Nutrition biology

The chinchilla's nutrition biology

Chinchillas are South American rodents that have already been kept in human care since 1855. However, even controlled breeding has not caused any changes to their alimentary tract, i.e. the chinchillas' gut still depends on a particularly paltry, virtually meagre diet containing a lot of crude fibre. An oversupply with food that is easy to digest is harmful and may even be lethal. Our diagram shows the organs involved with digestion. The digestive tract starts with the mouth:

The incisors are sharp, shaped like chisels and are used to cut off chunky or stalky food. They constantly keep growing and have to be permanently worn. Ideally, this is done when the teeth rub against and on each other when the animals bite off and chop up good hay and hard, intrinsically structured compound feeds. The incisors are located in the front of the mouth, two each in the centre of the upper and lower jaw. It is very important to maintain their health by correct feeding. Also when selecting animals for breeding, strict attention should be paid to dental health so that defective positions are not handed down to the next generation.

Further to the rear of the mouth cavity you will find the molars. They too keep constantly growing. They crush and grind up the food morsels. Between the molars, the food is also well salivated so that it slides down easily. The fluid for that is emanated by the salivary glands. First enzymes contained in the saliva, which are also called ferments and are genuine biocatalysts, start with predigestion.

The oesophagus is a pure transport organ. From the mouth, the well-chewed food reaches the further digestive tract. Well-chewed food pulp is called chymus and is now admitted to the actual food utilisation process. Pharynx and oesophagus of course also convey the drinking water.

Preparation of digestion starts in the stomach, and first molecules of the food's ingredients are broken down. Special cells vigorously acidify the food with hydrochloric acid. In this acidic medium, enzymes that decompose proteins start with protein utilisation and stomach hormones are poured out as signal. All hormones act as internal neurotransmitters of the body inside and are "sent out" via the bloodstream. The stomach musculature around the stomach ensures both that the stomach content is well mixed and that the stomach is emptied. This refers to the transfer of food pulp by the sphincter (also called pylorus) that closes off the stomach into the further alimentary tract.

In the front part of the small intestine, a copious amount of lymph and enzymes is added to the food pulp to let the further utilisation steps take place in a thin fluid stage.

After a few centimetres, the outlets of pancreas and liver empty into the small intestine. The liver is able to store an excess of blood sugar for a short time in the form of glycogen, but apart from that, it is mainly responsible for central "detoxication". In addition, it is the origin of bile, which "buffers" the gastric juices and transforms them from an acidic to an alkaline medium. The pancreas regulates the blood sugar level and contributes ferments breaking down both fat and carbohydrates.

This section is followed by the rear part of the small intestine, where the main digestive process is taking place. The extremely active intestinal villus tissue transfers the decomposed products from the food to the bloodstream. Only components of food ingredients that have been split up to the greatest possible extent are able to pass the intestinal wall and are thus available for utilisation by other organs in the chinchilla's body. The rear part of the small intestine is the region where all nutrients and active substances that have been digested up to then are transferred to the organism.

A wrong diet with unsuitable food that is not really poor in nutrients and rich in roughage in the first instance causes most of the problems in the small intestine. It is predominantly at this point where preventive health care, i.e. ensuring an optimum provision with ideal modern animal nutrition products, takes effect. The correct choice of food is vitally important for these animals! From this point onwards, the food pulp almost only contains so-called crude fibre, i.e. components of vegetable cell membranes from the food. However, for chinchillas these components are of particular importance.

Where the small intestine empties into the colon area of the digestive tract, the blind gut branches off. It carries this name because it ends "blind", like a dead-end street. It is actually a huge fermenting chamber that is populated by a plethora of specialised bacteria. Here, the residual energy must be extracted from plant parts that are rich in crude fibre and roughage and building blocks contained in the membranes of plant cells (in particular dextrose from cellulose) are extracted. Chinchillas have an even larger appendix than rabbits or guinea pigs, because in their original home they can only find and utilise plants that are low in nutrients. Any change in the composition of the substrate in the appendix causes severe problems and quick changes in food do not agree at all with the fermenting chamber's flora. It is mainly for this reason, but also because of small intestine troubles, that any changeover to a different feed should be carried out very slowly and gradually. Only then will the fermentation process in the appendix take place in a reliable manner and without severe aerosis.

The formation of appendix droppings, and in the adjacent large intestine the occasional formation of soft intestinal droppings, stand at the end of this process. Both together result in a peculiar, soft type of faeces that clearly differs from the dry faecal droppings of the rectum. A protective mucous wrapping ensures that this special material is quickly and directly routed to the anus. From there, the rodents mostly ingest at least a portion of these pellets directly so that they once more have to pass through the entire gastrointestinal tract. Thereby, vitamins predominantly those of the B-complex are extracted, but also valuable bacteria protein and many active substances.

The main task of the remaining large intestine behind the transitional area small intestine/appendix is to recover water from the now already largely digested, but still quite thin food pulp. But further bacteria are living everywhere in the large intestine. Like their fellows or relatives in the appendix, they are capable of special fermentation and similar metabolic processes. They provide the cells in the intestinal wall with short-chain fatty acids from the food remnants, which however, are no longer able to reach the blood stream from here. In the rear section of the large intestine, the droppings are preshaped.

The rectum at last gives the dry faeces pellets their final shape and in the process withdraws as much residual moisture from them as possible. Sometimes, chinchillas also eat of these faeces pellets, but that is quite normal. Diarrhoea or constipation are signs that the water regulation is disturbed because of problems in the preceding sections.

The anus is the discharge orifice for the faeces. These solid excrements contain waste products that cannot be excreted in liquid form via the kidneys as urine, as well as undigested food remnants or possibly individual or temporary nutriment excesses. The anal sphincter is situated at the end of the digestive tract.