Pellets are these pellets okay? - Guinea Pig Cages, Care, Store, Photos of Guinea Pigs and More Forum!

**Morningstar** · #1 11-20-08, 03:44 pm

Hello everyone! Today my mom bought pellets for the pigs, b they were out of our usual kind so she got a different type. I was wondering if I should return them or if these are okay. Thank you!

Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Ground Barley, Ground Oats, Soybean Meal, Soybean Hulls, Calcium Lignin Sulfonate, Calcium Carbonate, Mono-Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Propionate (preservative), Ascorbic Acid(Vitamin C), DL-Methionine, Magnesium Oxide, Choline Chloride,Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Biotin, Niacin, Manganous Oxide, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Sulphate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Iodide, Folic Acid, Cobalt Carbonate.

That was not fun to type out.

**AnimalHouse36** · #2 11-20-08, 05:29 pm

First off if your guinea pig is over 6 months of age she should be getting a timothy based pellet.

Guinea Lynx :: Topic - Cavy Pellet Analysis

**starshine123102** · #3 11-20-08, 07:23 pm

What's the brand?

**sophistacavy** · #4 11-20-08, 07:36 pm

Yes, knowing the brand will help us help you better.

I would suggest returning them if you could, and exchange them for the closest thing to what you normally get. Which brand do you normally feed them? The first thing I saw in the ingredients list that is not good for cavies to eat is the thing clearly labeled as a preservative. Make sure nothing you give your piggies ever has any preservatives in it at all. Mixed-tocopherols (labeled as a natural preservative) are fine, as all it is is vitamin E.

Maybe make a small list of the safe brands of pellets to feed piggies, so that if this should happen again, then you won't have to trouble yourself with returning it, and your mom will know what to look for too.

**auburnmare5** · #5 11-20-08, 07:40 pm

I don't think so... It sounds like too many grains to me. The best brands are Mazurri 5664, Oxbow, KM's, and Sweet Meadow.
Guineas cannot have grains as they can't digest them properly.

**Morningstar** · #6 11-20-08, 08:13 pm

Normally my pigs eat the Pet Valu brand. I know it's not the best out there but it's not too bad and it's the best I can get. The bag isn't too big so I think I might just use it up. I'll probably get a bag of the usual stuff and kind of mix them until this bag of different stuff is gone. Thanks everyone!

**Ly&Pigs** · #7 11-20-08, 11:13 pm

There aren't any real bad ingredients in these pellets but I would like to know what brand they are myself. Just make sure to limit them with adult pigs to no more than 1/8 cup per pig per day.

Alfalfa based pellets can be fed to adult pigs but they do need severely limited. My pigs have always eaten alfalfa based pellets (Mazuri 5664) and my remaining girls are all in the 4-5 year old age range.

**sophistacavy** · #8 11-21-08, 09:27 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

There aren't any real bad ingredients in these pellets but I would like to know what brand they are myself. Just make sure to limit them with adult pigs to no more than 1/8 cup per pig per day.

Alfalfa based pellets can be fed to adult pigs but they do need severely limited. My pigs have always eaten alfalfa based pellets (Mazuri 5664) and my remaining girls are all in the 4-5 year old age range.

There aren't any "real-bad" ingredients in there? I thought preservatives were an absolute no-no. Are you saying that some preservatives are worse than others now? And that its okay, or not "real bad" to feed piggies the "better" preservatives? Sorry, LOL, that just sounds like an artifical preservative to me, maybe I'm wrong even though the company obviously declared it a preservative....

I'm a little confused here....I thought quality of ingredients mattered too; even though there might not be any bad things in a certain food (for example, like kaytee's hay is all-natural, but low-quality). I'm just saying...
But its okay, if thats absolutely all she can get, then fine.

Ly, you've probably explained this before, but why don't you use Oxbow or KM's pellets? I don't even know where to get Mazuri 5664 from, its not the kind they sell in pet shops like petsmart, is it? I've been on their company website before to look at their waterfowl feed, but I'm a tad wary of them because they're another off-shoot of the notorious Purina company.

**guineapigluver1** · #9 11-21-08, 12:22 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by sophistacavy

There aren't any "real-bad" ingredients in there? I thought preservatives were an absolute no-no. Are you saying that some preservatives are worse than others now? And that its okay, or not "real bad" to feed piggies the "better" preservatives? Sorry, LOL, that just sounds like an artifical preservative to me, maybe I'm wrong even though the company obviously declared it a preservative....

I'm a little confused here....I thought quality of ingredients mattered too; even though there might not be any bad things in a certain food (for example, like kaytee's hay is all-natural, but low-quality). I'm just saying...
But its okay, if thats absolutely all she can get, then fine.

Ly, you've probably explained this before, but why don't you use Oxbow or KM's pellets? I don't even know where to get Mazuri 5664 from, its not the kind they sell in pet shops like petsmart, is it? I've been on their company website before to look at their waterfowl feed, but I'm a tad wary of them because they're another off-shoot of the notorious Purina company.

I believe you can only get Mazuri 5664 in Canada or is it Europe?

**Haley0489** · #10 11-21-08, 01:23 pm

You can get Mazuri at Petsmart and the like. It's sold in the states.

**guineapigluver1** · #11 11-21-08, 01:27 pm

Ah. Thanks for correcting me.

**Ly&Pigs** · #12 11-21-08, 01:27 pm

I can't get oxbow locally. I'd have to order it from the net, same with KM's pellets. I am a disabled woman on a fixed income. Since pellets are the least part of their diet, I buy them KM's hay, feed lots of fresh veggies but I had to make a choice to either spend a lot of money on pellets or good hay since I really can't afford both with shipping. I chose to buy them top quality hay and spend a bit less on the pellets since I can get a 25lb. bag of Mazuri for under $20 locally that lasts for quite a while.

Now sophistacavy, you asked a question about preservatives. Not all preservatives are bad. The bad preservatives are ethoxyquin, BHA and BHT and there is one other one I can't think of offhand at the moment. These are the potentially cancer causing preservatives that need to be avoided. The others are not harmful and thus ok.

When I say real bad ingredients, I mean stuff like corn or corn products, animal fats, whey, harmful preservatives, beet products, etc.

Mazuri 5664 is available in the US and I think Canada. I am not sure if it's available in Europe.

**Ly&Pigs** · #13 11-21-08, 01:38 pm

The Mazuri sold at Petsmart is a different formula I believe. The 5664 comes in 25lb. bags. That's the only formula you want to use. The other formulas aren't as good and are formulated for lab pigs and breeder pigs.

**Morningstar** · #14 11-21-08, 09:56 pm

The brand is called Health Diet Guinea Pig. I had never heard of it before. Thank you everyone so much for the help!

**sophistacavy** · #15 11-22-08, 07:48 pm

Ly&Pigs: Yeah, thats makes total sense. I'll have to remember that if I ever need to make a choice like that. With KM's shipping (which I'm not criticizing them for, I understand why it costs so much to ship), I don't think anyone's left without a dent in their wallets. jkjk :-)

Oh hey, I think I might know which one that you can't remember, is it TBQ or TBHQ, or something along those lines? Thanks for the info about preservatives too, I thought they were all bad except for the vitamin E ones. Good to know. Yeah, the one at petsmart, which I breifly looked at the ingredients of, does have corn, so its a different formula.

"Thank you, Ly&Pigs, for this useful post," says:
sophistacavy (11-22-08)