Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Register for free to enjoy the full benefits.
Find out more about the NEW, drastically improved site and forum!

Register
  • ONE THREAD per pig please!
    We really want your pig's history all in one place to help you. Please don't start a new thread for a new issue. Just reply to your old one. We can edit the title for you if needed.

Conditions Experience with aging piggies

  • Thread starter Guinea Pig Papa
  • Start date

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
I moved an item or two in his house and dumped oxbow orchard grass hay on top of his pellet bowl. He's picked at it and I think he's eaten some but not 100% sure. I wonder if changing everything in his cage might not confuse him enough to start eating hay again? I realize I may be grasping at straws (no pun intended) but I'll try whatever I can at this point.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
I was thinking the same thing with locally grown hay. Most of it is going to be for cows and horses. I live in the Niagara region so even though there are a lot of farms, they're of the fruit growing variety.

He'll eat freshly picked grass from my front lawn. There's never anything sprayed on it, and I'm not on a busy street. Not sure what kind of nutrition or fibre he gets from that or if it will help grind his teeth down.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Just start with small amounts of grass, and gradually work up to more. Grass has plenty of fiber, so it will be fine for the summer months.
Thank you for the reply, bpatters. Will it help to grind his teeth down as well, though? Tonight he seems to be binging on water and pellets.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Get grass that hasn't had pesticides sprayed on it.

My grass never, ever has anything sprayed on it for that exact reason.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
I will definitely keep my eye out for corn on the cob in the grocery stores here then. Doesn't usually show up here until June, though I'm hoping I get lucky. On a side note, I just caught Sly eating the Orchard grass. I'm in my office and if I lean over, I can see through both doorways and straight into the corner of his cage where the pile is. He thinks no one is watching. :)
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
I tried stuffing the hay into paper tubes, but he just rolls them along with his nose. I know most piggies don't play with toys, but Sly does. He'll roll a paper tube along, or pick it up in his teeth and throw it backward over his head. He'll roll a ball along and follow it, or a spool. He used to grab a ball with a bell in it hanging from the top of his cage and shake the holy hell out of it, but not so much any more. I put an empty plastic bowl in his cage and he'll push it all around his cage and then flip it over. Once it's flipped he'll ignore it, until I flip it back over and the game starts again.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Sly has decided today that he's going to eat his Oxbow Orchard grass. I caught him this morning when he thought no one was watching (it WAS pretty early, about 630). He didn't eat a lot, picked at it for a little while. I left about 730. He just had his small afternoon salad and after he finished that, he went into the corner to eat some more hay. I had a busy morning call wise and when I got home, his hay bucket was flipped up and partially dumped, this usually means that he wanted something in it, or at least had an interest in what was in there.

The boys have been getting the Oxbow Western Timothy Hay, and Sly used to eat that no problem his entire life. I bought the Orchard grass last week when I noticed he wouldn't touch his regular hay any more, but he's been snubbing the Orchard Grass too. So far those are the only two I've tried.

After he had some of the Orchard grass in the corner, I put a fresh handful down to encourage him to eat more. He's currently sleeping on it. Sigh.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
M.....if you can't obtain bluegrass from KMS, then you may not be interested in this report. The bluegrass arrived a few days ago and I'm happy to report that it is long strand, green and fragrant! The boys are absolutely mad for it.......in fact, they can hardly leave it alone. They both will bury themselves in it (in the litter box) and stay there indefinitely. As I write this, both are happily blissed out and deep in their midday nap.
Hahaha of course it's perfect. If I could get my hands on some for my boys I would. About the only option I'm going to have is to go to Niagara Falls, New York, get a post office box and see if I can ship it there and then go get it. Unfortunately that's going to take time, and I need to figure something out for Sly ASAP. We did find some fresh corn today at the grocery store. How much of the husks can he have?
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
I get my hay from Flower town Chinchillas. It ships form Brampton. I haven't had any luck in my area for hay, just south of Barrie. It's the same problem Sallyvh mentioned; it's all a mix of something else.

https://www.chinchilla.ca/

My pigs will eat anything in a toilet paper tube, especially hay! That may encourage him to eat.

I've found the same thing here, unfortunately. I tried the hay in the toilet paper tube, he didn't pay it any attention. He just rolled the tube around with his nose.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Lol, when it comes to my pigs I don't feel guilty, or silly or ashamed or anything. If people ask me questions, I say it's for my guinea pigs. I actually had a police officer comment one day that I bought a lot of vegetables and that I must really be trying to be healthy. I laughed and I said it's for my guinea pigs, I hate vegetables. He got a kick out of that, and when I realized that I was short about $5 and I hadn't brought my wallet, he paid for my bag of oranges. I literally lived across the street from the grocery store and I told him it was ok I could come back later, but he said no he'd like to pay for my oranges. Totally amazed me.

The staff at the grocery store all know me now and when I walk up to the checkout, they all ask how the little furballs are doing. I've held up the checkout line because all the checkout girls want to see pictures of the fellas!

I may even be able to ask them to save corn husk for me, but the only issue I can see with that is that I won't know if it's the outer husk or not, so I'll likely just keep buying my own if it will help him.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
This whole thing is just puzzling me, frustrating me and in all honesty, upsetting and scaring me. He's a happy, active pig. More active now than he's been in a while. He eats everything he's given, except his hay, which he used to eat no problem. Now his teeth are slanted again, maybe because he's not eating hay. And there's the weight loss. It's not a lot at any given time, but it adds up. He was 1416 grams the 2nd week of October, and that's when his tooth problem was discovered the first time and corrected. But his weight this week was down to 1232 grams. He loses 15 or 20 grams each week, then every now and again he goes back up 20 or 40 grams over a couple of weeks and then starts sliding down again.

