Grazing on grass

[Mrklinkerpants]

Recently got a couple of guinea pigs for my kids and they are presently settling in. Once they have been wormed, we would like to let them graze on our back lawn in a run. My question is, is it safe to let them graze on grass that has had liquid lawn feed applied to it? I feed the lawn once a month, not with 'weed and feed' but with normal lawn food. Am I right in thinking that it would be safe for them after a couple of days once the feed had dried out and begun to be absorbed by the grass/soil?

Would be grateful for any advice.

 

[janew]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

We use the granule type lawn feed and the instructions say to keep animals clear until it has absorbed into the ground, which I find takes about a week. There should be some guidance either on the pack or their website, or maybe they've got a customer services phone number.

You could leave an untreated patch for them just to be sure.

Hope you find an answer - it would be a shame if they didn't get their grass time. If they're anything like my boys they will love the all-you-can-eat grass buffet!

 

[piggyfan]

Wormed? Guinea pigs are not meant to be wormed. Did a vet tell you they should?

 

[Poppy'sMum]

Wormed? Guinea pigs are not meant to be wormed. Did a vet tell you they should?

They can be wormed, mine get wormed regularly at the CCT. However there is no need to worm them before they go on grass, they are more likely to pick up parasites internally from the grass itself rather than the other way around.

http://www.guinealynx.info/antiparasitics.html

With regards to feeding the lawn, I would not risk putting them on the grass afterwards as there has been so little .rain recently it is likely the feed will be close to the surface of the lawn & may poison your piggies.

 

[piggyfan]

Wow I never heard that before!

 

[Poppy'sMum]

Wow I never heard that before!

Some people like to worm them regularly, like all grazing animals eg horses, they have to be wormed regularly. However if piggies don't go out on grass then there probably is no real need to do so. Most vets recommend animal worming.

 

[piggyfan]

Oh I see. I have no garden so maybe that is why I did not hear about this. Thank you for telling me. How awful if I gave the person wrong advice.

 

[Poppy'sMum]

Oh I see. I have no garden so maybe that is why I did not hear about this. Thank you for telling me. How awful if I gave the person wrong advice.

Don't worry you didn't most people don't worm their piggies & never have any problems, it's a rare thing for them to pick up anything from grass but it can happen. I've always had mine wormed, 7 pigs over 11 years without any problems.

 

[piggyfan]

Thank you for not shouting at me for being so thick. I expected loads of people angry at me giving out wrong advice!

 

[hayls<3]

we learn from our mistakes, don't put yourself down! x

 

[Poppy'sMum]

Thank you for not shouting at me for being so thick. I expected loads of people angry at me giving out wrong advice!

Oh my goodness I hope people on here would be a bit kinder than that, we are all learning something new every day. I've learnt lots about piggies since joining this site that I didn't know before & I am not a complete piggy novice, having owned 7 over 11 years but knew nothing of fleece etc before joining here

 

[Mrklinkerpants]

Thanks for all the advice, last fed the grass about three weeks ago now and we put the pigs out on it last week without any ill effects. Will probably play it safe and not let them graze for a good few days after next applying feed to the lawn, longer if there has been no rain.
As for worming, we were told to err on the side of caution and have them done.