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Hay Alternatives to Timothy Hay

Lovecraft

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
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Sep 2, 2012
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Joined
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So, I'm probably allergic to Timothy Hay. Ever since I stopped using it and switched to other sorts of hay, I stopped getting crippling sinus headaches. Right now, the boys are on a mix of oat grass and orchard hays, but today I got a giant splinter in my hand from the oat hay. That's probably not good, is it? For me or them!

I saw that the oxbow website carries (broken link removed)made of compressed timothy. Does anyone know how these are for allergies? Better? Worse? How are they in terms of pig nutrition? Can I use them to supplement the orchard hay they're getting? I kind of want to cut the oat hay out because if I got a splinter, they could too...or am I reading too much into that?

I hear a lot of good things about KMS Bluegrass Hay. How's their delivery times? I always get uncomfortable when ordering staple things online. I worry I might run out before more comes.
 

Paula

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This topic has actually been covered in absurd detail on the forum. The hay cakes are fine, as a supplement, but they need fresh grass hay available to them at all times, without exception. Oat hay is technically a grass hay but not really ideally fed as such. Daily feeding is fine, but do keep up the orchard grass daily, too. Hay cakes cannot replace long strand grass hay. They need the long strands for their teeth and for their gut. Cakes are good for neither, but they are fine to offer as a treat.

That you got a splinter in your hand really is of no consequence - guinea pigs and other herbivores eat things differently and aren't generally going to be affected by these things the way we are - they can eat blackberry leaves with thorns, which of course cause tremendous issue for our phalanges, but none for them.

Linda and Nessa usually ship within a couple days, often the same day your items are ordered. They ship FedEx ground, which takes a day to a week depending on your location.
 

madelineelaine

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@Paula Does that mean I can stop cutting the prickled sections out of the raspberry leaves? I spend a good half an hour cutting the middles out so the pigs don't get a prickle stuck in their mouth.
 
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