Now...Which brand?

[Sabriel]

Bramuda (sp), oat, brome hay and orchard grass are also good grass hays to feed, though my old vet told me most pig don't like brome. My pigs do, they treat it like the best thing in the world. But I live with the 5 freaks for pigs so I woundn't base anything about normal pigs on that.

My vet would be very happy of I continued using Kaytee hay. It is the best hay available in this city. I have been disapointed with Oxbow (it's brown by the time it gets to us up here) and KM doesn't ship to Canada. If you chosse your bag wisely you can find a nice green bag everytime. I buy the biggest bages they make (96oz) and it lasts me 2 weeks if I'm lucky.

The only baled hay I have found is the timothy/alfalfa bales at Ren's Feed store in Oakville. They are a good price, $5.00 a bale, but I also have to add gas to that since my friend picks them up for me. But it is alfalfa/timothy and it's probably not very good for them. I would love to find a source of timothy bales in the Toronto area, but so far I havn't found anything. A net search yeilds nothing and I have searched the yellow pages for feed stores, horse stables and horse supplies and have found nothing.

[Ly&Pigs]

Idril, what veggies/fruits you are feeding are good but the key is learning what to feed daily, what to rotate around and the portions to give. Fruits should be limited to twice a week due to high sugar contents. I would severly cut back on banana as it's very constipating to piggies and keep that as a once per month treat in tiny amounts. I would add things like bell pepper and cilantro into their daily diet along with the lettuce and then rotate the other veggies around like give cucumber every 2-3 days, give kale twice per week, you can give one small/medium baby carrot per day, corn once per week, celery a couple times a week and add in other things from time to time.

Bramuda = Bermuda
Any good grass hay is fine to give them. Alfalfa is very high in certain nutrients like calcium and shouldn't be fed but occasionally to adults. I would keep the grain hays to a minimum as well, but they make a good occasional treat. Grain hays are oat, barley, wheat, etc.

[Idril]

So basically I have to change both of my guinea pigs lifestyles from what I've learned on CavyCages.

Their pellets have a bit of alfalfa in them and have oats in them.
They get treats at least once a day.
I feed them alfalfa hay.
They do not have any toys.
Their cage needs to be bigger.

[amfeider]

Yes, if you want to give them a better life. When I got here this sounded immposible but it wasn't . For pellets try to get Oxbow, Kleemama's, or Mazuri if you cant get the other two. try www.critterstore.com for Oxbow or www.kmshayloft.com for kleemama's. You dont have to take out treats try oxbow crittter carrots or oxbow critter berries as an occasional treat. Toys are not that hard to give make some hidey houses out of cardboard boxes they love 4" pvc, apple wood, or even a sheet of newspaper. Now about the cage mine cost me 40$ total which is cheaper than a lot of pet stores and it was so easy! Oh and what kind of bedding do you use?

[Maggie]

Alright, I got a 5lb bag of oxbow Cavy Performance pellets and some oxbow timothy in my order. Next supply I'll just buy some timothy from my uncle, he gave me some in exchange for pumpkins last month for my other animals.

[Sabriel]

Well then I have a prediciment Ly since it's either hay from PetSmart or Alfalfa/Timothy hay.

Anything smaller then the 96oz bags is a waste. It goes to quick with 5 pigs. Lina eats enough for 2 pigs.

So untill I find a decent hay source that's all I have to choose from. It's not as simple as ordering KM's hay up here. I could order Oxbow but my pigs just won't eat it. They pick through it and leave all the brown bits, which is half the bag.

I will post when I find a solution though. I am sure there are other's in Toronto facing the same problem (as no Toronto people have ever been able to tell me a solution. Though maybe their pigs eat Oxbow happily).

Living in the city bites sometimes.