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

Hay Is my hay and pellets good for the guinea pigs?

MomoPrincess

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Posts
33
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
33
As 2 months have gone by since I have my guinea pigs, I want to make sure they get the best stuff...
Is Petco Hay good hay?
And is Walmart Pellets good pellets?

Thank you in advance... :)
 

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,246
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,246
Sorry, but no.

As far as I can find, those pellets have no hay in them whatsoever. Guinea pig pellets should have hay as the major ingredient, and the major ingredient of those is wheat middlings. The only two pellet brands that we recommnend here are Oxbow and KMS Hayloft. Both will cost you more than what you'll pay at Walmart, but with anything other than those, you'll run the risk of expensive, painful bladder stones and the vet bills will far exceed any savings you get by buying cheap pellets.

Any hay that you buy in a small bag at a pet store is likely to be old, dry and dusty. That's not to say that you can't occasionally find a bag of green hay, but it's not very likely. You'll also pay nearly three times as much per pound than if you bought it online at someplace like Small Pet Select, American Pet Diner, etc. And you'll pay many, many times more than what you'd have to pay a local farmer for a good bale of hay. Even if you a bale and had to donate most of it elsewhere, you'd still save a ton of money.
 

Kelsie

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Posts
147
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Messages
147
Please don't take this the wrong way but neither the hay or pellets are very good quality. Kaytee hay is really the last hay you should consider for your guinea pigs. The best ones are KMS, Small Pet Select, Oxbow and the one I recently discovered for my pigs is GuineaDad hay. Out of the four of them Oxbow is the only one that can be purchased in your local pet store. The other three are online only. I believe Amazon may carry all of them but I'm not completely sure about that. I usually alternate between KMS, Oxbow and GuineaDad hay.

Although I've never used the Walmart brand of pellets I can't imagine it is very good quality. Once again, the best pellets to buy are KMS, Small Pet Select or Oxbow. I used to always purchase KMS pellets but a few years ago they changed the diameter of the pellets and it just turned my pigs off of the brand. I use Oxbow exclusively now and have for the last 2-3 years. My pigs have done very well on that brand.
 

MomoPrincess

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Posts
33
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
33
Any hay that you buy in a small bag at a pet store is likely to be old, dry and dusty. That's not to say that you can't occasionally find a bag of green hay, but it's not very likely. You'll also pay nearly three times as much per pound than if you bought it online at someplace like Small Pet Select, American Pet Diner, etc. And you'll pay many, many times more than what you'd have to pay a local farmer for a good bale of hay. Even if you a bale and had to donate most of it elsewhere, you'd still save a ton of money.

Oh man... the previous owner used Kaytee so I thought it must be a good company. Is this Petco APD good hay? I think it's American Pet Diner.
 

MomoPrincess

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Posts
33
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
33
Although I've never used the Walmart brand of pellets I can't imagine it is very good quality. Once again, the best pellets to buy are KMS, Small Pet Select or Oxbow. I used to always purchase KMS pellets but a few years ago they changed the diameter of the pellets and it just turned my pigs off of the brand. I use Oxbow exclusively now and have for the last 2-3 years. My pigs have done very well on that brand.


I did heard Oxbow is a good company. Should I go for Petco Oxbow Essentials?
 

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,246
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,246
The Pet Diner hay should be OK, but you can get it still cheaper by ordering larger quantities directly from APD.

The Oxbow pellets are fine.
 

MerryFriarTuck

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jun 23, 2019
Posts
545
Joined
Jun 23, 2019
Messages
545
I did heard Oxbow is a good company.

I and my piggies LOVE everything Oxbow! The pellets are always so fresh, and they're one of the few brands you can truly trust. One of my piggies was an underweight baby when I got him, and when I switched him to oxbow he filled out and got such shiny fur. After trying a few different hays ( including Kaytee hay) I like oxbow hay best, very fresh and green, especially their orchard grass/timothy mix. You can buy their hay in bulk 25 or 50 lbs boxes online, which makes it much cheaper than Kaytee :)
 

MomoPrincess

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Posts
33
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
33
The Pet Diner hay should be OK, but you can get it still cheaper by ordering larger quantities directly from APD. The Oxbow pellets are fine.

But what if my guinea pigs don't like the pet diner...? If they don't I can buy oxbow hay next time. And if they do like it then I will buy a big bulk of Pet diner hay.
 

MomoPrincess

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Posts
33
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
33
So I just bought the oxbow hay (half timothy+half orchard), oxbow alfalfa hay, and oxbow pellets today (I couldn't buy Pet diner because it takes time to ship and I was running out of hay and pellets) and the guinea pigs love it!!!! The moment I placed the new hay and pellets, they were eating like it was vegetables hahahah. Thank you so much for knowledging me about guinea pigs hay and pellets. Thank you <3
 

MerryFriarTuck

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jun 23, 2019
Posts
545
Joined
Jun 23, 2019
Messages
545
I use the same oxbow orchard grass/timothy mix, it's always so soft and green and my piggies love it, too! So glad to hear yours are loving everything oxbow, that's awesome! :)
 

MomoPrincess

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Posts
33
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
33
And you'll pay many, many times more than what you'd have to pay a local farmer for a good bale of hay. Even if you a bale and had to donate most of it elsewhere, you'd still save a ton of money.

I recently bought Timothy/Orchard hay bale from local farm and they are refusing to eat it!! :(
I've offered that hay for more than 2 days and they are still not eating it. The hay looks mostly brown but it smells good and isn't dusty. I believe it's first cut. hay.jpg
 

MomoPrincess

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Posts
33
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
33
Oh, the pet store has way greener hay than this... maybe it's because I bought this hay bale in winter?
 

SSLee

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
Posts
276
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
Messages
276
@MomoPrincess, I'm sorry but that brown hay looks very unappetizing and if I were a guinea pig, I wouldn't be interested in eating it either. I can't believe the local farm thinks it is OK to sell you that brown hay. I've also bought locally grown hay, via a neighborhood rabbit owner, that was dry (crunchy) with thick stems. My piggies barely nibbled on it and most of it ended up in the compost bin. Good luck with getting some replacement hay quickly.
 

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,246
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,246
Hay should be green. You got either a very old bale, or one that was harvested too late.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.

Similar threads

Top