Do oats need to be limited?

Eddie & Elvis

Eddie & Elvis

Adult Guinea Pig
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I've put a small pile of oats in the cage for the past few days to help get Eddie's weight back up again and I've been topping it up every evening as it's almost all gone by then. I've read that oats contain oxalates (I think) so should be limited. I only put in a handful but I'm wondering if having a pretty much constant supply is too much?
 
Oats are a good weight gain food for piggies recovering from illness related weight loss and if it is only a short term thing for a couple of weeks I wouldnt worry. You could add some high calorie veg too as well/instead of oats- carrot, apple, sweet potato- again in the case of illness related weight loss and appetite loss these can be helpful short term. Just make sure he is still eating plenty hay and not filling up too much on junk food! Readigrass is quite a rich high calorie hay based treat you might add too to vary where he gets his extra calories from.
 
That's great, I'll keep topping up then. Thanks :)

I had to take them off veg because of soft poos from too much grass so I'm re introducing at the moment but I'll give them some of those high calorie veg soon.

I've bought some different types of hay to encourage Eddie to eat more too (they now have meadow, Timothy and oat hay, spoilt boys :)) ). Oat hay looks much greener so I assume richer- I don't need to limit that do I?
 
Oat hay is much richer so dont over feed, it is more of a... luxury dessert hay? So a small handful as a supplementary treat alongside the other hay is fine! Lucky boys getting so many nice hays and oats besides :)
 
Luckily I only put a few handfuls out as it's being scoffed down 😂 Does a small handful a day from now on sound good?

Yes they're really loving the exciting variety :)
 
Eddie & Elvis said:
Luckily I only put a few handfuls out as it's being scoffed down 😂 Does a small handful a day from now on sound good?

Yes they're really loving the exciting variety :)
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I read somewhere on the forum that oats can make piggies a bit gassy; I think this was the case with my Jasmine earlier this week, so perhaps don't give them every day, to be careful. :)
 
Ah ok that's something to he careful of. How do I know if he's gassy?
 
Eddie & Elvis said:
Ah ok that's something to he careful of. How do I know if he's gassy?
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Jasmine's poops started to become misshapen like this:

20210524_185224.jpg

There also weren't many of them, and she seemed quieter than usual every now and then in the morning like she was in a bit of pain.

I don't know whether it was definitely the oats or something else, but FYI in case it was and helps you!
 
HeatherW said:
Jasmine's poops started to become misshapen like this:

View attachment 176809

There also weren't many of them, and she seemed quieter than usual every now and then in the morning like she was in a bit of pain.

I don't know whether it was definitely the oats or something else, but FYI in case it was and helps you!
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Thank you! It's good to be aware of these things :) I'll keep an eye out
 
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