Versele Laga cavia complete or Selective naturals grain free pellets?

Shelley anne

Shelley anne

Junior Guinea Pig
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I thought I would get some pellets, just as treats. I cant give too many due to the sludge problems I have had (all in the past now, all under control, Yippee!)
I bought Selective naturals grain free but I see it has soy in it. I have seen some information here and there about soy not being all that good. Now I wish I hadn't bought it and had gotten Versele Laga cavia complete instead. I think that one looks better with no soy in it that I can see. After, all guinea pigs don't naturally eat soy aye? I am of the mind that we should feed as naturally as possible and then pet food manufacturers add this rubbish in it. What are peoples view on Soy?
 
Many of us feed the Selective grain free pellets, concerns about soy are not supported by any scientific evidence at all but of course soy and indeed pellets themselves are not part of the natural diet- however as pet guinea pigs cannot graze freely enough to decide their own diet, a few pellets can be an important source of vitamins and minerals.
I tried my piggies with the versele laga pellets and they all utterly hated the herby smell and not only wouldnt eat them, they wouldnt eat any veg or hay that had touched them, so it was a bit of a fail for us but other people say their piggies enjoy them!
 
Mine all eat the SS grain free but some wouldn’t eat the Versele Laga. I’ve never been worried about the soy in them.
 
:agr:
Unless and until there is compelling evidence that soy is incredibly bad for them, I don’t worry. I feed ss grain free. They get such a tiny amount of them anyway.
 
After hours of research I have made up my mind about what pellets I would like to feed my piggies.
Sometime back I tried to purchase Sherwood pellets as they are grain and Soy free. They look amazing! But they don't send to NZ because of import problems, sadly. So, Lucky me, I found another source of great pellets, also soy and grain free, and they are made in NZ! I think they are similar types of ingredients, not exactly but I think they look really healthy and made from a genuine care for guinea pigs, they are called Little Chintas. So I have ordered 2kg and they were cheaper than the Select I had just bought. Yay, I am quite excited about this.
 
Glad you found something that meets all your requirements, even better that it's made in NZ. Hope your piggies give it their vote of approval!
 
Me too, Bindy will I know, She eats anything and everything, any time. She also has a nice wee round tummy too. Lola, we will see, although is starting to try whatever Bindy eats so there's hope.
 
Hi, I'm a little late but i have pretty much the same question to this topic. I am wondering which pellets to get.
My story starts here: last year I just heard randomly, not from an expert or anything, that grains are bad for guinea pigs and I started to generaly hate them whenever I saw pellets that had even the smallest amount in them, I mean, if you're gonna have one terrible ingredient, why should I trust you?
I was also very untrusting to salt licks, really people, you'd give salt to a creature wich doesnt even need that much salt, and if we eat too much salt we would have problems, so that much salt for a tiny creature? That one turned out to be, i think, true, Sylvia the guinea pig died because of salt licks, and a person in the thread said they'd seen a pig that ran from salt lick to water bottle to salt lick to water bottle.
Back to pellets. I was sure the superior to all these stupid professionaly looking grain grinded mixes was Versele Laga Cavia Complete - No grains, no salt, fibre ok, good vitamin C content, developed by vets. THEN I randomly ran across these pellets called supreme science selective guinea pig, and I hated them the moment i saw them. They had grains and they had salt. Sometime then I also finally googled why grains are so terrible and the reasons why there were bad made a lot of sense . Further on in time I decided to look up what oxbow pellets was made out of... and I was surprised. It was quite similar to supreme science at first glance. Wheat middling?Huh. Peculiar.
The end of pointless story.

SO my question is which pellets to choose?
I have found that one shop sells Oxbow pellets, both variations, but they are ridiculously overpriced. Versele laga cavia complete is for a great price because you can buy a large pack, smaller packs are still expensive. I have heard good stuff about JR farm, so I will include them. I still dont really trust Supreme science selective, and the price isnt amazing either.
Just now that I look at oxbow and supreme science aka SSS again I think the similarity isnt so big in the end. Way more grain in the SSS.

