Diet: Eating pellets and veggies instead of hay...

[Piggy Pip's Mom]

My piggy is choosing to eat pellets and veggies over the timothy hay I give him. Is this ok?

[Littlepiggylove]

From what I've heard and read, hay helps your guinea pig with digestion and helps grind down your guinea pig's teeth, some things you don't get with pellets and vegetables.

Have you tried other types of hays or grasses?

[Piggy Pip's Mom]

I'd thought about cutting back on the pellets and veggies I'm offering in hopes of getting him to increase his hay intake. You know...the same tricks you try with your kids to get them to eat their broccoli at dinner time. But I felt bad thinking about him being hungry. I've been feeding him the Kaytee Timothy Hay. I did purchase some alfalfa sticks and have broke those in half for feeding also. Since it's winter and the grass outside is obviously not growing I've just been purchasing the hay at petstores or Orschlen's (farm and home store). Other suggestions???

[Piggy Pip's Mom]

Oh and his increased pellet and veggie consumption vs. hay intake...would that explain his excessive poos in the cage lately? I mean I am vaccuming the cage twice daily and the little buggers are every where!!!

[starshine123102]

Kaytee is not the best quality hay so he may not like it. You could trying a better quality timothy hay Like Oxbow or Kleenmamas (KM is online only).

Or your piggie could be like mine and just not be a fan of timothy. I use Oxbow Orchard grass. It is sweeter than timothy and my girl just goes nuts for it. It is a grass hay like timothy so can be fed in unlimited quantity. Other grass hays are brome and bluegrass. I know there are a few others but I can't think of them at the moment.

You shoudn't feed alfalfa to pigs over 6 months or pregnant excepts as a very occasional treat. It is high in calcium. Also, the cubed hay does nothing to help the molars as they don't grind it in the say way as they do loose hay.

Regular grass is fine to feed but if I remember correctly since it is not dried out like regular hay it also doesn't do too much for wearing down molars.

[Ly&Pigs]

How many pellets are you feeding?

Don't cut back on veggies, he needs those. You may want to try a different brand or type of hay. He may not like the hay you are giving.

[Littlepiggylove]

If you want to cut back on something, you may want to cut back on the alfalfa and the pellets. I would NOT cut back on the vegetables.

My guinea pigs love timothy hay, so I don't have your problem. Based on the research I did before I got my guinea pigs, though, Starshine's suggestions are really great alternatives. Best thing you can do is try one of those suggestions for your guinea pig.

[Piggy Pip's Mom]

He is only 2.5 - 3 months old and I was told that unlimited pellets are ok at this time. The alfalfa sticks I purchased are approx 3 inches long and I have only fed him two (1 per week).

[starshine123102]

You are right, at 3 months unlimited pellets are fine. After 6 months he should be limited to 1/8-1/4 cup per day and should be timothy based pellets. I would definitely try another brand or timothy, or even a different type of hay.

[Piggy Pip's Mom]

Sounds good...I'll give it a try. Thanks again for all the input.

[auburnmare5]

Just keep the hay available. What brand of pellets are you feeding? Kaytee is not the best type of hay you can get. Get a better brand, and you will see a difference.

[Piggy Pip's Mom]

I looked through the site yesterday for hay ideas and tried the paper lunch bag idea. While I was washing his pellet and veggie bowls out last night I opened a paper lunch bag, put some hay in it and he just went to town. He spent over an hour in the bag eating and running around and playing. I'm going to try to find a better brand of hay over the weekend and try that also. I noticed last night that the hay seems dried out and some of it's really hard or coarse - maybe that's why he's not into it much!?!?

[Ly&Pigs]

If the hay is hard or stemmy, you want to remove those pieces. They can cause eye pokes or abscesses. Pigs like nice soft hay. With Kaytee hay (and it's ok to feed, it's just not top quality), sometimes you get good bags and other times you get not very good bags. They aren't consistant. Of course sometimes the bags may sit in a warehouse for a long time before getting out to stores. If you continue to buy Kaytee hay, make sure the hay is green and good smelling (open the bag in the store before you buy it, I always did that in the past before I started buying KM's hay full time) and stay away from bags that are brown or have too much brown in it.

[ali's_pigs123]

If you can, buy Sweet Meadow Farm's products. They are way better than Kaytee and those other crappy brands. Depending on your location, the price may be different, but for me, Kaytee and Sweet Meadow cost roughly the same. But I live around the area where it is made so it could be different for you.

[wigglesgiggles1]

where do you buy km hay and on what website

[guineapigluver1]

Kleenmama's Hayloft :: Home
You can only order it online.