To feed or not to feed: Watson & Williams Food Mix for Guinea Pig and Rabbit

Aubrey&Lup'sMum

Aubrey&Lup'sMum

New Born Pup
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We found ourselves out of our local refuge's specialty Pig 'n' Mix (pellet alternative) which our piggies *love*. Until we can get some more, we thought we'd pick up a bag of food mix from the pet shop. We looked very closely at all the ingredients and are super aware that most stuff at the pet shop (at least in Australia) is probably not actually very good for them. We settled on "Watson & Williams Delicious Food Mix for Guinea Pig and Rabbit". However, I can't find any reviews from independent parties online, so I'd love some feedback! I'm not going to give them any until I can confirm they're all good - no matter how much the girls wheek at the bag!

Below are the details from the back (breakdown and ingredients). FYI this is NOT the main staple of our girls' diet by any means. Btw, from the info I can find, it seems in the right range for protein but low on fibre - though they have hay for that. I can't find any ingredients on the list that are warned against, either. Thoughts/advice?

PS Our floofy girls are just under 3 months old, so the lucerne content should be fine.

"Typical analysis:
Protein min. 15.0%
ME-DMB 13.0MJ/KG
Fat min. 3.0%
Crude fibre max. 11.0%"

"Typical ingredients blend:
Lucerne chaff
Oats
Wheat
Barley
Peas
Maize
Sunflower
Oaten chaff
Lupins
Canola meal
Di-Calcium phosphate
Vitamins & mineral premix
Salt
Lucerne meal
Bentonite"
 

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While I cannot comment on that particular mix, I don’t know anything about it but also not knowing what is available in Australia, those kind of mixes are generally not a very good thing to feed to guinea pigs (or rabbits). They encourage selective feeding ie they pick out the bits that taste nice which is essentially the junk food, and leave the nutritious bits. Also, guinea pigs shouldn’t really eat the cereals listed in there - they aren’t designed to eat them. Ideally they would eat an all in one pellet which is Timothy hay based. Also, you would need to make sure that they get vitamin c in their veg because i would imagine there isn’t a lot of it in that mix given it is suitable for rabbits as well.​
 
doesn’t look the best but it won’t harm your piggies to be on it for a few days while you get the other food. you sound like a very responsible piggie slave! x
 
Personally I would say no straight away because guinea pigs and rabbits have different nutritional needs, and any feed that doesn't recognise that is the wrong one! They should be fine with hay and veg for a few days.
 
Thanks for your feedback everyone! We have decided to go with the overall consensus - and my gut feelings - and not feed them this stuff. :) Especially regarding the cereals that they shouldn't have. As someone with lots of GI issues myself, I would never want them to feel anything like the discomfort I do :(

Probably actually going to try them on Oxbow pellets - these seem to be most recommended, and made by people who know guinea pigs! I had noticed some selective eating with the refuge's Pig n Mix, so we'll try some uniform pellets for a change.

@Piggies&buns Yes, we make sure they get plenty of Vit C in their veggies and a good mix :)

@bonnieandpoppy Thank you! We try!

@Pigwhisperer Yeah, that occurred to me when we got home. There was only one bag purely for guinea pigs though, and I wasn't happy with the ingredients.

xo
 
Check out the nugget comparison chart on this forum, it tells you all the different types of pellets and there composition. You need to look for hay/grass based products and many can be ordered online :) personally I think burgess excell or Harrington’s are good and are enjoyed by many piggy’s.
 
Thanks! Velvet is one feisty lady. She is Boss Piggy and runs a tight ship and nopiggy dare step out of line.:yikes:
 
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