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Excell Burgess pellets

Eviolus-

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
May 19, 2019
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Location
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Are the excell pellets good for pigs?

My pigs love them but I was considering swapping since I've seen a few reviews saying there are unsafe ingredients, does anyone else use them?
 
I would not use burgess pellets as some of the ingredients are not healthy for guineas such as Alfalfa (Lucerne) and sugar beat pulp, a grain free one would be a much healthier choice.
 
My pigs were all on burgess excel until I moved them over to harringtons. I think there are some on here who do use burgess excel, but if you want to change that’s ok too. That thread linked above is good, and you can do a search on the pellets you want and see peoples’ opinions
 
We mix burgess excel with harringtons at the moment..trying to switch over..it all gets hoovered..we used to use pets at home nuggets, but the staff said that Burgess excel with mint was the same company different shape, when they had sold out! Who knows..I think the harrington change over will be complete soon..very happy piggies here xx
 
My vets who are very piggy savvy recommend Burgess, they are not convinced by grain free and say it's more important the mineral content is balanced correctly which in their opinion Burgess is. I feed grainless ones, (JR Farm, Versele Laga and Science Selective) every pellet I've read the ingredients for has something in it I don't like them to have. As they only have a tablespoon a day I decided I had to stop worrying about it.
 
My lot have Harringtons and Velvet would sell her soul for them she loves them so much.
 
Piggies are a funny lot, none of mine will touch Harringtons. At the moment I'm having a battle with some Woodlands. I'm trying to tempt Peanut as I've been syringe feeding him for a month and thought maybe something new would do it! Silly me.
 
It's a good idea not to stick to one make, if they change the ingredients ..............

I had a cat who would only eat Whiskas (thanks RSPCA wo she lived with for sometime). I had heck of a job to get her to eat anything else, she lost a lot of weight. Helpful people told me she wouldn't starve and just to leave food down she will eat it eventually. Anyone who knows cats knows they are as stubborn as piggies!
 
I almost did this when the girls were only picking out the burgess. In the end I persevered and now they’ll eat them!
It makes me shudder though to think guinea pigs of my neighbours in the 80's were being fed the same museli mix as hamsters..all those sunflower seeds..arrgh..!
 
My piggies will only eat burgess with mint, tried other pellets but they’d tip the bowl over and turn their noses up lol, sassy boys! :doh:
 
Mine now get burgess both of the flavours. As I'm convinced that changing my old piggies onto science selective grain free caused bladder stones and urinary issues. As I'd never had any Issues when I fed burgess previously, and about 6 months of being on the grain free and I lost a lot of the piggies to bladder and stones issues. I'm thinking it's something to do with the calcium phosphorus ratio.
 
Mine now get burgess both of the flavours. As I'm convinced that changing my old piggies onto science selective grain free caused bladder stones and urinary issues. As I'd never had any Issues when I fed burgess previously, and about 6 months of being on the grain free and I lost a lot of the piggies to bladder and stones issues. I'm thinking it's something to do with the calcium phosphorus ratio.


This is what two of my vets have been saying, it's to do with the mineral balance.
 
I'm beginning to doubt them too, although the German ones seem to have much better ingredients. I've had 4 out of 8 pigs with some kind of bladder problem since feeding SS grain free. I know a man who has kept hundreds of guinea pigs over 60 years has never fed pellets and never had a piggy with a stone. My vets have said not to go entirely pellet free as they help to balance the diet, but I'm very tempted.
 
We use burgess, Princess is on selective as she's switching over gradually but I've found mine love burgess and touch wood they are all healthy 😊 never had any bladder issues with nugget, fluffy or marshmallow and they've been on burgess for months 😊
 
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