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what i meant when i said corn is whole kernals of corn, not ground corn which i see alot in rabbit food, it was a new one on me, because i saw rabbit food with whole kernals but never chinchilla food.
like people have said you have to research
 
The truth is, if someone is told by one person that crappy food, excess dairy and sugar are good for chins and then told by someone else they are not--what incentive do they have to believe either person?
With the vast amount of incorrect information on the internet and even when you look at purely scientific papers, many feed chins inappropriate foods during their studies--it can send anyone into an existential crisis. To realize people want to cause you and your loved ones pain in order to get your money kind of destroys any faith in humanity for the time being.
So many of us on the forum were making mistakes when we found it. And now, even, we are relying on observational information from a group of reputable breeders with some of it corroborated by scientific evidence. I personally think that my best bet is to go with the information I have found on this site as a lot of it you can't figure out with any scientific studies because they don't exist or are flawed (I guess, fundamentally, that would make them not scientific anyways). It's a mess, it really is.
I don't know if governmental regulation would help, as I would not trust that either, but if their information that they base the regulations on is sound, then it probably would help some pet owners. In any case, it should be illegal to sell something that will be significantly detrimental to a pet.
 
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I was at a tradeshow last week and saw the "new" food that Kaytee has out. Full of raisins and nuts and lots of other wonderful ingredients. I told the rep that that food wouldn't be an accepted food in the chin community AND she gave me total attitude.

Oh well, the companies main goal is to make money. Some are trying to make better and safer products. Some reps were quite open to ideas and suggestions.
 
Tagna said:
Oh well, the companies main goal is to make money. Some are trying to make better and safer products. Some reps were quite open to ideas and suggestions.
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This gives me a bit of hope. When companies are open to suggestions on how to make their products better for our animals, I think they are the ones that will find more long-term brand loyalty from consumers, especially from people with exotic pets. Why? Because a lot of pet owners want products that are just plain better for their animals, and if a company out there is trying to provide those products and succeeding, people will buy it.
 
Back to the goverment regulation and warning labels, I have a old pamphlet from the U.S. Army Arnament research and development center for blast noise that describes the care of the experiment animals-chinchillas and guinea pigs and it says feed a cup of fresh greens a day, pellets and grass hay, most likely they got their info from the vets who we know are weak on chinchilla nutrition, so how would correct info even make it to labels.
 
ticklechin said:
Back to the goverment regulation and warning labels, I have a old pamphlet from the U.S. Army Arnament research and development center for blast noise that describes the care of the experiment animals-chinchillas and guinea pigs and it says feed a cup of fresh greens a day, pellets and grass hay, most likely they got their info from the vets who we know are weak on chinchilla nutrition, so how would correct info even make it to labels.
Click to expand...

I agree. Which is precisely why I said I wouldn't trust certain regulations from the government, except if I knew their data were correct. Unfortunately, the government isn't a scientific body, so any information they publicize isn't valid at face value, unless you look at the source of information and it's legitimate. Sometimes it's not though, because they have politicians editing data from the studies.
I've also read numerous studies that feed fruits and especially vegetables to chinchillas. It doesn't surprise me that a number of those studies have many animals die during the experiment. You'd think the connection would be made solely based on that...
I guess the most practical solution to this is to make the correct information as public as possible. I think many people would listen and be willing to go home and look up this site and change their ways. Some wouldn't bother, though.
 
When I first got Cosmo I bought all that crap (a sales clerk told me what I "needed"). Luckily I found this site the next day. Sadly I think all of the stuff is marketed towards what we think would be nice. A tropical hut oh how nice, fruit nuts and yogurt treats delishious!,sented dust how lovely. I was shocked when I came on here and realized how bad it all was for little Cosmo and how unglamorous his diet and needs were. Now I am amazed at how happy he gets when I just give him a twig and a rosehip. They are simple littel creatures and sadly most consumers are attracted to the brightly colored packaging with happy chins on them. I think owners hearts are in the right place most are just ignorant like I was I just hope they find a helpful site like this to set them straight.
 
As for putting a pic of a chin on food, toys, etc, it's never a good idea to base your pet supply choices on what is on the bag (there are pictures of rats on some rat poison bags - hopefully pet owners would know that is not for pet rats!).

Bottom line: ANY type of pet requires research, expecially those that require specific diets. If the person whose pet died would have taken a few minutes to do some research, she probably wouldn't have purchased all of that stuff in the first place.

Companies keep making bad products for pets because people buy them. If people would quit buying the stuff, it would no longer be sold. Maybe you could type up a flyer and ask the pet store to distribute it to potential chin owners - some pet stores recommend certain things because they don't know any better.
 
http://i.imgur.com/266Wy.jpg

Not to add fuel to the fire but i recently contacted this chin owner about how he expanded his cage.(pic above) I told him it's nice that you expanded it using an old dresser from ikea but that chin could chew on it and Die as they use melamine in everything. I also told him about good quality pellets and this site.

Here is his response.

"
Hey thanks for the tips, I really do appreciate it. My chin doesn't really chew on the dresser, so I'm not too worried about it. He actually is a really picky eater, and doesn't eat pellets at all. Though I recently switched to alfalfa pellets, and I think he is finally starting to eat some of those. I always make sure he has plenty of hay, and he does eat of a lot of it. He has chewed through some plastic things, but not too much. I also give him a raisin almost everyday as a treat and that should help for some digestive issues as long as I don't give him too many. I've had him almost a year now and he is still doing well. Thanks again though for the advice, I really didn't know what I was doing when I got him, but I've been learning as much as I can this past year. I'm toying with the idea of trying to train him soon.

I also found this site that is located in southern california (close to where I am), so I might start buying their feed. http://www.valleyviewchinchillas.com/supplies.html#feed

"
 
The above chinchilla site is a chin mill, just my opinion. I would buy from Petco before I would buy from them.
 
I get sick when I walk through petshops! Most are just disgusting with the products they sell, the conditions they have their animals in, the serious lack of knowledge about the animals they're selling, etc. But...when a chin ingests too much plastic, has serious blockage, and dies, where will they go to buy another chin?! I believe that is their idea of being a good business-make sure customers return for ALL purchases. They can't all be ignorant about good chin ownership (and other animals as well) so what else can some of them be thinking?! If they successfully kill a pet but it the owner doesn't connect it back to them, more business, more money, more deaths! And all the companies are thinking is, "They're just rodents! Who cares?!"

But I think one of the key ways to get ignorant pet owners to pay more attention is to tell them the money they'll be saving if they do! Like one post says, the big money goes to toys and treats for chins, so when people hear it isn't necassary and they'll be saving loads of money, they'll be super happy. On Yahoo Answers, I talked someone out of buying a plastic 12" wheel for their chin from Petsmart, saying a metal one would be safer, but they'd also be saving money in the future on possible vet bills and also having to replace a crappy plastic wheel how many times in a chins life. I did the probable math for them and they'd end up saving a bunch of money. Plus buying safe food and dust and treats online in bulk is a huge way to save money. 2.5 lbs of Kaytee dust bath for like $8 is a huge rip off!!!! Once the word gets out more about that, I think a lot more pet owners will care, and in turn, the petshops will have to as well to keep business coming to them...hopefully. But then again, I have barely any faith in humanity left, so...probably not! Easier also matters, though for me spending 20 minutes on the internet is easier and cheaper than driving 40 minutes to the closest Petsmart! And the only way they'll find the healthier, cheaper, safer stuff online is by doing a little research which most people won't do cause they're lazy so....back to my pessimism:(
 
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