Won't Eat KayteenTimothy...went bananas but now won't touch!

[Lasinalia]

I bought a bag of Kaytee Timothy Hay n at first all three of my piggerts went nuts! Fighting each other for every last mouthful but i don't see them eating hardly any now and it's been a couple days. They are still eating veg (picky eaters don't eat everything i give them) and pellets. They drink water but also not as much as they had been. I gave their bottle a thorough scrub (rinsed of course) just now so we'll see what they do with that.

should i be worried about the less hay they're eating? Sigh...

 

[LitaRutherford]

Kaytee isn't the best brand. It's try and twiggy. My boys will eat if it they have to but they barely touch it most times. I'd recommend either trying to find a nice green back of Oxbow (which can be hard sometimes) or order bulk, either online or I know feed stores sometimes have timothy hay. Though a feed store will likely have a large bale. I order Small Pet Select hay, they gobble it up and have been for months.

I also give them oxbow botanical or oxbow orchard grass occationally as a treat, just to mix things up.


as for the water, my boys very on how much water they drink. It can also depend on how much water they got from their veggies that day.

 

[bpatters]

Not only is Kaytee generally poor quality hay, but if you're buying it at a pet store, it's by far the most expensive way to get hay. The quality is much poorer as well, because it sits around in the warehouse of the pet store selling it, and is usually very old and dry by the time you get it.

By far the cheapest way to get hay is to find a local farmer who has grass hay. It should be less than $10 a bale, and even if you can't store it all and wind up throwing 2/3 of it away, it's still waaaay cheaper than pet store hay.

Or, you can order KMS, American Pet Diner, or Sweet Meadow Farm online, or have Oxbow delivered in bulk to a feed or pet store near you. The upfront cost will be higher because it's a bulk order, but if you work out the price per pound, it'll be less than half of the cost of the small bags you get in a pet store.

 

[Lasinalia]

Well I hate to throw it away since it was $12/bag but I also only paid $10 for a huge bale of grass hay. I'll switch to the local-grown and see if they start munching again. Any suggestions I could do to the Kaytee hay?

 

[Artista]

When I got my gp, I got the pet store 'kit.' This was the cage, kaytee (junk) food and it's hay (along with water bottle and cheap litter). I found out about kaytee not long after I brought her home. I just tossed mine. It's junk. Why feed it to any other animal. Other than it being consumed, there's nothing you can do with hay.

 

[cavykaitlyn]

My girls used to love the Kaytee hay, actually.
The very last bit of hay Delilah had was Oxbow Orchard Grass. She was over the moon! Gobbled it up 10x faster.

The hay was still brown in places (okay because it was at PetSmart) but it's soft and smells wonderful!

 

[LitaRutherford]

I'd see if they'd let you return it? Otherwise keep it for emergencies? If my boys run out of the good stuff I have gotte kaytee for short periods of time just to get them through, cause its better then nothing.

 

[Lasinalia]

I've already used about a handful...do you think they would let me return it?

 

[GuineaGirls]

For my pigs, normal second cut Timothy hay is their favorite. It also happens to be a very popular choice for piggie owners.

I have tried Kayteen hay with my piggies before to see if they liked it, they only took one bite then left it and didn't touch anymore.

 

[LitaRutherford]

They might, my pet store offers no questions asked returns but it depends. If you bring up that it was unusable and the pigs won't eat it then you' have better luck. But it's worth a shot.

 

[Lasinalia]

Thanks!! I will definitely phone them and see.