Brands: Oxbow Organic Guinea Pig Food

[MissGinger]

Anyone switch to this? Theres a whole line of Organic Products from Oxbow.
Are they better than the regular one?

[sophistacavy]

Wow! I didn't even know that Oxbow started making organics!! I'm going to check that out for sure. Wow. I'm so excited now L0L!! =P

Personally, I would switch to the organic versions. Thats what I'm going to do as soon as I can, like as soon as all my stuff I've got now needs to be replaced.

Thanks for mentioning this! I'm going to check that stuff out now.

[sophistacavy]

Oxbow Animal Health | Organic Meadow Hay
Thats the link to their new Organic Meadow Grass Hay!!

Here is a link to their new Organic Cavy pellets: Oxbow Animal Health | Organic Guinea Pig

I have to raise this important question concerning the new pellets, though: Are the new, re-vamped ingredients still appropriate for piggies? I thought to ask this question when I saw the canola meal, sunflower meal, wheat straw, and barley.

Could this be harder to digest for them? For example, if we get the Oat Hay for our pigs, thats not supposed to be given but a few times a week, and then just a fraction of it mixed in with mostly their normal grass hays. The wheat and barley in these new pellets are grains like the oat hay, so wouldn't they be harder to digest than the regular Oxbow pellets? I mean, those have soybean in them, and I don't know how well cavies digest soybean ingredients, but the question is: Which food is easier to digest? The one with the soybean products or the one with the grain products?

There are also these new organic treats for all small pets (according to Oxbow, of course) by Oxbow: Oxbow Animal Health | Organic Barley Biscuits
So, I'm assuming that these are also inappropriate for guinea pigs? Is that a correct assumption? I want to order those for my future rats(or degus, not sure yet, leaning towards rats again though), so I would not share with piggies, right?

[MissGinger]

I would like to know all of those question's you asked also.

[Haley0489]

I'm no Ly&Pigs, but I've seen barley in lots of pellet products. Hmm...Best to wait for Ly to come on, she'll have a better idea. I doubt Oxbow would put out something that's not good for pigs though, since they're one of the more "reputable" feed manufacturers.

[hueyeats]

yeah...

I am keeping an eye on this thread too.
I like to know as well.

[guineapigluver1]

I would like to know as well, since it's organic. I started a thread about this to, with the ingredients because I am not so sure about some of the ingredients, so I'm watching this thread waiting to see what Ly says.

[Ly&Pigs]

It's not a complete ingredients list so I can't say as of yet and it seems like there is something wrong with the page as at the top it says organic guinea pig then the description is the same as for the barley biscuits (which don't seem great in my opinion as they contain a lot of fruit and alfalfa).

I have emailed oxbow for a complete ingredients list for this product.

[sophistacavy]

Okay, thank you Ly&Pigs. Yes, I got that weird error with the mismatched descriptions too.

Please let us know what the email says whenever you get it. I know you will anyways *silly question*

[hueyeats]

Oh cool Ly&pigs. Thanks for your useful info as usual & as always you are on top on the best nutrition for our piggies when it comes to accessing & even gaining info.

[Ly&Pigs]

There are some things in this formula that concern me. Wheat straw which is just the stem of the wheat plant that has dried or basically straw that is made from wheat and sunflower meal. Straw isn't something guinea pigs should eat in my opinion as it can't be very nutritious. Sunflowers contain a lot of oils and can be fattening.

Limestone- this is something that is in their other feeds to and I have always been curious as to why they add it as it doesn't seem like a normal cavy feed ingredient. I may have to write them again about this.

At this point, I'm not completely sure what to think about these pellets. I can't say they are or aren't healthier that oxbow's other formulas. They still contain a lot of chemical additives.

Ingredients:
Organic Grass Hay, Organic Canola Meal, Organic Wheat Straw, Organic Sunflower Meal, Organic Barley, Organic Flax Seed, Sodium Bentonite, Limestone, Sea Salt, LAscorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Organic Dandelion Leaf, Organic Ground Rosemary, Inulin, Organic Cranberry, Organic Blueberry, Dried YuccaSchidigera, Yeast Culture (dehydrated), Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Selenium Yeast, Vitamin A Supplement, Folic Acid, d-Calcium Pantothenate, CopperProteinate, Riboflavin Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Crude Fiber 23
Crude Protein 12
Moisture 12
Crude Fat 2
Calcium 0.6
Phosphorous 0.3

[guineapigluver1]

You have a good point, so I'm going to stray away from it.

[Dichotomy83]

Seeing as its almost a year later now, Im wondering if theres been any more information or conclusions on the Oxbow Organic.

[akstrohm]

The conclusion is to stick with Cavy Cuisine or Cavy Performance. But if you already bought the organic stuff, go ahead and use it up.

[Dichotomy83]

Originally Posted by akstrohm

The conclusion is to stick with Cavy Cuisine or Cavy Performance. But if you already bought the organic stuff, go ahead and use it up.

Well, I ordered 3 bags of it from Foster and smith...should I try to send the 2 unopened bags back? Or do you think it'll be okay?

[Ly&Pigs]

If they sell the Cuisine or Performance, maybe see if they will do a switch. The only downside is that you'd have to pay more shipping. How long does one bag last your pigs?

[ChristyG]

I seen the organic at my pet store, and tried to see if my girls liked it(we use Oxbow Cavy Cuisine now) and they wanted nothing to do with it. I even mixed it in with there reg food, and I swear you could tell where they ate there regular food, and not the new stuff.

[blackarrow]

Originally Posted by ChristyG

I seen the organic at my pet store, and tried to see if my girls liked it(we use Oxbow Cavy Cuisine now) and they wanted nothing to do with it. I even mixed it in with there reg food, and I swear you could tell where they ate there regular food, and not the new stuff.

You can't tell whether it's a good food by whether they'll eat it immediately. It's sort of like feeding toddlers - they tend to think any change is bad.

[ChristyG]

Thanks, I just decided to stay with what they are used too and like.

[barbanderson]

Originally Posted by ChristyG

I seen the organic at my pet store, and tried to see if my girls liked it(we use Oxbow Cavy Cuisine now) and they wanted nothing to do with it. I even mixed it in with there reg food, and I swear you could tell where they ate there regular food, and not the new stuff.

Yep I tried it too and NONE of my pigs would eat it even when it was the ONLY food I used to "force" them to try it. They simply hated it so I am sticking with the REGULAR Oxbow pellets thank you Glad to know it wasn't just my finicky girls