Oxbow:
Timothy Grass Meal, Soybean Hulls, Soybean Meal, Cane Molasses, Wheat Middlings, Sodium Bentonite, Soybean Oil, Salt, Lignin Sulfonate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Vitamin C), Monocalcium Phosphate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Yeast Culture, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate

  • Crude Protein (min) 14.00%
  • Crude Fat (min) 2.00%
  • Crude Fiber (min) 25.00%
  • Crude Fiber (max) 28.00%
  • Moisture (max) 10.00%
  • Calcium (min) 0.35%
  • Calcium (max) 0.75%
  • Phosphorus (min) 0.25%
  • Vitamin A (min) 10,000 IU/kg
  • Ascorbic Acid (Vit C.) (min) 250 mg/kg
  • Vitamin D3 (min) 900 IU/kg
  • Vitamin E (min) 190 IU/kg
Supreme science selective guinea pig (only for comparison)
Lucerne meal, whole wheat, fodder wheat, soya bean husks, soya meal, pea flakes, flaxseed, beet pulp, soybean oil, fennel seeds, calcium dihydrogen phosphate, salt, calcium carbonate, dried dandelion.

Crude protein 16%
crude fiber 15%
fat content 4%
crude ash 6.5%
calcium 0.8%
vitamin A 23 000 IU
vitamin C 800 mg
vitamin D3 1 500 IU
ferrous sulphate monohydrate 152 mg
anhydrous calcium iodide 1.5 mg
copper sulphate pentahydrate 20 mg
manganese oxide 38 mg, zinc oxide 62 mg
sodium selenite 0 , 2 mg

Versele laga complete cavia
This one is hard. I thought that I knew what was in it but now can't find it, it's unclear, as stated above. Gosh.
Derivatives of vegetable origin (timothy, grasses and herbs 7%)
fruit (elderberry 5%)
minerals
seeds (linseed 2%)
fructo-oligosaccharides (0.3%)
calendula
yucca

Protein 14.0%
fat content 3.0%
crude fibre 20.0%
crude ash 8.0%
calcium 0.8%
phosphorus 0.6%
Vitamin A 10000 IU
vitamin D3 1200 IU
vitamin E 80 mg
vitamin C 1000 mg
3b103 (iron) 100 mg
3b202 (iodine) 2 mg
E4 (copper) 10 mg
3b502 (manganese) 75 mg
3b603 (zinc) 70 mg
E8 (selenium) 0.2 mg
And now I found it has colourants :( Oh my.

JR farm (this doesn't look all that bad, and it's for a good price!)
Timothy, lobster, meadow plantain, plantain, clover, fescue, lady's mantle, parsley 5.6%, pea flakes, flakes of broad bean, carrot, parsnip, flaxseed, black cumin, peppermint, nettle, lemon balm, red beet, apples, fennel seeds, dandelion, chamomile
LOBSTER?:D google translate's fault

vitamin A (as retinyl acetate) 3,575 IU, vitamin C (as ascorbic acid monophosphate) 178.75 mg, vitamin D3 (as cholecalciferol) 247.5 IU, vitamin E (as RRR-alpha-tocopherol acetate) 22 mg
protein 11,1%
fat content 3,3%
crude fiber 23,0%
crude ash 8,8%
Fat content's a little high, but i only give about 10 grams of pellets per day per pig. Well what do you think?
 
The price and content sort of become irrelevant if your pigs won’t eat them. It’s trial and error. I have tried almost all the grain free pellets available and as I have said above mine will only eat the Versele Laga and SS grain free with any degree of regularity. The others all ended up being thrown away or given away (and in some cases being re-gifted again when the recipient’s pigs wouldn’t eat them). Whatever you decid I would recommend buying a small bag initially and trying to switch your piggies over slowly so they get used to them. Once they are established then it’s obviously cheaper to go for the large bag.
 
In the end, I changed my mind and decided against giving pellets full stop and haven't for a little while. It turns out my girls do better on plenty of grass & hay and I just give a really good variety of weeds and vegetables and some outdoor time for vitamin D. I am happy with their health and i think they are doing best on this diet.
 
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