No Pellet Diet Advice

[CuteAsAButton]

Hi guys, I have 2 boars that I want to switch to a no pellet diet; youngest piggy is 9 months and oldest is 4 years old. I have problems with calcium deposits on the fleece and 2 of my previous piggies had bladder stone issues. I have tried loads of different pellets and only feed 1/8 cup of pellets per pig but my boys are picky and the only brands they really like are oxbow which is expensive and burgess which I know is alfalfa (lucerne) based and full of molasses so I don't want to feed them those. I have heard of people not feeding pellets at all so I am after some advice on what to feed instead.

They have unlimited amounts of timothy and meadow hay and I am going to start filtering their water. For veggies they get a mixture which includes round lettuce, little gem lettuce, peppers (I feed those daily), cucumber, baby sweetcorn, plum tomatoes, fennel, coriander, apple and carrot. I want to ensure they get all the vitamins they need so is there anything else I should feed? I have started to avoid kale and cabbage as these are quite high in calcium.

Any suggestions from people who feed pelletless are most welcome. I want to make their diet as natural as possible.

Thanks.

 

[sport_billy]

I don't have any advice myself but found this thread for you Going Pelletless!

 

[Hannah Boyd]

Mine are almost pellet less! This was partly due to calcium suspicions but partly just to follow a more 'natural' diet. I follow the IC diet for veggies, which is given am and pm. Then they have timothy hay and meadow hay. They were completely pellet less for a little while then I decided to use up my final bag of pellets so I scattered them through the bedding to encourage foraging. They are now inside in a big pen on the floor and sometimes they get restless so a scatter of pellets is the ideal distraction and so I have bought some more, except this time some natures own ones (I think, new, hadn't seen them before) from PaH, which they love. I don't do this for dietary reasons though, they are fine without pellets, I just do it because it gives them some entertainment and because they like them!

I think as long as you follow a veggie plan to meet their nutritional requirements, there is no issue with not feeding pellets. Mine have lost weight (two were definitely too fat) and they seem more active. I also found that a trigger for the piggie I was suspicious about IC issues was possibly carrot. I was also giving her vegetarian glucosamine for a few months and I think that helped too but she no longer has it and she is fine.

Good luck, and sorry for the ramble!

 

[DM030819]

I had a boar that had 2 bladder stone surgeries and was still suffering from calcium issues so I stopped feeding him pellets.

He lost 200g in weight gradually and then stopped at a healthy 1.2kg.

Later in life he was diagnosed as having severe arthritis. The vet said that him having no pellet diet had no impact but I still wonder if it would have been different if he still had pellets.

He never formed another bladder stone but at times he was a bit sludgy.