Make sure your chinchilla has a healthy diet

Facts

• Without water to drink a chinchilla can become seriously ill.
   
• Chinchillas naturally eat grasses, leaves and twigs. They eat by sitting on their hind legs and holding the food in their front paws.
   
• The chinchillas' digestive system must have hay and grass in order to function properly.
   
• How much a chinchilla needs to eat depends on his/her age, lifestyle and state of health.
   
• If a chinchilla eats too much of the wrong food , such as grains, fruit or sweet treats, he/she can become overweight, or get ill, and suffer. If the correct diet is always available, chinchillas generally keep themselves at the right weight.
   
• Chinchillas' teeth grow continuously throughout their life and need to be worn down and kept at the correct length and shape by eating grass, hay and grass-based chinchilla pellets. Failure to eat the right diet can result in serious dental disease.
   
• Chinchillas naturally eat for long periods of time, mainly during the night.
   
• Chinchillas produce two kinds of droppings – hard dry pellets, and softer moist pellets that they eat directly from their bottom and which are an essential part of their diet.

Things you should do

• Provide fresh clean drinking water at all times from a drinking bottle. Check the water supply twice a day.
   
• Good quality hay should make up the majority of your chinchillas' diet and should
  
  be available at all times. A hay rack is a good way of offering hay.
   
• In addition to hay, a small amount (one to two tablespoons) of grass-based chinchilla pellets should be offered per chinchilla per day.
   
• Only give root vegetables like carrots, leafy greens, dried fruit, or grains in small amounts (one teaspoon per day) as a treat. Avoid nuts and seeds as these are high in fat.
   
• Do not make any sudden changes to your chinchilla's diet as this could upset his/her digestive system and make him/her very ill.
   
• Check that your chinchilla is eating every day and that he/she is passing plenty of dry droppings. Monitor the amount and types of food your chinchilla eats, and how much he/she drinks. If your chinchilla’s eating or drinking habits change, the number or size of droppings gets smaller or they stop, talk to your vet straight away as he/she could be seriously ill.