Chinchillas and other Pets

Chinchillas can cohabitate with other pets but just like with children it all depends on the pet and you. Dogs and cats are pretty popular in most households but since they are carnivorous animals whose nature is to hunt small animals much care and supervision is needed when adding a chinchilla in to the mix. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT LET YOUR CHIN ON A FREE RUN IN THE SAME ROOM WITH YOUR DOG OR CAT. Some dogs and cats can be trusted because they have an easy going nature or have been taught to ignore little animals. However, in regular situations this just spells disaster. Chinchillas move quickly across open spaces and it is this movement that triggers the hunt instinct in both cats and dogs. To be safe keep your chinchilla in a room with a door and keep your dogs and cats out of that room when you aren't around to supervise. You can definitely teach a cat or dog to ignore a caged animal but always keep your eye on the dog or cat when he's around the chinchilla's cage.

You may think that putting a chin in the same cage with a rabbit or a guinea pig is ok but it's not. Rabbits can very territorial and aggressive with their own kind so putting them with something different is a definite no-no. They also carry certain bacterias in their feces that can make a chinchilla very, very sick. They are also not classified as rodents and have very different environmental and dietary needs than chinchillas. Guinea pigs and chinchillas may be related but they are not the same by any means. Guinea pigs live in a different region of South America than chinchillas do. Chinchillas are timid animals but guinea pigs are even more timid and the two species will feel threatened by one another. Plus guinea pigs have very different dietary needs than both rabbits and chinchillas. They require foods with vitamin C which means fruits and veg something chinchillas should not be eating. The best type of cage buddy for chinchillas are other chinchillas and this has to be handled with care because like rabbits despite their social nature they can be aggressive and territorial towards one another.

Pets that are absolutely rotten to keep with chinchillas would be ferrets, large parrots, and reptiles. I am not saying it's impossible but rather in a sense not the best. Ferrets like dogs and cats are hunters they like to go after rabbits in their natural wild habitat and are extremely cunning creatures that can open cages if desperate enough to do so. No a chinchilla isn't a rabbit, but it moves like a rabbit and sort of behaves like one to the ferret so therefore it's something to hunt. Do NOT misinterpret your ferret as a cuddly playful pet that wouldn't harm anything. Its playful nature is what makes it a good hunter and those instincts in a ferret can not be controlled or conditioned like with dogs. Tropical birds do not place well with chinchillas because they are scary and noisy to the chinchilla plus like chinchillas birds scatter the contents of their cage on the floor. A chinchilla on a free run would definitely find the foods your bird spills out of his cage tasty but those seeds and fruits are full of sugars and fats your chinchilla could be better off not eating. Tropical birds need warmth and humidity to thrive while chinchillas are part of the alpine biome in the wild which is dry and cool. Both animals have tiny delicate lungs which can be irritated easily by inhaling irritants such as bird dander in the chinchilla's case and the bathing dust in the bird's case. It's easier for your sake to just to keep one or the other but it's definitely not impossible if you have the means to upkeep their temperature needs then go for it. The same thing goes for reptiles most need heat to do well and chinchillas can't handle heat and not to mention the bacteria both birds and reptiles have in their urine and feces can make a chinchilla very, very sick.

So the point here is yes you can have other pets along with a chinchilla but the best kind of friends for chinchillas are humans and other chinchillas.