Feeding.
Treats
Suitable foods for use as treats are Rivetta, raisins, small slices of apple, porridge oats. Dried, unsweetened pineapple and papaya are possibly useful in dealing with or preventing fur balls. They contain small amounts of the enzyme papain which may be able to digest the fur in the chins stomach, though it is dubious whether there would be enough active enzyme in the amount that would be safe to give a chin as a treat. Shredded wheat can also be used to help deal with diarrhoea.
It is incredibly important to state that these foods are only to be used as treats and should not be mixed in with the normal feed, otherwise the chin will just dig through the pellets looking for these treats dropping the pellets on the floor where they will be spoiled or to drop through the wire floor. Any one who has seen a chin with diarrhea will tell you to avoid over doing treats.
The occasional slice of apple can also be used to treat constipation. DO NOT feed greens to your chinchilla, some can in fact be toxic, lead to increased gas production in the intestine leading possibly to bloat which can be fatal if not treated promptly, and diarrhoea.
As I mentioned in the Mixed Feeds section chinchillas do not have a gall bladder. As such the liver has to work double time to produce fat-digesting bile and to store excess fats/lipids which tend to build up on the vital organs - which may make the chin more prone to hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease). Nuts have a high fat content, and may there not be a safe treat for your pet.
About 50-70% of the weight of nuts and seeds consist of fat as the table below illustrates. For example, 100g of almonds has a fat content of 57% .
| Name |
% Total Fat Content Per 100g |
| Almonds |
57 |
| Brazil Nuts |
68 |
| Cashew Nuts |
51 |
| Chestnuts |
6 |
| Hazelnuts |
63 |
| Peanuts |
50 |
| Pinenuts |
69 |
| Pistachio Nuts |
55 |
| Sesame Seeds |
58 |
| Sunflower Seeds |
47.5 |
| Walnuts |
68 |
This is a quote from Paula on CU :
If your chinchilla weighs 600g
and you weigh 60 kg or 60,000g then you are 100 times as heavy as a chinchilla.
So one nut for a chinchilla is equivalent to you eating 100. 100 nuts is around
75g, which is 420 calories and over half your recommended daily maximum amount
of fat. So you probably wouldn't want to eat that every day.
It is worth noting that with dried fruit the sugar content should be considered. The process of drying concentrates the natural sugars found in the fruit, and in certain cases, the dried fruit will also be sweetened to make them more palatable. So those owners who like to treat their pet to a dried banana chip every so often, beware the sugar content, unless you feel like cleaning your chins teeth !!!
The table below provides the sugar content of certain dried fruits. These may vary depending on the manufacturer, and were taken straight from the nutritional information on the back of the packet.
| Name |
% Sugar Content per 100g |
| Apricot |
42.1 |
| Papaya |
64 |
| Raisins |
71 |
| Dates |
60 |
| Cranberries |
65 |
| Pineapple |
86 |
| Banana Chips |
22 |
You might want to try leaves from the Hawthorn tree. Start off with only one leaf a day to get the chins stomach used to them. Watch their droppings for any sign of problems, at the first sign of diarrhoea stop feeding them the leaves, though I don't expect there to be a problem unless the leaves have been sprayed, are from a tree growing close to a road, or are wilted or look diseased in some way. The twigs themselves can also be given as a treat as well as the berries, though again, do not over do it.
You
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