The Importance of Calcium

Calcium is an essential part of your chinchilla’s diet. An easy way to check to see if your chinchilla is getting enough calcium from his or her diet is to check their teeth. If their teeth are a nice deep yellow orange color, then your chinchilla is doing fine. If these teeth are light in color or almost white, your chinchilla is severely deficient in calcium and can cause severe problems, including the chinchilla dying. If you have a pregnant female chinchilla or young baby, its recommended to supplement her diet with a small amount of calcium from the local nutrition store to help add more nutrients such as calcium to her diet. If your chinchilla is not pregnant and lacking in calcium, adding things like a Tums tablet to their diet can help. A neat way to help instill calcium is through the use of a bird cuttlebone. Nutrical, a dog and cat supplement, also can be used as a calcium supplement. Just put a small amount on your finger and let them lick it off in the amount of once a week. A calcium deficiency can lead to “calcium shakes” which look like your chinchilla is having a seizure. Their body will convulse, they will lay on their side, and their ears can press against their head. This normally occurs after eating or a lot of strenuous exercise, and is very heart breaking to see. Brain damage can occur, and in severe cases, a chinchilla can die. If your chinchilla has had calcium seizures, I highly recommend your chinchilla be seen by a veterinarian.