Brands: Sweet Meadow Pellets?

[trump_cinnamon]

At the local store that I buy my guinea pig supplies at, they don't supply oxbow any more, but "Sweet Meadows" pellets. They have exactly the same ingredients as Oxbow, and are a lot cheaper. Would these pellets be okay to use? They also look/smell the same as the Oxbow pellets. The hay that I buy is "Sweet Meadows" brand, and it is very high quality. It seems like these pellets would be okay to use, but I'm wondering what everyone else thinks?

[akstrohm]

Yes, they are okay.

[Ly&Pigs]

They are ok to feed and they are comparable to oxbow pellets. But the ingredients list is not exactly the same. If you look closely you will find differences.

[trump_cinnamon]

Ok, that's what I thought. No, the ingredients aren't the same, but are so close that it shouldn't really matter.

Oxbow Cavy Cuisine: Timothy Grass Meal, Soybean Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Soybean Meal, Cane Molasses, Salt, Lascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Limestone, Yeast Culture (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement (tocopherol), Ascorbic Acid, Colloidal Silica, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Vitamin K), Riboflavin, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Pyrodoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, Magnesium Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Cobalt Carbonate, Manganese Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Mineral Oil, Calcium Idodate, Potassium Chloride


Sweet Meadow Adult Guinea Pig Food: Timothy Grass Hay, Soybean Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Soybean Meal, Cane Molasses, Salt, Lascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Limestone, Yeast Culture (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement (tocopherol), Ascorbic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Vitamin K), Colbalt Sulfate, Kelp, Ethylenedamine Dihydriode, Riboflavin, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine, Choline Chloride, Di-Methionine, Pyrodoxine, Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, Sodium Bentonite, Magnesium Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Oxide, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Mineral Oil, Calcium Idodate, Potassium Chloride

It's pretty much the same when you compare them side-by-side.

Also, the break-down of the nutrients is exactly the same.
I was just making sure that this was okay to feed my guinea pigs.

[auburnmare5]

It is alot cheaper, and it is grown right in Massachusetts. It is better for the environment because of the short shipping distance. The hay is also very good quality, but as with any hay, check the bag before you buy it.

[akstrohm]

In this case, two similar brands of pellets are both okay. But there are other brands of pellets that have very slight differences that are not okay to feed. One or two ingredients can make a big difference, so don't assume that just because something is similar that it is okay. You did the right thing by asking here.

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by akstrohm

In this case, two similar brands of pellets are both okay. But there are other brands of pellets that have very slight differences that are not okay to feed. One or two ingredients can make a big difference, so don't assume that just because something is similar that it is okay. You did the right thing by asking here.

Ditto. All it would take is for the Sweet Meadow pellets to contain an ingredient like ethoxyquin to knock it right out of contention. The rest of the ingredients could be the exact same.

[shamrockmommy]

The differences between the two are very minute. I have fed both, my pigs preferred the taste of sweet meadow over oxbow. They have very nice hay as well.

When I lived on the east coast, I ordered pellets and hay from them. Now I'm in the midwest and get a better deal with price and shipping from KM's and the pigs are doing well also.

It's a good food, you did well.

[trump_cinnamon]

I'm glad that it is a good food! My guinea pigs like it a lot more than Oxbow for some reason...

[shamrockmommy]

Mine did too, not sure why, maybe the quality of hay used?

My guys will also pick out KM's pellets over oxbow as well.

[snistopher]

I ordered the Sweet Meadow pellets, along with some of their hay...I'm looking forward to trying it out on my boys. They both like the oxbow products, but I like to change it up and see if they'd like something else even more.

I know mostly everyone says KM products are the best, but neither of my boys enjoyed their hay or their pellets. It was probably a bad shipment, but I was still very surprised

[Skeetersmom]

I ordered the Sweet Meadow guinea pig value package. It comes with 10lbs of pellets, 3 bags of timothy hay and 2 bags of sweet meadow hay. With shipping it came to $30. I thought that wasn't THAT bad. I live in CT though so Sweet Meadow Farms is only 1 state away. Hopefully it comes early this week, I'm almost out of pellets and don't want to have to buy more.

[shamrockmommy]

Hope they like the pellets and hay. My guys were crazy for the meadow hay and ate every last scrap.

[Bambi5826]

Thanks for the thoughts on Sweet Meadows. I just went to their site. For 10lbs of pellets and 9lbs of hay, with shipping to Michigan, it would only be $32.31!
That's great considering I pay $12 for 5lbs of Oxbow pellets alone.

[snistopher]

Originally Posted by shamrockmommy

Hope they like the pellets and hay. My guys were crazy for the meadow hay and ate every last scrap.

Today was the first day I tried the meadow hay and the pellets (the timothy will have to wait until the oxbow runs out). They love it! My one gp that doesn't really eat pellets (not necessarily a bad thing) chowed them down. And the sweet meadow hay is a really big hit...they both did laps around the cage after trying it