Lets talk about free feeding or measuring
Breeders (and I) advise free feeding but let’s get into the nitty gritty of why. Chinchillas are hind gut fermenters, very similar to a horse’s gut. This means they have an over sized intestine that is specifically made to digest and utilize fiber/cellulose. Hindgut fermentation allows the chin to eat small amounts of low-quality forage continuously (grazing behavior) and get more nutrition from it than other forms of digestion. This specialized form of digesting is what helped the chins live in a sparce, desert environment.
Chins need constant access to food to keep their gut moving. If food sources are limited, it can cause binge eating when reintroduced, stasis or bloat. Gut bacteria is critical with proper gut health. Under feeding that bacteria or feeding the wrong diet can upset that careful balance.
The measuring pellets/feeding only 2 tbsp per day theory started way back in the 60s and 70s when commercial pellets started to come to the market. These pellets were often soft (didn’t provide the tooth wear needed), higher in sugary binders (so over eating could be an issue), were not nutritionally complete (need other supplements in addition to the pellet) and didn’t provide enough fiber. In that era, hay was absolutely necessary in addition to the pellets to keep the gut moving. Since then, pellets have improved greatly. They now have all the nutrition your chin needs, balanced the fiber, lowered binders/sugars, some now include probiotics, ext. Unfortunately, some places have not updated their feeding recommendations even though there were major improvements in the pellets.
Limiting the pellets today can lead to serious problems, and let’s go over why. Each pellet has different concentration of nutrition. The easiest way to visualize this is to compare an extruded feed with a regular pellet. In the pictures attached here, you can see two different pellets in a leveled ½ cup. The extruded pellet weighs significantly less than the other pellet. That means your chin would be getting less feed and nutrition if you limited the pellets. While it may not be obvious at first, over time this can lead to malnutrition and other problems.
The next reason that people tend to advise limiting pellets is the thought that the chin would become overweight. It is extremely rare for this to happen. The only reported cases of over weight chins is from improper diet or thyroid issues. A healthy chin on a healthy free fed diet, will not be overweight. The chin will naturally eat only what it needs. This stems back to natural selection in the wild. A fat animal, is a slow animal and is the first one eaten by predators.
In conclusion, free feed quality pellets and offer a handful of hay 1-3 times a week for a healthy gut.
Breeders (and I) advise free feeding but let’s get into the nitty gritty of why. Chinchillas are hind gut fermenters, very similar to a horse’s gut. This means they have an over sized intestine that is specifically made to digest and utilize fiber/cellulose. Hindgut fermentation allows the chin to eat small amounts of low-quality forage continuously (grazing behavior) and get more nutrition from it than other forms of digestion. This specialized form of digesting is what helped the chins live in a sparce, desert environment.
Chins need constant access to food to keep their gut moving. If food sources are limited, it can cause binge eating when reintroduced, stasis or bloat. Gut bacteria is critical with proper gut health. Under feeding that bacteria or feeding the wrong diet can upset that careful balance.
The measuring pellets/feeding only 2 tbsp per day theory started way back in the 60s and 70s when commercial pellets started to come to the market. These pellets were often soft (didn’t provide the tooth wear needed), higher in sugary binders (so over eating could be an issue), were not nutritionally complete (need other supplements in addition to the pellet) and didn’t provide enough fiber. In that era, hay was absolutely necessary in addition to the pellets to keep the gut moving. Since then, pellets have improved greatly. They now have all the nutrition your chin needs, balanced the fiber, lowered binders/sugars, some now include probiotics, ext. Unfortunately, some places have not updated their feeding recommendations even though there were major improvements in the pellets.
Limiting the pellets today can lead to serious problems, and let’s go over why. Each pellet has different concentration of nutrition. The easiest way to visualize this is to compare an extruded feed with a regular pellet. In the pictures attached here, you can see two different pellets in a leveled ½ cup. The extruded pellet weighs significantly less than the other pellet. That means your chin would be getting less feed and nutrition if you limited the pellets. While it may not be obvious at first, over time this can lead to malnutrition and other problems.
The next reason that people tend to advise limiting pellets is the thought that the chin would become overweight. It is extremely rare for this to happen. The only reported cases of over weight chins is from improper diet or thyroid issues. A healthy chin on a healthy free fed diet, will not be overweight. The chin will naturally eat only what it needs. This stems back to natural selection in the wild. A fat animal, is a slow animal and is the first one eaten by predators.
In conclusion, free feed quality pellets and offer a handful of hay 1-3 times a week for a healthy gut.