Forages dried forages/herbs?

[skritters]

My piggies go absolutely MENTAL over their kibble. As soon as the clock ticks round to kibble time (they've got amazing inner clocks!) they're just frantic until they get it.

I feed them VitaNature by VitaKraft ... I used to feed them Oxbow Cavy Cuisine but then after moving I picked this up at the feed store in a pinch and now they won't even touch Oxbow. I even tried mixing the two and they left all the Oxbow at the bottom. I checked out the profiles of each and they seem to be fairly comparable.

Anyway, something I like about this food is that it has "high ingredient diversity to encourage natural foraging behaviour," to quote the bag.

It includes:

FRUIT & VEGGIES: garden peas, carrots, cranberries, rose hips, leeks, and beetroot.
HERBS & FLOWERS: calendula, parsley, chamomile, dandelion leaves, raspberry, and peppermint.
GRAINS, SEEDS & CONES: carob pods, pine cones, wheat (puffed), rolled oats, barley, and flax seed.

there are also bits of hay mixed in (all timothy.)

Between all of the ingredients, they don't get very much of any one ingredient. the bulk of it is still pellets. They don't even touch the pine cones. They might get one piece of dried carrot a day, maybe a couple pieces of each thing. Probably the most I see in there are the chamomile petals, maybe because they're yellow. the grains are very limited.

However, despite there not being much of any of those things, it's obviously the forage they're after. I give them just under 1/4 cup each per day, since it's not all pellets, and there are always pellets left in the bottom of the bowl. Since I've read on here that some piggies are on pellet-free diets, I don't think I need to be concerned about this.

What I'm wondering is, are there other things I could add to this mix to increase the forage and add more nutritional diversity? Things I could get in bulk at my organic herbal dispensary?

I hope I'm not doing anything wrong here

 

[Princess_Piggie]

If I'm understanding this correctly (which I'm probably not - I'm not familiar with the food you're talking about), you're feeding a mix pellet, not an all-round pellet?
You should really be feeding an all round-pellet so as they can't leave things at the bottom of the bowl, selective feeding can really be a pain with pigs.

 

[skritters]

Nope, they're all-round pellets, that have forage mixed in amongst them.

I know, it seems a rare brand. I'd never heard of it before seeing it in the feed store.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

Not just a rare brand, a brand that isn't even in my country haha.

The piggies that are on pellet-free diets are on them for medical reasons, like one of @bpatters pigs is on a pellet-free due to excess calcium if I'm correct.

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

Are you saying that it has seeds and dried veggies and fruit mixed in it?

 

[skritters]

yes, it's a "complete" pellet that could stand alone, and the other things I listed are also in the bag. they're not a part of the actual pellet. Sorry if I did a bad job describing it I'm thinking of adding my own things to the bag since the pigs prefer the forage to the pellet.

oh, I thought the pellet-free argument was that gps don't eat pellets in nature so they shouldn't need them... But admittedly I haven't researched it greatly since I don't intend to stop feeding them pellets.

 

[2198lindsey]

The pellets are a sort of insurance that the guinea pigs are getting everything that they need. That's why it's important to have a high quality pellet. I've seen that food in pet stores local to me. I'm not sure that I would compare it at all to Oxbow...

First of all, like you mentioned, the fact that it's a mix makes it hard to ensure they don't just pick out what they like. So basically they're only getting the stuff that tastes good to them and not what they actually need.

I'd switch to a pellet that's higher in quality and only pellets. They might not eat it at first, my girls didn't either. But eventually they will learn to. My girls love their Oxbow now and do as you said your pigs do when it's near pellet time.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

I need to see the actual ingredients of the pellets, and not the added stuff.

Pigs do not need the extra grain (oats, barley, and wheat). I can't imagine that a pig would even eat carob pods or pine cones. It seems that with this food you are wasting your money, not to mention feeding your pig things that aren't good for them.

It would be best to go back to the Oxbow. Of course your pigs don't want it--wouldn't you rather eat candy than veggies? Just switch cold turkey. Your pigs will eat the Oxbow when they get hungry. As long as they are also getting their grass type hay they will be fine.

 

[2198lindsey]

I need to see the actual ingredients of the pellets, and not the added stuff.

Ingredients:
Timothy Grass Hay, Soybean Hulls, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Flaked Peas, Dehydrated Carrots, Carob Pods, Dried Calendula Petals, Chopped Timothy Grass Hay, Cane Molasses, Pine Cones, Puffed Wheat, Dehydrated Cranberries, Dried Rose Hips, Corn Gluten Meal, Yeast Culture, Rolled Oats, Wheat Middlings, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Heat-Processed Barley, Heat-Processed-Soybeans, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Parsley, Dried Chamomile Flowers, Dried Bay Leaves, Dehydrated Leeks, Dehydrated Apple, Ground Wheat, Salt, Choline Chloride, Magnesium Oxide, Potassium Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Biotin, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Methionine Complex, Manganese Methionine Complex, Copper Lysine Complex, Cobalt Glucoheptanate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Ground Beets, Dried Dandelion Leaves, Dried Raspberry Leaves, Dried Peppermint Leaves, Sodium Selenite

(broken link removed)

 

[pinky]

I'd skip it. Calcium carbonate (limestone) is high on the list and a bunch of other ingredients they'd be better without. KM is the best. Sweet Meadow or Oxbow for adults second. Corn gluten, rolled oats, barley alfalfa, ground beets are things they don't need. I'll bet it's a lot more expensive per pound than if you buy KM in bulk.