General Combining oxbow natural science supplements

[SophieBaby]

The pet store I go to finally started carrying some of the products from the Oxbow Natural Science supplement line (yay!!). I got the "Digestive Support" for my older Piggy and I was planning on getting the "Senior Support" for him as well. I also wanted to get the "Multi-Vitamin" one for him and my other piggy.
Before I go out and buy it, I was wondering how many different kinds of these supplements I can feed to my guinea pigs daily? It doesn't specify if and/or how many kinds can be combined, so I wanted to find out before feeding them multiple kinds (in their case two or three). If anyone has any information on this, I'd love to know! Thank you!

 

[pouty]

I myself do not know, but let's look at the ingredients together!!

Oxbow Multivitamin

Crude Protein (min)	10.00%
Crude Fat (min)	5.00%
Crude Fiber (min)	8.00%
Crude Fiber (max)	12.00%
Moisture (max)	8.00%
Ash (max)	7.00%
Calcium (min)	0.30%
Calcium (max)	0.50%
Phosphorus (min)	0.30%
Copper (min)	10 mg/kg
Vitamin A (min)	200 IU
Vitamin D3 (min)	20 IU
Vitamin E (min)	1 IU
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) (min)	5 mg
Omega 3 Fatty Acids (min)	1.20%
Omega 6 Fatty Acids (min)	1.40%

Oxbow Senior

Manna Oligosaccharide (MOS)	40 mg
Ginkgo Biloba	22.5 mg
Ashwagandha Root	18 mg
Ginger Root	18 mg
Milk Thistle Seed	18 mg
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA)	2 mg

Oxbow Digestive Support

Crude Protein (min)	12.00%
Crude Fat (min)	4.00%
Crude Fiber (min)	8.00%
Crude Fiber (max)	12.00%
Moisture (max)	10.00%
Ash (max)	6.00%
Calcium (min)	0.35%
Calcium (max)	0.55%
Phosphorus (min)	0.30%
Copper (min)	8 mg/kg

It looks like the Senior tablet won't clash with either the multivitamin or the digestive support, but the digestive support and multivitamin clash too much in their ingredients for me to feel comfortable combining them! I'd definitely wait for a more seasoned member to answer, but I think you're safe in combining the senior tablet with either multivitamin OR digestive support, but not the multivitamin with the digestive support. Assuming your piggies are getting hay, pellets, and veggies daily, you do not want to overdose them on vitamins.

I use the digestive support daily!



EDIT** Their website has all the ingredients: (broken link removed)

 

[bpatters]

Guinea pigs don't generally need multivitamins, so I'd skip those. And if your pig is healthy -- maintaining weight, eating/pooping/drinking/peeing normally, and is reasonably active, why are you giving those things anyway?

You need to remember that those companies are in the business of selling things, not in the business of keeping your pig healthy. If there's a specific need you can meet with some produce like that, use it. But if you pig has good quality hay, pellets and vegetables, there's no need for them.

 

[ArcanaNoir]

I just started giving my guinea pig the vitamin C tablet at the advice of my vet (my piggy has been through an illness recently). She loves them so they must taste good, and I know molasses is an ingredient in them, so I wonder if offering multiple tablets might be too much sugar.

 

[sallyvh]

I have my one pig on 3 of the different supplements with the approval of my vet.

Margaret get the Vitamin C, Urinary support and Joint support.

I honestly don't know if these things are doing anything but she likes them.

The vitamin C obviously supplements that. She is a stone pig so I give her the urinary support tabs, she's been on them for 2 years now and has had some sludge and small stone issues since, but nothing like her first stone. We recently started joint support as she is around 6 years old and is slow to move around. She doesn't have obvious arthritis from radiographs but our vet believes she is starting to develop it and the glucosamine in the supplements may help before we start treatment with pain medication.

 

[lisa325]

I give my guys the urinary support tablets ( don't know if they make a difference but I give them anyway ) along with a low calcium diet, because they do leave some white urine spots on their fleece. The spots are just fine powder, but I take all the precautionary measures as a "just in case" approach.