I'm almost thinking that even though the hay is green and looks good, it might be crap. I've noticed the babies aren't eating as much as they used to, though they ARE eating it. I'll be getting a new bag tomorrow most likely.

I guess after losing Poopy last year, I'm getting a little more panicked about Sly.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Well, Sly occasionally picks at his hay, but really not eating any of it. I've tried two different bags of Oxbow Timothy, Orchard grass hay, and Botanical Hay. He's not interested. I hate to say it, but I'm going to have to try the Alfalfa hay to see if I can get him to eat that.

His weight is down to 1216 grams this morning.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
I picked up a bag of Oxbow Alfalfa hay tonight, and took it home for Sly. I put down a pile down next to his pellet bowl, and he dove right in. He sat there and ate it for about 20 minutes. Then he went for a tour of the pen, then back inside and ate for another 5 minutes or so. That's the most hay he's eaten in two weeks. I also picked up a bag of Organic Meadow Hay, so I'm going to try and mix the two and see what I get.

I guess what I'd really like to know is how effective the alfalfa hay will be at keeping his molars ground down, and how much fibre will he get from it?
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Damn, not what I was hoping to hear. It's the first hay he's really shown any interest at all in for days. I know about the calcium content, but would the extra protein not help his weight loss?
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Small Pet Selects Hay is the bomb. I've never seen much brown at all with their hay. I just got bluegrass from KMS after reading how green it is and to me it's got too much brown compared to SPS. Mooshy's 3rd cut timothy hay from SPS is all green and not overly dry like KMS bluegrass is this batch at least.

Have you checked this out? Found this on SPS website. "You can also find our product on Amazon Canada through third party sellers. Again the price will be higher than normal." May be worth getting some to see if Sly likes this. Mooshy will not eat hay that is too dry or has too many browns in it. Picky but at least with SPS in my 4 years I've been very pleased.

I have checked it out, roughly a week or two ago. Amazon carries a 10lb box of SPS hay for a whopping $207.77
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Yeah, I kind of thought the same thing. If I knew for sure Sly would eat it I would pay it in a heartbeat. Right now the alfalfa hay is the only thing I've gotten him interested in at all. I'm trying mixing it with organic meadow hay and see how well that goes. He was eating some botanical hay stuffed in a toilet paper tube not long ago so I'm hoping that perhaps some progress is being made.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
I'm sitting here shaking my head, because I just can't believe the generosity of people. Sometimes, doing what I do for a living, I see the worst side of humanity and it just makes me so very happy and thankful for the people here. Sly is eating SOME hay, a lot of pellets and drinking an awful lot of water. I filled his bottle fresh Monday night and he's drank three inches of water out of it since then. No trouble eating his veggies or any treats.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
As a fellow Canadian I feel the hay struggle. The only hay I can ever find that is decent is Oxbow. I buy it in 50 pound boxes from Rens Pet Depot.

As far as I know grass will help with wearing down teeth. My girls get a big bowl of grass and forages every day (we start slow once the grass starts growing and work them up to it), and they get veggies in the evening. The rest of the time they have lots of hay to munch on so i've never had teeth issues (knock on wood).

I have noticed Izzy has gotten a lot bonier since turning 6 as well. With her cysts she has turned into a pear shape as well. The vet said to supplement her with some alfalfa for muscle mass and to give her the oxbow vitamin C tabs. All of my girls will eat at least half a tab in one go so I normally just toss the remnants into the pellet bowl.

My late pig Felix LOVED the hay tabs so much. I could shake the bottle and he'd come bolting out for them. Izzy used to like them and then decided she didn't.

So hard getting vitamin C supplements into them sometimes!!
I actually use the Oasis Vitamin C drops. Sly gets an Oxbow Joint support tab every night, but he won't eat them straight out of the bottle, of course. They look like little cookies, so I ask Sly if he wants a "cookie" and he goes nuts. I grind them up into powder, mix with a little apple banana Critical Care, and halfway through packing the syringe I put a couple drops of Vitamin C in it. He gobbles it straight out of the syringe like candy. He takes his liquid glucosamine the same way, it's a treat to him!
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
I'm curious how you are able to grind them into a powder? What do you use to grind them? A pill grinder? Mortar and pestle? I am curious. I'm not sure if Izzy will eat critical care, but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to give her a half cc a day to supplement as she is getting bonier. I do wonder if I should look into the glucosamine as she is 6 and I don't think it would hurt.
I bought a KitchenAid zester from Walmart. I just use it like a cheese grater, and it grinds MOST of it into a fine powder. What's left I break into as small a pieces as possible and crush them into the bowl with a pestle, basically. I then mix it with a teaspoon of critical care, and all mixed it fills a little over half of one of those Monoject 412 syringes.

As far as the liquid glucosamine, I get the Wellesse 1 litre bottle from Costco. It's $20 bucks, and Sly gets a 1cc syringe full every morning. A 1 litre bottle at 1cc per day means the bottle will last 1 pig roughly 3 years. It worked extremely well on Poopy, so I started giving it to Sly as well as the cookies. Sly shows virtually no evidence of arthritis, other than the odd leg drag. He even still climbs the cage bars, getting his nose right over the top!
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Top