Hay Problems with Oxbow Western Timothy Hay

[Mike221]

Hello,

Is anyone having problems recently with the quality of Oxbow Western Timothy Hay?

Our piggies eat that hay from the day one and never had any problems.

Now what happened, I bought a new bag once the old was almost done, and one of the piggies did not want to touch it.
His droppings became deformed with tails and he pooped 10 times less than usual.
He didn't even liked being touched and wasn't himself.
Other piggy wasn't delighted with the hay either, his droppings became very small.
Hay was very green, soft and intensive grass smell. I think it was 1st harvest or something like that, not sure how they grade hay.

So we got worried he is sick, it was long weekend and everything closed.
First chance I got I bought new bag of Oxbow hay with a different Lot #, which was drier and how it used to be.
They started eating right away, especially the piggy that stopped eating completely.
In 24 hours he was back to normal poops and back to 100 poops a day.

Everything was good until that bag lasted.
Yesterday I bought new bag again, and seems they don't like eating it.
Both of their poops are now very dry and small.

I am in Canada so KMS is too expensive to deliver here.
Local stores have Kaytee, All Living Things and Vitakraft.

Is any of those good quality?
Or should I try with Orchard or Botanical Hay Oxbow hay?

Again, I don't want something with higher calcium, as one piggy recently had bladder stone.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

The remedy for what happened with your pigs is precisely what you've done. If your pigs seem unhappy with a new bag of hay, buy another. Oxbow is usually very good with their hay, but occasionally you'll find a lower quality bag here and there. I know it can be wasteful, especially at the cost of a big bag of Oxbow in Canada. That said, the piggies welfare outweighs the cost of a bag of hay and its by far the most important thing they eat.

The other brands of hay you've listed are all crap. Don't waste your money. I may be wrong, but I think Oxbow has a guarantee on their hay. You may be able to go on their website to find out.

 

[Mike221]

I definitely don't care about spending $ on my piggies.

And I hope that only hay is the problem.
But it took me like 3 hours from store to store to find a large bag of hay.
For some reason all suppliers have only small bags, which last hardly a week.

And I think I will contact Oxbow about the guarantee you were mentioning, I can't find anything on the website.

But I also found they have different sizes:
15 oz, 40 oz, 90 oz, 9 lb, 25 lb, 50 lb.

Stores in Canada sell only up to 90 oz. at around $35 per bag.
I found couple of online options $90 shipping included for 50lb bag.

If I get a good one, I should be good for like half year.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

I know. I was looking for a large bag at Petsmart last week, same problem. I could only find a medium bag. It happens from time to time.

 

[lissie]

It sounds like your pigs did not like the greener hay. You can pull the hay out of the bag and let it dry out. See if they will eat those. In the mean time just buy a new bag.

 

[bpatters]

Can you find a local farmer? Canada supplies an insane amount of hay to the world.

 

[miniver]

Where are you in Canada?

I order 50lb boxes from Flowertown Chinchillas. They are in Ontario (same as me). Ren's Pet Depot is another option in this area. It costs me about $130 for the box including taxes and shipping and it lasts 3 or 4 months for two sows.
https://www.chinchilla.ca

 

[sallyvh]

Not sure where you are in Canada, but in Southern Ontario the only real option for bulk hay is Oxbow. You could also go with a local farmer if you can find one, but I have had a lot of issues finding pure timothy hay.

Unfortunately the quality does tend to vary a lot (something that is not really in Oxbows control) and you can end up with a bad batch. I'm delighted though when I get a box of the super soft green stuff, my girls go insane for it. My issue is that sometimes the boxes are much to hard and stalky and the girls won't touch it.

Lately my boxes have been decent. If you buy in store, always ask a store associate to open the box so you can look at it. The store I buy my 50lb boxes from is always happy to open them.

If you're in Ontario, check if there is a Ren's Pet Depot near by. That is where I buy all my hay.

 

[miniver]

I just realized you are in the Saskatoon area. I looked up the price of hay at Petlands in the western part of the country. It's really expensive - $58 for 2x90oz bags of hay. That's only 11 pounds. I may be a city gal from Ontario but I thought they had hay in the prairies. lol

You could try asking talking to local recuses or SPCA for hay sources. People with rabbits may also be able to help but just watch the type of hay. I think rabbits can tolerate some alfalfa.

 

[guineap1gl0ver1]

I was wondering if you are close to the us border. It might be cheaper if you can go across and bring some over.

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