Burgess Excel Food Warning!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Bitzy&Patches

Bitzy&Patches

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Oct 10, 2015
Messages
92
Reaction score
50
Points
220
Location
Orkney islands
Hello!
I have just found this out that burgess piggie nuggets can be dangerous towards older pigs health. The dangerous ingredient is the third one on the list, it's Lucerne. Lucerne is another word for alfalfa! I just thought I'd warn people about this!
 
Thank You for the warning. There are soem other brands that contain Lucerne to - so it's always worth looking at the ingredients when choosing a brand


@helen105281 is our expert on pellets.

I have tried to follow Helen's advice BUT my Guinea Pigs won't eat the "better" pellets !

Mine won't touch Science Selective either .

The only pellets they will eat are Burgess - but they don't have large quantities.
 
PiggyOwner said:
Thank You for the warning. There are soem other brands that contain Lucerne to - so it's always worth looking at the ingredients when choosing a brand


@helen105281 is our expert on pellets.

I have tried to follow Helen's advice BUT my Guinea Pigs won't eat the "better" pellets !

Mine won't touch Science Selective either .

The only pellets they will eat are Burgess - but they don't have large quantities.
Click to expand...
Haha naughty piggies! Obviously don't have expensive taste unlike mine:D
 
One pellet I have found that doesn't contain lucerne is the pets at home nuggets and I switched my pigs off burgess nuggets and they seem to love the pets at home ones :)
 
squeakypigs01 said:
How old do pigs need to be for alfalfa to be bad for them?
Click to expand...
The recommended age to stop feeding pigs alfalfa products is about 6 months, any older then you will need to start feeding Timothy based products preferably. But obviously they can have the occasional handful of alfalfa to keep their diet interesting!:) Hope this helped:)
 
orangeinepig said:
One pellet I have found that doesn't contain lucerne is the pets at home nuggets and I switched my pigs off burgess nuggets and they seem to love the pets at home ones :)
Click to expand...
I might try the pets at home one:) Does it have any flavour like the burgess for example where they have blackcurrent and oregano (my piggies love that flavour, they'll probably be gutted when they find out I'm switching them off it:D) But thank you!
 
This is really concerning, I have been using burgess pellets for many years, I currently have 2 older pigs, Tyler is about to turn 5 and Wilbur is 6 this year (my other 2 are under 3), should I stop feeding this? How detrimental is this to my pigs?
 
gogoguineas said:
This is really concerning, I have been using burgess pellets for many years, I currently have 2 older pigs, Tyler is about to turn 5 and Wilbur is 6 this year (my other 2 are under 3), should I stop feeding this? How detrimental is this to my pigs?
Click to expand...
Hello!
Well I'm obviously not a vet but alfalfa has been known to cause bladder stones (mainly in older pigs) but this is only if you're feeding masses amounts of alfalfa to your pigs, like your feeding them alfalfa hay, alfalfa hay cubes and alfalfa based pellets. They cause bladder stones because of the high calcium in it.It's also quite fattening towards older piggies. My piggies are a year old and I have noticed calcium deposits in their fleece and I also feed them burgess, so I am tempted to put them onto something different. If you're piggies seem to be fine and aren't depositing calcium any where then I wouldn't be too tempted to switch around their feed, mainly because they've been fed on it for long it might upset their digestive system. But if you're worried about their health in the future then I probably would, introducing their new food slowly and gradually will help keep their digestive system at bay. I would recommend (if you are thinking of switching feeds) oxbow pellets, these are quite expensive but well worth the money and also the pets at home pellets (which I'm going to start feeding my piggies) because I've heard great reviews about them:) So I hope my essay helped!:D But it's only a small amount they are consuming but for their health in the long run I would be tempted and also considering the age of your piggies:) Hope this helped in some way or another:)
 
Harringtons
Optimum Guinea pig food doesn't list that the Lucerne in their ingredients. Mine have these but not many now they are nearly one..
 
I was feeding my girls Burgess then decided to mix in science selective for a bit of variety.

After reading this post I checked the bag and the main ingredient in the science selective one I have is alfalfa!

My girls are only just coming up to 4 months now. I think once they've finished this feed I'll be buying pets at home!

Shame as my girls love the science selective one! They pick those ones out straight away when I top the bowl up.
 
