Nutrition: What to feed if unsure of age?

[RosiesMama]

I've only had my sweet girl for a couple of weeks now, and I don't know how old she is. (I took her in from a friend who got her at Petco, who was going to return her two days later because her family was allergic to her. I had just been approved for adoption by a rescue here and already had a C&C cage put together, and I couldn't stand the thought of her going back to Petco, so it seemed like it was just "meant to be.") I have no real knowledge, but I *feel* like she is very young. She seems to have already grown about a third since we got her!

My question is, how do I know whether to feed her alfalfa in addition to Timothy hay, and Oxbow Performance for youngsters, and for how long? Does she need the Performance feed and alfalfa until she has stopped growing? The nearest Feed Store doesn't carry Oxbow, but they told me on the phone that they'll be happy to order me whatever I'd like. I just need to know the right thing to order! Thanks for any pointers.

[JD In Van]

Have you weighed her or taken her to the Vet. The vet can give you a rough estimate of her age, over or under a year at least.

[akstrohm]

Since she is from Petco there is a pretty good chance she is under six months. How much does she weigh? Can we see a picture to get an idea of her size?

[rabbitsncavyluv]

You can adopt her a friend from the rescue.

I'd play it safe and feed her timothy if you're unsure of the age. You can feed alfalfa as a 'treat' if she is still young.

[RosiesMama]

JD, I need to find a vet! I wasn't feeling too time-pressured about it because she's fortunately so healthy, but I need to get on that. The vet list I found here (I think it was on here?) didn't list anyone within an hour of my house. I assume my vet would see her, but I doubt he's cavy-savvy.

Akstrohm, I'll post a new pic of her asap. I'm at work right now. She's grown since the pictures in my avatar and intro thread were taken.

Rabbitsncavyluv, I definitely plan to get her a buddy from the rescue. Is anyone by any chance familiar with Precious Critters in Spring, Texas?

Thanks so much for the advice. I'll call my vet and see if he knows the basics about pigs at least, and I'll get some alfalfa cubes as treats. I'm 99% sure she must be way under a year old.

[akstrohm]

Don't bother with the alfalfa cubes. Just feed veggies as treats. If you want to buy a bit of loose alfalfa hay, that's fine.

Ask your vet who he recommends for a guinea pig vet. There are questions on Guinea Lynx to ask to help you to evaluate vets too.

[RosiesMama]

OK thanks akstrohm, will do! She loves romaine and spring lettuces and cilantro. She really gets excited about grapes and blueberries, but I'm limiting those. She just had a photo shoot, so I'll attach a couple of pictures because she's so photogenic.

[akstrohm]

She looks pretty small. I would go ahead and give either alfalfa hay or Cavy Performance pellets. And give grass hay too, whichever option you choose.