move the dish to a different spot in the cage?
Either way, if any of my girls are given a dish large enough for them to stand on, they normally will pee in their food. So I use coop cups which clip to the side of the cage and aren't large enough for them to stand on.

 

[ABBY W.]

Yes, I have had the same experience. If my chins can stand on the edge of the cup to eat, inevitably there is pee in the cup by the end of the day. I switched to 5 oz coop cups, and they work great. No pee, except once in a while.

 

[SymbioticSix]

Thanks for the replies! I do have a small cup that attaches to the side of the cage, too small to stand on.

I was just curious as with 3 other males over 2 years, never had pee in the food, ever. In comes the new fella, and it's daily. Was wondering if he eats his fill the pees to claim the rest or something. Smaller cup it is then!!!

 

[soqrbrad]

Did the new introduced chin have a specialized "relieving spot"? My chin always goes in the back left corner of the cage. If you just brought the new one in the cage the food bowl might be in his special spot. Before you go and buy something, I might try moving the food bowl to a different corner and see if that stops it first. It can't hurt anyway.

 

[starleomach]

I have a couple of chinchillas that ocasionally pee in their food dishes. I just move the bowl a bit. I don't think they do it for any particular reason I think they just do it. try washing the bowl in the dishwasher, then place it in a slightly different spot

 

[Parkerspetchins]

Perhaps two feed dishes would make having to mark it less critical?...or you could just end up with two peed in feed dishes LOL!

 

[Essentia]

I would move the food dish to an area they can't get on top of it, so maybe closer to the top of the cage? I had to do that with one of my rescues. He now grabs the food with his little hands because he can't get his big ol' rump on top. You may also want to look into a hopper type food dish that attaches to the outside of the cage (if you have a cage that will work with that). That way he can get to the food, but not actually get on the food.

 

[Chinniechantel]

I actually do think it may be a dominance thing. It has only happened to me with a group of just weaned boys. I usually wean babies together in same sex colonies, and it always seems that one male pees in the food. I have tried everything! The only thing that helps a little is the ceramic parrot dishes with a hood on them that you bolt to the side of the cage. Coop cups no matter how high or where I put them, still ended with peed on pellets. I think it is dominance, because I have asked the new forever homes of these "peeing chins" and they stop once they are living single!

 

[macygray]

Yes...Macy pees AROUND his hay bowl but never in it. Cheeky monkey, I moved it and he still does it so don't know what the next step is He is taking after Stackies chins who pee in their hay.

 

[Parka]

I think it's definitely a dominance thing--my two boys did it too. I had coop cups clipped to the side of the cage like you mentioned. I even tried three bowls at a time and they peed in all of them somehow. I eventually settled on a food bowl shelf and they quit peeing in it. It's in a corner at the top of the cage, with a fleece tube right next to it. They can get on the shelf if they want, but I made it hard for them to pee in the bowl. It accumulates poo if it's empty, but anything empty in a chinchilla cage will fill with poo eventually..

I bet they'll quit doing it after they've established dominance, but make sure you watch them for aggressive behavior since they're not settled yet. That or it might be their way of telling you they want some fresh food. :innocent:

 

[jmdebb]

Some of mine also go in the food dish at times, I have one that loves to always sit on it, I don't know why, he has alot of stuff in his cage to sit on, but he loves the dish. lol

Jean