readigrass instead of normal hay?

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crazygal330

crazygal330

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About a week ago I bought a few treats for my friend's mini pigs, to help give them a bit of a boost. They have eaten all the timothy hay now(it was only a little bag) and the owners have run out of normal meadow hay at some point in the last few days.
So instead of buying more, they went to the pet shop and bought a load of toys, but not any more hay. They are just feeding the readigrass as normal hay. Is this likely to be an issue? It is the main source of hay for mum, sister and 3 baby pigs.
 
Oh dear, I'm not an expert but I know that readigrass is not a substitute for hay. Poor piggies, they really must have hay. I'm sure some of our experts will be along soon to advise more. :)
 
Hay makes up 80% of a piggies diet and should always be plentiful and fresh :...
Readigrass is dried grass, good for piggies that don't have access to outdoors etc. but not something I would give too often.
Hay can be bought cheaply so no excuses here - Wilkos do a decent 1.5kg Meadow Hay for under £2...
Can you give some basic advice to these owners for the piggies sake...:...
 
Readigrass is very rich and high incalcium so not a good everyday treat, especially not a subsitute for hay, big bales of meadow hay are available for like £3 from the Range or Jolleys, they need to get some of this and quick, without hay their teeth with overgrow and their digestive system will pack up, all very quickly.

Readigrass can be given 2 - 3 times a week as a treat.
 
Readigrass is a great source of nutrition but only in addition to hay. Hay should still make up 80% of their diet as posted above.

The main reason is that, while readigrass is quite nutritious, it is not as coarse as hay and so will not wear down their teeth. In addition, as it is harvested earlier than hay, it contains more sugar and other nutrients which piggies should not have too much of.

Also, your friends should be careful about the "treats" they buy from petshops. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff that's marked "suitable for guinea pigs" etc. really isn't. A lot of them contain too much sugar, fat, protein, calcium or vitamin A. It's not your friend's fault because a lot of petshops don't give great advice but, on the whole, the "treats" from petshops should be avoided - they're like junk food.

I would recommend "Alfalfa King" or "Oxbow" timothy hay (not alfalfa hay - the name is misleading, sorry). It's good quality, tasty and nutiritous.
 
Sorry, I should add that timothy hay is a little more expensive than meadow hay. They are both good as long as you get good quality hay. There is little to no difference in terms of nutrition but timothy hay smells/tastes better.

You can get Alfalfa King timothy hay for £7.99 for 1.8kg. I think Oxbow is a similar price.

Meadow hay tends to be quite a bit cheaper but we've spoiled ours and they won't touch it now (silly owners that we are) :)
 
thanks guys. I was fairly sure it was a bad idea but just wanted to be sure. These people are idiots. Honestly, I have tried talking to them a multitude of times and none of it sinks in. They aren't totally bad owners, they took them to the vets when needed etc. They are just idiots. I also bought them some excell guinea pig pellets when I bought them the different treat hays. But he has been feeding it to the chinchilllas, and the guinea pigs are still fed rabbit museli. ****** mallethead
 
have you got a wilkinsons near you as they have a good range of well priced products for guinea pigs, meadow and timothy hay - its where I get my timothy hay which I give as a twice weekly treat, they are on meadow hay every day.

As others said, redigrass is not a subsitute for hay, hay must be provided 24/7 no excuses, if they feed redigrass daily then they run the risk of creating UTI's or stones which will not help matters at all. Even an emergency bag of cheap hay from the supermarkets is better than no hay, we recommend good quality hay as we always want the best for our piggies but for their educational purposes, any hay is better than none
 
crazygal330 said:
thanks guys. I was fairly sure it was a bad idea but just wanted to be sure. These people are idiots. Honestly, I have tried talking to them a multitude of times and none of it sinks in. They aren't totally bad owners, they took them to the vets when needed etc. They are just idiots. I also bought them some excell guinea pig pellets when I bought them the different treat hays. But he has been feeding it to the chinchilllas, and the guinea pigs are still fed rabbit museli. ****** mallethead
Click to expand...

Oh no, not rabbit museli as the only diet as well as the other issues.
That's what my poor little girlies were fed on prior to being rescued and coming to me. They were 'ok' but what a difference proper guinea pig food and lots of fresh veggies made to them!
Sounds like these people need a thorough education in guinea pig husbandry.
 
crazygal330 said:
thanks guys. I was fairly sure it was a bad idea but just wanted to be sure. These people are idiots. Honestly, I have tried talking to them a multitude of times and none of it sinks in. They aren't totally bad owners, they took them to the vets when needed etc. They are just idiots. I also bought them some excell guinea pig pellets when I bought them the different treat hays. But he has been feeding it to the chinchilllas, and the guinea pigs are still fed rabbit museli. ****** mallethead
Click to expand...

I have been in that same situation. Giving piggies water drops and cedar shavings. When I tell him it isn't good for them, he says I don't know anything about guinea pigs which is odd because he did no research on guinea pigs unlike me. Just because I am 11 doesn't mean I am stupid.mallethead
 
I really feel for you; this can't be an easy situation to be in.

It seems to me that you've tried the softly softly approach, and it's sadly failed. Could you try shock tactics? Find some really graphic photos of dental pigs, get some info about worst case scenario in terms of vit C deficiency etc.? Some RSPCA info with their logo across the top may also help; they have a lot of info regarding nutrition and such.

Poor mini pigs :(
 
oh they won't have any vitamin C deficiency. they put vitamin C additives in the water. mallethead. They have gone away on holiday while the pigs are 10 days old. That in itself is fairly self explanatory of their stupidity. They hadn't cleaned out the pigs before they left. There is NO veg left in the fridge. Well there was a mouldy pepper. :... I have given them some of my bits, and I gave them some of my hay. But I am not going to leave a bag for them. I have tried and tried, this is the second time I have bought the correct food for their animals and they just don't care. Last time they went on holiday (before they had the pigs) I left them a load of RSPCA and RWAF leaflets about rabbit nutrition. It all got ignored.
 
they are still with mum, they asked me the day before they left to look after them. I just feel if I was in that situation I would not be able to go away, I can pop over briefly twice a day but, they are still very young and vunerable.
 
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