Treats: Can I feed petstore treats?

[wigglesgiggles1]

After reading this i learned sooo much.I will never buy sugar coated over-priced crap for my piggies again. It is so unhealthy and lets all stick to veggies and small portions of fruit. We can outsmart those greedy people who want our money and dont care about our babies.

[Shawnee]

Originally Posted by wigglesgiggles1

We can outsmart those greedy people who want our money and dont care about our babies.

I certainly hope so, now the tricky part is getting the word around, we should boycott!!! It just sounds like fun

[PixieStix]

Lots of people here already do boycott, but more stores that sell animals. However, they also support stores that only sell animal safe, healthy products. I find even that stores that don't sell animals have much better supplies.

[wigglesgiggles1]

Shawnee

That does sound like fun. I always wanted to boycott.

[Shawnee]

Originally Posted by wigglesgiggles1

After reading this i learned sooo much.I will never buy sugar coated over-priced crap for my piggies again. It is so unhealthy and lets all stick to veggies and small portions of fruit. We can outsmart those greedy people who want our money and dont care about our babies.

I am so truly happy that my simple naive question could and has helped at least one other person! Thank you for your imput!!!!!!!!!!

[IluvePiggies]

I have no clue what my Guinea pig's favorite veggie or fruit is but I do know they love my Veggie salads that I put together. Can somebody give me ideas on what they feed their piggies and if they do a salad, what do you put in the salad?

[pigsforlife]

Look in the diet and nutrition section. Read all of the stickies particularly in this section. Do a search of the forums for any unanswered questions after that.

If you follow these simple steps you will find pages and pages of info and peoples opinions (and their piggies preferences) to do with diet and nutrition. Check out the safe and not safe veggie and fruit list. It would be a good idea to print it out and take it to the grocery store with you the next time you go. In another sticky there is a coloured table which illustrates how often foods can be fed. Use this to feed your pigs appropriately. A good diet (in terms of veggies) consists of a leafy base with veggies including romaine and other lettuces - except iceberg - as well as leafy greens like parsley, mint, cilantro, basil, bok choy etc. From there add in things like bell peppers, carrot, celery and different fruits like apples, strawberries etc. Rotate items through according to the coloured table, feeding I would say, at least 3+ different kinds of veggies twice a day to offer enough variety so that they can get the minerals and vitamins they need.

[fairylover]

What about those colored blocks that wear their teeth down? They are approved by the FDA.

[starshine123102]

I personally wouldn't use them, if they get a proper diet they shouldn't really have a problem with their teeth.

Also, from what I've read, most pigs aren't even interested in them.

[piggyluver1722]

what i do to spoil my babys is i make them there own little salad for treats i just take diffrent veggies each time and wrap them in lettuce so they have a diffrent kind each time

[FrasierandNiles]

The only thing I buy from pet stores is the bedding, which is Carefresh Ultra. I saw all those treats with artificial coloring added to them, it's so nasty.

[MissFormosa]

I read this whole thread and realize that fresh fruits and veggies are the BEST treat to give. I do give them fresh veggie treats in between meals. I try to limit the fruit, but do give it occasionally.

But what about the Oxbow Simple Rewards Veggie Treats?

I am asking because when I purchased my Oxbow hay there was a special promotion where you got a free package of the treats. I guess I got excited about treats from Oxbow and gave them each one without thinking about the ingredients. I felt so stupid afterwards! Next time I will ask before giving! Ugh!

I saw a few threads asking about the Oxbow Simple Rewards fruit treats (which were determined to be not that good), but I didn't see the veggie treats mentioned.

Here are the ingredients:
Barley Flour, Alfalfa Meal, Rolled Oats, Molasses, Canola Oil (naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols and lecithin), Dried Carrots, Dried Potatoes, Dried Cabbage, Dried Red Peppers, Dried Green Peppers, Flax Seed Meal, Kelp, Garlic Powder, Brewers Yeast, Yucca Schidigera.

My guess is that they may not be good because

1) they are probably baked or contain dried ingredients;

2) they contain oats, potatoes, cabbage and some other ingredients that I saw on Ly's nutrition chart that were marked either as a occasionally or rarely

3) My boars are over 6 months old, so they don't need alfalfa.

Ok to give rarely or throw out? I hate throwing food out but I don't want sick fat pigs either.

