Australia Fellow Aussies! Which hay and pellets do you feed?

I have 4 young boars, Oxbow is great!! I order mine online at www.drsfostersmith.com a 5lb bag will last me a month for all 4 pigs at $8.99 or 10lb bag for $15.99, I get the Oxbow Essentials "young" Guinea Pig food, this will have the right amount of Vitamin C needed(which is 800mg) for babies. (6 mo & under)
For older Pigs is the adult & also the Oxbow Organic that is really good for Adult pigs! I use all hay & grass. Mainly Kaytee & Timothy. I like to actually go to the feed store or pet store to pick my own hay & grass. Only b/c it has to be FRESH for my babies! Hope this helps

I get mine from: (broken link removed)

Also discovered a new Timothy Hay supplier in Australia other than Oxbow! (broken link removed). I've ordered some second cut timothy hay from Momi, so shall see how my pigs like it. Same price as oxbow but I get 1kg more.

For pellets, I feed OxBow Cavy Cuisine. As for hay, I feed Oaten. I get them from my local exotics vet.

I live on a farm so I feed my guinea pig the type of hay we have (it's always grass hay). For pellets we give you oxbow young guinea pig food bc she's still really young. When she's 6 months old ill change to oxbow adult guinea pig food!

Oaten hay for me as it just looks greener and fresher than the imported Timothy I have seen around me, as well as being a whole heap cheaper. I have just bought Vetafarm Cavy Origins pellets which are an Australian owned and made brand and 1/3 the price of imported OxBow. The place I buy them from seems to think they are on-par with Oxbow without the costs of plane fuel added on top I don't know if they are but the piggies seem to eat them happily

Aussiepiggies, one thing to watch out for is that the Vetafarm pellets are made from Lucerne so are much higher in Calcium than the Oxbow (which are Timothy based), too much Calcium as adults can lead to sludge and stones so I'd be very mindful of that.

Aertyn said:

Aussiepiggies, one thing to watch out for is that the Vetafarm pellets are made from Lucerne so are much higher in Calcium than the Oxbow (which are Timothy based), too much Calcium as adults can lead to sludge and stones so I'd be very mindful of that.

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Ohhh thank you @Aertyn! I was looking all over the net for some info with pros/cons of it and was hoping someone more learned might be able to steer me in the right direction Is there another Aussie made pellet that you recommend?

Finding Aussie pellets with no Lucerne hay is really hard, maybe try asking your pet store and see if they can get in any Oxbow products, it's definitely worth it in the end.

Also, I agree with Oaten hay looking better, it's nice and green, cheap and my pigs love it.

I get my meadow hay from bunnywonderland.com.au It's the cheapest and highest quality hay I can buy, as far as I'm concerned.

I also use the meadow hay from bunnywonderland.com , same as @fuzzywuzzy. It's very cheap & the quality is quite good as well, better than oaten hay I had bought at a pet store. The oaten hay was mostly yellow & filled with stalks & was more like straw than hay, which sucked. I don't use pellets at all, so I go for the HAFF diet, but if I did, I would have to buy oxbow.

Fluffball said:

I get mine from: (broken link removed)

Also discovered a new Timothy Hay supplier in Australia other than Oxbow! (broken link removed). I've ordered some second cut timothy hay from Momi, so shall see how my pigs like it. Same price as oxbow but I get 1kg more.

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When I clicked on the link, I noticed rabbit pellets which don't contain the vitamin C that guinea pigs need. Do you feed rabbit or guinea pig pellets?

AussiePiggies said:

Ohhh thank you @Aertyn ! I was looking all over the net for some info with pros/cons of it and was hoping someone more learned might be able to steer me in the right direction Is there another Aussie made pellet that you recommend?

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To my knowledge there is no Aussie made pellet that is made with a grass hay, all are made with Lucerne. I've tried a lot of brands over the years, but settled on Oxbow about 5 years ago. It's pricey, but a bag can last awhile if fed 1/8th (or a tablespoon and a bit each a day) and works out very cheap per day to feed. Frankly, after having dealt with a stone pig I don't chance feeding excess calcium anymore.

I only use Oxbow. Just like Aertyn, I'm concerned about calcium. I also feel better knowing that they're getting vitamin c from their pellets. It's like the insurance in their diet that if they get fussy with their veggies, they still get great nutrition. The pellets are uniform as well so they can't eat just their favourite bits and miss the healthy parts.

Are you in Brisbane MissPiggyAus? There's a few Pet Cafe stores around that sell Oxbow pellets much cheaper than anywhere else I've found. I buy grassy hay by the bale from Rochedale Produce typically.

I was buying Oxbow through MyPetWarehouse online until my local vets starting stocking it. From $28/bag to $16/bag. Such a massive saving. If you check out the Oxbow Australia website they have a list of all Australian stockists.

pinky said:

When I clicked on the link, I noticed rabbit pellets which don't contain the vitamin C that guinea pigs need. Do you feed rabbit or guinea pig pellets?

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I feed these for my rabbits. The Nature-T pellets are however 100% made from hay. No additives, no preservatives basically just fortified timothy hay. The only all natural pellet I have found. I give my guinea pigs enough Vitamin C in their vegetables, fruits and daily intake to ensure the correct ratio. I also have fed a HAFF diet (no pellets) for over 7 years.

Fluffball said:

The Nature-T pellets are however 100% made from hay.

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I've looked at the Momi Hay Nature-T pellets online and they look perfect for my wheat and soy intolerant Olive. Hurrah. (She eats plenty of veg and grass, and will take Oxbow vitamin C tablets from my hand, so there's no worry about scurvy with her, she just screams when the other pigs get pellets and not her, boo.)

stray hares said:

I've looked at the Momi Hay Nature-T pellets online and they look perfect for my wheat and soy intolerant Olive. Hurrah. (She eats plenty of veg and grass, and will take Oxbow vitamin C tablets from my hand, so there's no worry about scurvy with her, she just screams when the other pigs get pellets and not her, boo.)

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Wheat and soy intolerance? Poor little piggy! I've never come across that before. If you don't mind me asking, what symptoms does that present?

She actually is intolerant to a number of veg as well. It actually took a really long time to work out what was wrong! She was gaining weight quite a bit at one point but this was combined with severe diarrhoea (an odd combination in a pig), she was even on a hay and vitamin C tablet diet only at one point for a few weeks, just to get everything under control. She has quite a sensitive digestive system, and I have to be careful what to feed her. She loves, loves, loves Oxbow pellets, and Critical Care, but she just can't eat them without getting an upset stomach. At one point I could hear her stomach rumble loudly when she just was sitting on the couch next to me. I've learned the hard way too that having a pig with an upset digestive system can lead to bacterial unbalances shed in her poo that can passed on to the other pigs in her herd too. A herd of six pigs with a flagellate infection and diarrhoea needing medication twice a day does not equal fun. :/