Fed Up Of Mouldy Meadow Hay, Is A Timothy Only Diet Acceptable?

[CraigGlasgow]

So due to various reasons I've just moved my remaining pig Weasley's cage in to my bedroom yesterday evening. Gave it a thorough clean, disinfected, all new hay, toys, the works. The pigs have always slept in my room wheb we visit relatives back hime so I didn't forsee any issues with this. Went to bed feeling fine and woke up about 4am feeling like I couldn't properly catch a full breath. Went to check on him and he also seemed to be breathing quite heavily. Instinctively gave the new bag of bedding hay that I opened yeterday morning a sniff and found it smelling slightly sour, so dove in and about half way down found a huge, dusty, foul smelling clump of dirty hay, no physical mould but clearly on the turn. I've returned 4 bags to pets at home in the last 2 months for similar reasons, usually towards the mid/bottom of the bag.

Have now emptied the cage and swept it all out, then replaced all the usual hay spots with just his excel timothy hay from a freshly opened bag. Finding it a bit easier to breathe and Weasley seems much comfier. He already has a vet check up for his other issues tomorrow evening so will get them to check his respiratory whilst I'm there to make sure no damage has been done.

As this is happening repeatedly I have ordered some oxbow orchard hay from amazon to test him with as he can be quite picky and hopefully use this to replace the pets at home stuff he normally gets. I've always been told to try and give at least 2 types of hay but he seems pretty happy with just the excel stuff. If the orchard stuff proves a dud, is it okay to just use the excel timothy or would I definitely need another type? Thanks.

 

[DM030819]

Yeah, that's fine as long as it works for you and Weasley.

I currently have 3 types of hay I use:
1) Generic meadow hay from a local pet shop. This is quite soft and doesn't have big strands so I use it in their hay area as bedding. It's also the cheapest
2) Alfalfa King Timothy hay. This is what I give them to eat so they get a handful each morning and night
3) Another generic meadow hay from a local pet shop. This one has much longer pieces so it usually stays more in a ball, so they get a small heap of this to burrow in.

They eat all three but I like to give them a good Timothy hay when I can eat it.

The Oxbow hays tend to be a bit of my price bracket for daily use so they get a bag as a treat. They love the Orchard one.

 

[Kylie80]

Oxbow orchard grass is a winner here with the piggies and it's soft and sweet smelling. Fingers crossed your piggie will like it.

 

[artcasper]

i use the B&M dandelion hay and sometimes the timothy hay from pets at home.... i once found a dead mouse in my hay.... overall though, the hay is nice quality... must be annoying when you get a bad bag,,,,

 

[CraigGlasgow]

Thanks all

Jaycey I usually use the pets at home stuff as bedding but will try and see if the local pet shop has anything similar then, theyre pretty small and didn't have much small animal stuff when last I was in so I assumed they wouldn't but you never know I suppose!

Glad to know it has piggie reccomendation, thanks Kylie, hopefully he will

It wouldn't bother me if it happened occasionally artcasper, obviously it's a natural resource and spoiling happens. But I had it maybe once or twice in 3 years at my old store, and that's 4 batches in the space of 2 months from the same store which seems a lot, especially at £4.00 a bag. It makes me think it must not be being stored properly but I've asked every time I've been in and they just say that bad batches happen sometime and offer a replacement.

 

[DM030819]

@CraigGlasgow The main Timothy Hay that I feed my boys you can get from Pets at Home if you wanted to try it. It's in a red bag, the Alfalfa King Timothy hay. It's way too expensive to use for bedding, and I personally feel it's a bit stalky and scratchy to lie on, but the boys love eating it.

 

[Gem789]

So due to various reasons I've just moved my remaining pig Weasley's cage in to my bedroom yesterday evening. Gave it a thorough clean, disinfected, all new hay, toys, the works. The pigs have always slept in my room wheb we visit relatives back hime so I didn't forsee any issues with this. Went to bed feeling fine and woke up about 4am feeling like I couldn't properly catch a full breath. Went to check on him and he also seemed to be breathing quite heavily. Instinctively gave the new bag of bedding hay that I opened yeterday morning a sniff and found it smelling slightly sour, so dove in and about half way down found a huge, dusty, foul smelling clump of dirty hay, no physical mould but clearly on the turn. I've returned 4 bags to pets at home in the last 2 months for similar reasons, usually towards the mid/bottom of the bag.

Have now emptied the cage and swept it all out, then replaced all the usual hay spots with just his excel timothy hay from a freshly opened bag. Finding it a bit easier to breathe and Weasley seems much comfier. He already has a vet check up for his other issues tomorrow evening so will get them to check his respiratory whilst I'm there to make sure no damage has been done.

As this is happening repeatedly I have ordered some oxbow orchard hay from amazon to test him with as he can be quite picky and hopefully use this to replace the pets at home stuff he normally gets. I've always been told to try and give at least 2 types of hay but he seems pretty happy with just the excel stuff. If the orchard stuff proves a dud, is it okay to just use the excel timothy or would I definitely need another type? Thanks.

I recently ordered a 10kg bag of Timothy hay from www.timothyhay.co.uk for £22 and it's lovely and green and will last ages.It works out so much cheaper to buy in bulk.The alfalfa king Timothy hay from pets at home is very good but at £9 for a 1.8kg bag it's not cheap.