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Hay Kaytee timothy hay vs all living things natural timothy hay.

CaliMoo

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p3756851t300x300.jpg vs. pPETS-9535922t300x300.jpg
so i just recently purchased a bag of kaytee timothy hay from petsmart for my guinea pig. i dont have any other places to get it from so i go there for her food and hay. i noticed on their website that they are having a sale and i saw the all living things natural hay and it seems to have been getting some really good reviews. all the comments mention that its a lot softer than the kaytee brand and it has much more of a grass like texture to it. for the kaytee brand i have noticed that it has a lot of harder pieces of hay (which my guinea just ignores). have any of you tried the all living things natural timothy hay? im thinking about switching my guineas hay to a much softer one since ive noticed the kaytee brand was very hard and dusty.
 

Tablo

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IMHO, I REFUSE to buy anything of the ALT brand. I refuse, for good reasons.

I would go with Kaytee, and that's what I often buy for hay. Nico's happy with it, but I plan on ordering hay in bulk, which I can give you the links to if you'd like. Shipping costs a bit, but I think the freshness of the hay will be worth it!
 

xXMaggieXx

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Petsmart sells oxbow, can you buy that hay, in my opinion that is the best hay you can get from a petstore.
 

PrincessAngel

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Way back when I used to buy bags of hay (seems like a lifetime ago!), we used to buy our Kaytee hay from Target. If my memory doesnt fail me, I believe we bought the fairly large bags (48oz?), and it was almost always green and soft, not too stemy. I am not sure on the status of the hay Target carries now as it has been 4 years!, since I last bought bagged hay. Just an animal free store option I thought I would mention. But the best hay to buy is local from a farm/feed store or online from Oxbow, Kleenmama's, SweetMeadow or American Pet Diner.
 

Tablo

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Or KMS!

(broken link removed)
(broken link removed)
(broken link removed)

Those are the links that I have. I don't know which one I want to order from!
 

Owned by cavy

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I buy Kaytee hay from Walmart, great big 96oz bags (I have 6 piggers) and it's always green and soft and wonderful. My pigs seem to love it and they eat every single piece that they can get thier little piggie lips on. The big bags only last about 2 weeks in my house. I don't know anything about ALT brand, but we like the Kaytee for hay.
 

CaliMoo

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Ive tried giving her oxbow and she doesnt seem to like it very much which is why ive stuck to kaytee timothy hay but the past times ive bought them they have been pretty dry and rough and i was given another type of brand before and it was really soft and she loved it but i completely forgot the name of it :/ so im still continuing my quest to find the best hay for her. i would order it in bulk but i dont have the money nor the room for that much amount of hay atm. soon as i do i will plan on getting it in bulk but for now im trying to get the best i can at the moment.
 

PigPandemonium

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Kaytee hay is horrible, and I've never heard of the other hay, so I'm guessing it's nothing to write home about. Go with Oxbow which you can get in petsmart (Though buying from petstores is bad because it supports all the nasty stuff they do) You can also get KMS from the link provided by someone above. My pigs like that best, and I believe it's the best quality.
 

Tablo

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Everything that I own from the ALT brand has been horrible quality, and I'm skeptical about even purchasing a couple of their nibble bowls (the bowl that Nico has isn't "dump proof" and he enjoys spilling it then running through it so it goes EEEEVERYWHERE and it's a huge waste of food) for my pig and for when I get my new pig child.
 

madelineelaine

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I use all living things hay, and I find it's okay. My first bag was wonderful, lush, green, fragrant. This bag isn't as great, but the pigs still eat it and wheek for it none the less.

The oxbow hay at my petsmart isn't very good quality, and I'll be going to a farmer soon hopefully.
If the ALT hay looks okay, I would get that. Normally kaytee has an openable package, with a little tie thing (I think) So you could always pop it open and look inside, if it looks decent then that would work.

I disagree that oxbow is the best hay, because it just depends. I've had good luck with ALT. I live close to the 'Country' In ontario though, and we have many hay farmers. Obviously I want to upgrade.

I really don't think the brand matters, so long as it's the best hay they have at the store.
 

jm_1234

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I agree, ALT in my opinion is better then Kaytee. I buy my hay by the bale now from a local farmer for $4/bale and for all 8 guinea pigs it lasts about a month. The bags of hay were only lasting about a week at the most and cost $20/bag. You should see if you can find a local farmer, its much cheaper.
 

Paula

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Hay is hay - there's nothing in the bag that's bad because of the brand. If it's pure timothy hay, it's pure timothy hay. It may be a better or worse cut or older/brown, etc. But the brands probably don't make much difference.

If you're in a place to buy a large quantity of hay, you might be able to find good quality stuff from a feed store for a fairly low price - I get bales for $20 or less for 70-80 lbs and it's really nice hay. It's definitely cheaper than buying small bags here and there if you can manage storing it!
 

piggypuppylove

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I am extremely allergic to timothy hay, so I buy orchard grass. However, before I discovered the orchard grass I tried both All Things Living and Kaytee. IMHO the All Things Living hay was far superior to the Kaytee and was much softer. It also didn't set my allergies off nearly as bad as the Kaytee. One whiff of the Kaytee hay and my throat starts to close up! If you can get Oxbow or one of their other brands, do... however if ATL and Kaytee are your only choices, I would go with ATL.
 

CaliMoo

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I am extremely allergic to timothy hay, so I buy orchard grass. However, before I discovered the orchard grass I tried both All Things Living and Kaytee. IMHO the All Things Living hay was far superior to the Kaytee and was much softer. It also didn't set my allergies off nearly as bad as the Kaytee. One whiff of the Kaytee hay and my throat starts to close up! If you can get Oxbow or one of their other brands, do... however if ATL and Kaytee are your only choices, I would go with ATL.

thank you for your honest opinion about the two brands im going to go ahead and try all living things and see for myself if its a lot better.


like i said before i would buy it by the bale BUT there are no places close by that sell it for cheap trust me i have checked so for now im trying to provide the best i can for my guinea :) i know buying from petstores isnt great but i do what i can to provide for my guinea that i love. thank you all for your opinions.
 
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