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[Mel Apple]

My chinchilla has me pretty confused.  For the past couple of months, he has gone from devouring his hay to hardly touching it.  Everything else seems ok--he's eating his food, still getting super excited for his treats, is drinking fine, and still has some interest in his chews, despite his super picky attitude about them.  I've been feeding him lose timothy hay for years without a problem.  From what I can tell, his teeth seem to be fine, and his behavior hasn't changed--he's still the sweet, strong, silent type.  Aside from him hardly touching his hay, the only other change I can see is his poops are different, but I assume that is from the lack of roughage in his diet.

Does anyone have any clue why he could be doing this and what I could do about it?  I've been thinking about switching him to hay cubes to see if that will make a difference, but I'm unsure of what else to try.

[dianah]

it could be his teeth. you can't see his molars (the vets have trouble checking them when a chin's conscious) so he could have a spur or they could be overgrown. or, it could be the roots which again, you can't see. i would take him to the vet asap. they will probably do an xray to get a full picture.

i really would not delay, it may be something that can be corrected but by not eating hay, he's not wearing down his teeth at the rate he normally would, as well as not getting enough roughage in his diet which could cause all sorts of trouble including root overgrowth.

sorry, i don't mean to alarm you but, i would take a very swift action especially as it's been a couple of month.

how are his poos different?

[jmdebb]

i could be wrong, but i'm gonna say the opposite of dineah..no offence, but i'm not gonna say i'm 100% right either.

but only because he is eating his food and treats.

it could be just that he is sick of that hay. for years my guys were all great hay eaters, especially my chinchin, heck if he was out for playtime and i refilled his bowl the silly guy would go back in his cage to eat hay...  but then something changed with the boys, now they are very finicky.  so what i do is keep switching the brands i give them every few days.. oxbow, apd, alfalfa, cubes... and it seems to be working fine.

i also give them a variety of hays because they are all chewed differently so its great at helping the back teeth with grinding them down,

some other safe ones are : 

broome, orchard, oat, oat, wheat & barkly, botanical, meadow, alfalfa [but only alittle of this one, too much calcium], i think i left one or two out, but i can't think for the life of me what they are... one thing i want to tell you in case you do start using some of these others, is that some of them are called grass, not hay, but it's perfectly safe for them.

[cadillactaste]

I would say...cut out the treats...and see what happens. If you give a child to much junk food they would prefer that and skip the healthy food. Also...where is the hay located? On the floor of the cage or in a container? Are you feeding loose hay or the blocks of hay? My guys prefer the loose hay.

[ABC Chinchillas]

I would not worry as long as the chinchilla is still eating the pellets and drinking and pooping. Many chinchillas go without hay and do fine. Try the Hay cubes or try to offer hay every other day and make it more interesting. you can also switch types and give a variety. My chinchillas get loose hay in the Fall and winter when we have it for the horses and in the summer get cubes.  I pass it out on cage cleaning day so twice a week. Some eat it some don't all wear their teeth down just fine. Some chinchillas just do not like Hay. for example Diva is a 14 year old female chinchilla with great teeth. Won't touch hay

[jmdebb]

if only i were that fussy, i might be thin

[Debbie.nl.ca]

  me too  

Great advise all.
We don't need to agree all the time, it's the sharing the information that helps us make the best choices with our animals.

I would indeed cut out all treats and try loose alfalfa.
Mine love it so I can tell when they are just getting picky.
I swear I throw out more timothy than they eat, but they do chew and drag it all over the cage.

I also have a 15 year old that has never eaten much hay of any kind.
You know your chins best, and now you can keep on eye out & try a few things.

If it's a teeth problem you'll see him go off all his feed, drooling. pawing at his mouth, and a just plain unhappy chinchilla.

[Mel Apple]

Thank you so much for all of the advice, everyone   

So far, I've cut back on his treats a bit, and he seems to be more in the mood for hay lately.  He's still not eating much of it, but he as improved a bit.  I still plan on picking up hay cubes soon to see if he prefers them now.

[jmdebb]

me too  

Great advise all.
We don't need to agree all the time, it's the sharing the information that helps us make the best choices with our animals.

I would indeed cut out all treats and try loose alfalfa.
Mine love it so I can tell when they are just getting picky.
I swear I throw out more timothy than they eat, but they do chew and drag it all over the cage.

I also have a 15 year old that has never eaten much hay of any kind.
You know your chins best, and now you can keep on eye out & try a few things.

If it's a teeth problem you'll see him go off all his feed, drooling. pawing at his mouth, and a just plain unhappy chinchilla.

omg yah they do drag it all over the cage, i'll just clean the girls cage out and put fresh hay in, and noel will just go up to the dish and start to paw it all out.. ugh!!!