Too Much Hay??

[Hansel]

Green you should look into switching pellet brands. This is from another thread from Ly:

Hagen is a horrid brand filled with seeds, nuts and other bits of things. You need to get a good high quality pellet such as Oxbow (Oxbow Pet Products | Welcome) or Kleenmama's Pellets (www.kmshayloft.com).

[Ly&Pigs]

They should be given UNLIMITED quantities of many different hays and grasses.

Actually to clarify this statement, guinea pigs should get unlimited GRASS hay (doesn't matter the type as long as it's a grass hay and can be mixed if you prefer but doesn't have to be) no matter their age. Hay like wheat, oat, barley, (grain hays), should not be given daily but more as an occasional treat as pigs have a harder time digesting grains. Alfalfa hay can be given to cavies under 6 months or to pregnant/nursing moms as a supplement in addition to grass hay.

Fresh grass is also great for pigs as they get more nutrients out of fresh grass than hay but fresh grass in large quantities always isn't available.

[OSUCavies]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[kavykrazy]

Originally Posted by GuineaLover12

what is /where can i get orchard grass?

Orchard grass is another name for bluegrass.

Feed stores can be a good source to get orchard or timothy. The main drawback is you would usually have to buy it by the bale. Also, the quality may not always be good. I've been lucky that my feedstore has a good supply of very nice orchard grass.

[OSUCavies]

Originally Posted by kavykrazy

Orchard grass is another name for bluegrass.

Feed stores can be a good source to get orchard or timothy. The main drawback is you would usually have to buy it by the bale. Also, the quality may not always be good. I've been lucky that my feedstore has a good supply of very nice orchard grass.

I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

[SoCalCavies]

Originally Posted by Hansel

Green you should look into switching pellet brands.
You need to get a good high quality pellet such as Oxbow (Oxbow Pet Products | Welcome)...

[FONT=Century Gothic]I recently switched my piggies (who are now a year old) to Oxbow's Cavy Cuisine from a store-bought one filled with fat. I converted them slowly, but to my surprise, they loved to eat the Oxbow right from the start!

I found it at a local petstore. Oxbow's site offers locations: www.oxbowhay.com. In the upper right corner of their home page you can enter your zip code.[/FONT]

[this_lil_piggy]

When I switched from the junky brand pellets to the KM pellets, I tried "weaning"...mixing the two brands. Didn't work at all for me. My pigs would eat all the junky sweet pellets out of the top of the bowl, and then dump the bowl to get the rest of them out and would leave the good stuff on the floor to get peed on. I got fed up with it after twice doing it, so I just tossed the bag of junky pellets, and only put the KM in their bowl from there on out. They sniffed them and avoiding eating them for about half a day, but when they realized that was all they were going to get, they started eating them. I haven't had a problem since. They empty their bowls out daily--eat every crumb of the km pellets, and no one has had any stomach upset from cold turkey switching the brand.

[SoCalCavies]

Hey, whatever works! Little rascals...