Oxbow rabbit pellets suitable for piggies?

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KingBoris&HisFollowers

KingBoris&HisFollowers

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Ok yes i know i am one of the biggest believers in correct food for guineas but here is my problem.
I went to the vet today like i always do to get the oxbow cavy cuisine pellets,they told me they had run out and didnt even have the performance in stock which is the next best thing,
They only had the rabbit food,i was very uneasy about this so they went and got my vet who is quite good with small animals particuarly guineas and she said because of the amount of veg i feed my pigs that it would be fine as the only thing the bun food lacks is the added vit c.
They are set to get a shipment of cavy cuisine next week,every other place that stocks it is at least 4-5 hours away my only other options are

Feeding them a cheap high calcium GP food from the petshop
or getting those bad seed mixed ones which the boys hate
Our oz rescues make a chaff mix here but because of the distance(4-5 hours) i cant even get that,our local produce place makes a similar mix which is actually for horses but its high molasses(sp?) content so its unsafe for pigs.
I really have no options can anyone tell me if this is ok or if it will hurt them at all because they are all so healthy i wouldnt want to ruin that.
Also is the fat content higher in the Oxbow bun food compared to Oxbow GP? as i have two boys who have weight issues. xx
 
not to suremallethead but i think rabbit food has a type of antibiotic added to it so it wouldnt be good for the guineas i would just use the petshop guinea food to be on the safe..
 
clairelove said:
not to suremallethead but i think rabbit food has a type of antibiotic added to it so it wouldnt be good for the guineas i would just use the petshop guinea food to be on the safe..
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the problem is the our petshop gp food here is actually much below standards ok UK it looks like it has been swept up off the floor with dust in it :{,the last petshop rat food i got smelt and looked like coloured popcorn and was full of sugar:)>>>.
Its also 11.30pm here so no petshops are open and there bowls have just become empty of piggy food,i could give them rolled oats because i know its safe but i only usually give it to sick piggies to gain weight because it packs weight on super quickly thats why i have been reluctant to use it xx
 
not sure if it helps but i know oxbow do 2 types of rabbit pellets, one is timothy hay based the other is alfalfa based, the timothy hay based one is very low in calories :)
 
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Spishkey said:
not sure if it helps but i know oxbow do 2 types of pellets, one is timothy hay based the other is alfalfa based, the timothy hay based one is very low in calories :)
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thanks ill check the bag now xx

Edit-it sys "alfalfa pellets for young or active rabbits"= not good,so not only is it bun food but its the performance bun food so its fattening too what should i do
 
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I agree that if the vet said that if it was alright then it would be alright. I would always follow the vets. Personaly I would use the rabbit pellets over the other options but when the guinea pig pellets come back in stock go straight back to those. Also only give them small servings of them so they do not get used to them over the guinea pig ones.

Hope that helps.
 
*SRH* said:
I agree that if the vet said that if it was alright then it would be alright. I would always follow the vets. Personaly I would use the rabbit pellets over the other options but when the guinea pig pellets come back in stock go straight back to those. Also only give them small servings of them so they do not get used to them over the guinea pig ones.

Hope that helps.
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thankyou,it does help,well there is a chance the pellets might come back in earlier and they are ringing me as soon as they do,i might just do as you say and give small amounts because they are whining at me and hay and veg arent enough aparentlyrolleyes
 
If the vet said it would be ok then follow the vets advice. Although would try and serve only small portions, so that they do not get used to the rabbit food instead of guinea pig food and if it is fattening then they will not need much at all. Also it may be a good idea to try to serve them extra vitamin C so they can still get a good portion of it.
Hope that helps.
 
I'm going to be controversial and say I wouldn't risk feeding my pigs rabbit food. My exotic vet (guinea pig specialist) argues that pigs don't need pellets if they have constant hay, water and very well managed vegetables daily.
Hope I don't get shouted at for saying that! :)
I personally feed mine a handful of Oxbow a day just to be sure they are getting all the vitamins.
 
thanks,
I do agree that they could survive without it but at least 8 of my pigs get very upset if they dont get there certain amount of pellets daily,my chubby boys in particular appreciate them so much lol, the vet did say the food was the same it just didnt have vit C so it might be ok,i am confused now any more opinions before i feed them?
 
could you grab a bag of the other gp food and perhaps mix it with the rabbit pellets so they arent getting the full fattyness of the rabbit food, but neither are they eating crappy gp food?
 
Spishkey said:
could you grab a bag of the other gp food and perhaps mix it with the rabbit pellets so they arent getting the full fattyness of the rabbit food, but neither are they eating crappy gp food?
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i could but no doubt they will selective feed anyway:p,they love oxbow so i think they will probably ignore the other foods, i think i may just bite the bullet and give it to them its 1.40am now and they desperately want there night time pellets;)
I know when people house buns and pigs together both of them eat the same food which cant be good but i figure this is a high quality food and its only for a week at most so it should be ok.fingers crossed:...
 
Have you still got the old bag of Oxbow Cavy Cuisine - you could read the list of ingredients and see what the differences are - I can't imagine that it'll be much (they look the same).

The alfalfa based ones will be fine for just a week; yes they're higher in calcium, but I'm sure it won't harm them for such a short time, just give them slightly fewer pellets. TBH the Oxbow rabbit pellets are far better than any of the other rubbish you'll get from the pet shop.

I feed both my rabbits and guinea-pigs Oxbow (Bunny Basics T and Cavy Cuisine), and I'd feel much happier about feeding the rabbit ones to the guinea-pigs than the other way round, simply because I wouldn't want the rabbits to OD on Vitamin C, but for a week, I don't think it'd make much difference.
 
If it was any other brand I would be wary. Given that it's Oxbow, after browsing the ingredients lists, personally I would consider feeding it short term.

Here's the lowdown on the Oxbow site:

Bunny Basics 15/23
http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1543

Cavy Cuisine
http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1622

In terms of ingredients, they're balanced differently but the majority of ingredients are identical, the main difference is just the alfalfa and timothy. I've not compared every ingredient but a scan of each list isn't throwing up anything else particular. There is more Vit C in the Cavy Cuisine than in the Bunny Basics but there is still Vit C in the rabbit food.
 
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