halfstache
Beware the 2 headed chin
Way back when I first started getting into chinchillas I had read that raisins were alright to give to chins in moderation, now it seems that all I hear is how they are completely horrible for them. I've read many things in many different places and I'm not sure what is right and what isn't. I've heard they cause diabetes, cause fatty livers, can't be processed by chinchillas because of the sugar content, etc. None of these make sense to me. My wife is an RN who specifically works with diabetic patients and assures me that the number one cause of diabetes is obesity and that simply eating something with a high sugar content is not enough to make someone diabetic, unless they ate to the point of obesity. Fatty liver comes from diabetes, obesity, or alcohol consumption. Another cause is high triglycerides, which can be due to sugar but should not be due to sugar alone (would need to go along with be over weight as well). As far as not being able to process sugar goes, every living thing needs sugar in order to live. Plants can not grow without sugar as it is part of photosynthesis.
I have done several searches online and have looked for some sort of scientific research which says why raisin are bad for chins but all the scientific research I could find had nothing to do with raisins. I have found the nutritional data for raisins and have found that a serving of them contains a rather high amount of sugar. Of a 40 gram serving 29 grams are sugars, Now that is a human serving, but in an equal serving of rose hips there is still 1.4 grams sugars. My point here is that while there is abundantly more sugar in raisins, there is still sugar content in rose hips.
My thought is that chins get problems from being overweight or obese more so than consuming any one specific food. I for one have always given my chins raisins and I have not witnessed any ill affects from it, but having read about possible reasons why they could be bad has really given me pause and has made me reconsider switching to a different treat. I'm not opposed to switching, but I just know how much the little buggers love them. I mean if someone tried to stop me from eating burgers I'd have a fit. I know they aren't the best food for me to eat, in fact they are far from it, but they sure are tasty and I look forward to eating them all the time.
I have done several searches online and have looked for some sort of scientific research which says why raisin are bad for chins but all the scientific research I could find had nothing to do with raisins. I have found the nutritional data for raisins and have found that a serving of them contains a rather high amount of sugar. Of a 40 gram serving 29 grams are sugars, Now that is a human serving, but in an equal serving of rose hips there is still 1.4 grams sugars. My point here is that while there is abundantly more sugar in raisins, there is still sugar content in rose hips.
My thought is that chins get problems from being overweight or obese more so than consuming any one specific food. I for one have always given my chins raisins and I have not witnessed any ill affects from it, but having read about possible reasons why they could be bad has really given me pause and has made me reconsider switching to a different treat. I'm not opposed to switching, but I just know how much the little buggers love them. I mean if someone tried to stop me from eating burgers I'd have a fit. I know they aren't the best food for me to eat, in fact they are far from it, but they sure are tasty and I look forward to eating them all the time.