Pellets: How long without pellets?

[pigsforlife]

I feed my crew of 5 oxbows cavy cuisine pellets. I buy them from the vet who is the only person in the state that carries them. The other day I noticed I was getting low and went to pick up a couple of new bags. They have run out of stock, but have place an order and think that they will get it in sometime next week. I have 1, maybe 2 days worth of pellets left. Which means that they may be without pellets for a week - this should be alright shouldn't it? I figure it is a once off so they should be ok, what do you think?

[pigsmakemesmile]

This is a good question....run it by Ly'&pigs

[4piggers]

I know people who do a full pellet free diet. As long as you are giving all the nutrients they need, or would be getting from the pellet, they will do wonderfully.

One thing you CANT go without is hay though.

[Paula]

They will be fine for a week or so without pellets. I'd give extra veggies, just to be sure they are getting all the vitamins and nutrients they need, plus they'll love you for it.


Going to a "full pellet free diet" is tricky and requires a lot of time and knowledge of nutrition content of all the veggies you are feeding to make sure they are getting all of their nutritional requirements met. In other words, it's not something you can just switch to without a great deal of thought and research.

[Ilovemypiggies1]

I'm not sure if it would be safe for them to go out of pellets for a week but if it is an only option you want to make sure that they have plently of hay 24/7, never let it run out and make sure that they are each getting at least 1 cup of veggies a day. If they won't be having pellets for a week, the pellets contain Vitamin C and without the pellets they will be losing vitamin c so you may want to give them extra to ensure they are getting to correct amount of vitamin C and nutrients.

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by paula.m.moore

They will be fine for a week or so without pellets. I'd give extra veggies, just to be sure they are getting all the vitamins and nutrients they need, plus they'll love you for it.


Going to a "full pellet free diet" is tricky and requires a lot of time and knowledge of nutrition content of all the veggies you are feeding to make sure they are getting all of their nutritional requirements met. In other words, it's not something you can just switch to without a great deal of thought and research.

Ditto.

[pigsforlife]

Thanks. I am not planning on going to a full pellet free diet. Usually the vets are really good at always having Oxbow products in - hopefully this is a once off!