We won’t skin you alive! We are always happy to have a conversation.
Advice has come on a lot probably since your mum had piggies. It was the norm that dry food was the mainstay. It doesn’t mean it was actually healthy for them then or now, it’s just that we didn’t know any different.
We do know now and all we can do as owners is keep up with current research and advice. If you know the current advice provided by reputable sources and still choose to do something else then that is your decision to make. Our role is to provide the up to date information.
There are many reasons why pellets should be kept limited.
Pellets are (obviously) not the thing a piggy is designed to eat given they are human invention.
Pellets were created as a cheap way to feed up animals quickly to make them ready for the meat market.
Things may have changed in their formulation to provide a balance of nutrients but the fact remains they are not the thing they need to be in their diet in any quantity.
Their main diet needs to be hay and grass as they need long fibre for gut and dental health.
A low pellet diet (or no pellets at all) means they fill up on plenty of hay, grass, wild foraged plants (veg taking the role of wild forage for most owners) and is the healthiest way their body is designed to function.
Having access to too many pellets can cause them to not eat enough hay. Even if they are still eating some, it doesn’t mean it is enough.
Lack of hay and grass can lead to dental problems. It’s hay and grass which contain the silica which is needed to keep teeth grinding and wearing properly and evenly. Pellets go mushy in the mouth so don’t provide any way of maintaining dental health.
Lack of fibre can lead to bloat. Their gut needs to be digesting long hay fibre constantly.
They can lead to unhealthy weight gain and obesity.
You may say well my piggies are maintaining their weight. Piggies will maintain/put on weight with pellets but it’s the equivalent of you maintaining/putting on weight by eating primarily chocolate bars - it’s the wrong kind of weight.
Pellets do not meet all their fibre needs and the ingredients are often not all appropriate. You may feed a food quality pellet but it doesn’t mean everybody is. There are many brands of pellet on the market which contain a lot of fillers, cereals and other ingredients which piggies don’t need/should not have. Somebody else might think what’s the harm but actually their piggy then ends up with problems due to filing up on something which their body isn’t designed to handle in large quantities.
All pellets contain a lot of calcium. Keeping a good balance and not allowing too much calcium and oxalates in their diet will help reduce the risk of bladder problems and stone formation. There is a local element to it, as calcium also comes into the diet via drinking water and the US doesn’t have the issues with hard water like we have in the UK, but it is still a wise move to look at the balance and ensure you are feeding your piggies the right amount of calcium for their needs and not seeing lots of powdery white deposits in their urine.
It’s odd that you say they eat 5-10 cups of hay together in a day. It should not really be possible to know that.
I don’t know how many piggies you have but if it’s two and you are saying you get through 10 cups of hay a day so 5 cups each, then it doesn’t sound like very much.
Out of curiosity, I’ve actually just been out with my cup measure and, while it is not easy/possible to measure hay in cups, I have done my best. 5 cups of hay amounted to roughly the quantity one of my piggies would eat in just a few hours which is considerably less than the amount they normally get through in a day. Even if I gave one piggy 10 cups of hay, it still doesnt look like it would be enough for 24 hours.
You say they leave pellets alone and then go back to it later - that is the issue. If hungry they should go to hay and not have the ability to just fill up on pellets. The equivalent is asking a child if they want fruit or a bag of sweets for their snack - they’re going to choose the sweets!
I feel that feeding a diet as close to natural as possible is never a bad thing. My piggies and rabbits are fed lots of hay, grass (they can be on the lawn 12-14 hours a day and I pick grass for them also), wild foraged foods and are given veg. They get dried forage most days instead of pellets.
With pellets, the piggies get less than one tablespoon of pellets each and they only get them just three times a week. I feed 100% grass pellets. They are considered a treat rather than food here.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