I'm in the exact same boat! I mix the two brands up too as I thought they were the best two brands to have!

I thought the Pets at Home one would be rubbish cos it's not branded etc. I may switch to using that too, especially since Kiwi has developed a bladder infection... I'm concerned now. Kiwi is 3 and Peri is only 6 months old
 
:D I've heard a lot about the Pets@ Home nuggets on here. Like Katie1988, I didn't think that they would be much good as they were not branded. I think I shall have to give them a try. :tu: My girls are having Harrington's and Bunny Basic pellets at present.
 
7squeakers. said:
:D I've heard a lot about the Pets@ Home nuggets on here. Like Katie1988, I didn't think that they would be much good as they were not branded. I think I shall have to give them a try. :tu: My girls are having Harrington's and Bunny Basic pellets at present.
Click to expand...
I'm looking around for different pellets, do you recommend harringtons? I've never heard of bunny basic before, I might need to give them a try!
 
ive just ordered basic bunny from zooplus....will see how they like them.ive used pets at home and harringtons ,the pellets are smaller some piggies prefere this.i mix and change mine so do not get addicted to one sort of pellet.
 
eileen said:
ive just ordered basic bunny from zooplus....will see how they like them.ive used pets at home and harringtons ,the pellets are smaller some piggies prefere this.i mix and change mine so do not get addicted to one sort of pellet.
Click to expand...
Ok thank you, let know what they're like!:)
 
Bitzy&Patches said:
I'm looking around for different pellets, do you recommend harringtons? I've never heard of bunny basic before, I might need to give them a try!
Click to expand...

:D I would recommend Harrington's, especially since they made their pellets a bit bigger. People were reporting of piggies choking on the smaller sized ones. My girls always empty their bowls. I buy my Harrington's from "Fetch". As Eileen said, you can buy Bunny Basic from Zooplus. It is in fact the ONLY place that you can buy them! I know, I've looked!
 
Last edited:
7squeakers. said:
:D I would recommend Harrington's, especially since they made their pellets a bit bigger. People were reporting of piggies choking on the smaller sized ones. My girls always empty their bowls. I buy my Harrington's from "Fetch". As Eileen said, you can buy Bunny Basic from Zooplus. It is in fact the ONLY place that you can buy them! I know, I've looked!
Click to expand...
Thank you I might try them on them! The only thing is is that my piggies aren't to keen on fruit flavoured things. Well they eat the blackcurrent and oregano flavoured burgess nuggets, but I'll just give them a try and see what they think!:) Thank you!
 
@eileen I give one of my guinea pigs Bunny. He loves it. But don't make same mistake I made by filling his dish up as if they were Burgess pellets. A guinea pig only requires 5 of the Bunny pellets. So depending on how many guinea pigs you have the bag (which is quite expensive) lasts for ages.
 
It's definitely a foreign product.
Ingredients are: iron, iodine, zinc, selenium, manganese, cobalt basic carbonate?
 
It's Spanish, I got it in just for pets, the boys quite like it but think I still need a pellet feed? I'm so glad of this thread cos urine infections are starting to be come regular in this house and aside from filtering my water I was at a loss because I've already changed their diet! I never thought of pellets being an issue. Are we thinking the pets at home ones are some of the better ones?
 
Bitzy&Patches said:
I might try the pets at home one:) Does it have any flavour like the burgess for example where they have blackcurrent and oregano (my piggies love that flavour, they'll probably be gutted when they find out I'm switching them off it:D) But thank you!
Click to expand...
Sorry didn't reply I didn't get a notification but no the pellets don't have a flavour but my guinea pigs used to love the blackcurrent and oregano flavour as well
 
gogoguineas said:
It's Spanish, I got it in just for pets, the boys quite like it but think I still need a pellet feed? I'm so glad of this thread cos urine infections are starting to be come regular in this house and aside from filtering my water I was at a loss because I've already changed their diet! I never thought of pellets being an issue. Are we thinking the pets at home ones are some of the better ones?
Click to expand...
Spanish? Didn't expect that:D yeah the pets at home ones seem to be going up top right now, but I'm not sure what ingredients are because I don't have a pets at home here. But I suppose if you live near one you could have a look. Or you could try the harringtons pellets they've got quite good reviews and peoples piggies like them:)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top