[SFailed186]

Originally Posted by fairylover

What about those colored blocks that wear their teeth down? They are approved by the FDA.

I know this is a late reply, but I would not buy them. I used to think guinea pigs needed to chew wood and stuff because my first guinea pigs that I had when I was about 10 always chewed their wooden hidey all of the time. They were in a petstore cage and now I realized that they were probably chewing because they were bored and wanted out. However, as an impulse buy, I got some chew sticks and a Nut Knot Nibbler for my girl Freya after we got her. She chewed the sticks, but I didn't think they looked that great/safe. It sounded like she was chewing styrofoam! After removing the nut from the Nut Knot Nibbler, both Freya and Haylee maybe chewed it on five separate occasions and the other times they just rolled it out of their way when they were running laps. In my opinion it is a great waste of money, space, and time. Fresh Timothy Hay is best for keeping their teeth down.

[gooberific]

Originally Posted by MissFormosa

But what about the Oxbow Simple Rewards Veggie Treats?

...

Here are the ingredients:
Barley Flour, Alfalfa Meal, Rolled Oats, Molasses, Canola Oil (naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols and lecithin), Dried Carrots, Dried Potatoes, Dried Cabbage, Dried Red Peppers, Dried Green Peppers, Flax Seed Meal, Kelp, Garlic Powder, Brewers Yeast, Yucca Schidigera.

Toss them. They do contain dried crud, and potatoes should never be fed, period. We've all read hundreds or thousands of times that treats and food with dried bits are a "no-no." Flour, Oats, molasses, oils and yeasts are also on the avoid lists. Flax seed meal is pretty fatty, I would think. And I'm not sure if the Yucca is an okay forage for a cavy. However, they probably use the food-grade, ground-up form anyway. (Google searches reveal that many people believe it to relieve many HUMAN ailments.)

Here's a reference point on potatoes at the very least:

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

I'd get a new vet. Potatoes are poisonous (especially the peel part if it's green or sprouted) and mushrooms are a fungus, I don't believe mushrooms are poisonous to pigs but since they are herbivores, they don't eat fungi.

If you look on the second post on the Nutrition charts thread, you can see they are on the do not feed list.

Do NOT feed avocados, coconut (both too high in fats), iceburg lettuce (low nutrition, high in nitrites, high water), tomato stems or leaves, potatoes, rhubarb, taro, mushrooms, peanut butter, hot peppers, hot herbs and spices, dry beans and peas, nuts, jams, jellies, fruit preserves, sweetened fruit juices, pickled vegetables, coffee, cola, milk or dairy products to include yogurt, cake, cookies, baked goods, fried, frozen or cooked foods.

(From http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...od-choice.html ).

[MissFormosa]

Yeah, that's what I figured after I read the ingredients...I was surprised of how many things in the ingredients I had seen on the "do not feed" or "rarely" section of Ly's nutrition chart.

It makes me sad that they market these sort of things to pigs even though they are not healthy. They put a big picture of a pig on the front and write up a clever selling line to make it look healthy and people buy it for their pigs thinking they are doing the right thing.

I guess it's the same as McDonald's (or other fast food) for us. It's marketed so much that you want to eat it and when you do, it's bad for you. I can still remember the Big Mac song from the 80's for crying out loud!

[Ly&Pigs]

Just because it's Oxbow brand, doesn't make it good. I would definately not feed those treats.

They also contain garlic and brewers yeast which pigs don't need. These treats are just as bad if not worse than some of the other treats on the market.

[ionstorm]

I do feed my Dixie vegetables, but which vegetables contain vitamin C? And how much should I give her?

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by ionstorm

I do feed my Dixie vegetables, but which vegetables contain vitamin C? And how much should I give her?

Your question is off topic to this thread. This thread is about petstore treats, not vegetables. Please see the Nutrition charts and sample menus sticky threads for the answers to your questions.

[SuperPIG]

Pet store treats are just a waste of money... there is just not one brand that you can actually trust when it comes to buying pet store treats. Veggies, fruits and lots of love are better. : )

[1i10r]

Hello,

I will be getting my guinea pig very soon... well, Skinny pig, and I was just wondering if all of this applies to SKINNY pigs as well...

I was also wondering what you all recommend as the best brand of food for a skinny pig. I was thinking Mazuri. Prove me wrong if you can.