Oxbow or Sherwood?

[Adriannecvr]

I’ve been seeing a lot of controversy between the two lately! I feed my boys an 8th of a cup of Oxbow every morning but I want to make sure it’s the healthiest brand out there! What do you all think?

 

[DM100321111]

haha, let me tell you, I’ve been through every brand of pellet available to me and ripped apart the nutritional benefits. Purely because I was bored and this stuff interests the hell out of me!

Typically, here’s the accepted nutrition requirements for piggypellets
Avoid Lucerne/alfalfa for older guinea pigs (6 months +)

Avoid corn products and beet pulp, there are quite a few not so good ingriedients you should avoid but they tend to fall under corn/grain

Highest fibre content

Lowest fat content (no more than 3% ideally)
Low calcium (better to have low calcium pellets, then add a supplement if you need to for younger pigs!)
12-18% Protein (debatable)
1.3:1 - 1.6:1 Cahosphorus

my numbers may be slightly skewed as I haven’t got my expertly written reference sheet...I’m also missing some values but I can find them and give you a more comprehensive analysis if you’re interested (look at me thinking I’m a nutritionist, honestly I’m no expert I just find this interesting?).

For oxbow...
25%+ fibre...yes, yes yes
Min 14% protein
Min 2% fat

That alone looks pretty good to me, it ticks the essential boxes. I’ve also read up a lot on the best pellets and oxbow always pops up.
This brand isn’t readily available to me, I feed mine a mix of Pets at home own brand (contains alfalfa) and Versele Laga complete Cavia!

I’d stick with oxbow, it’s second to very few brands!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Here is our nugget comparison chart. Some of them may not be internationally available though
Nugget Comparison Chart

 

[Adriannecvr]

Here is our nugget comparison chart. Some of them may not be internationally available though
Nugget Comparison Chart

Lovely, thank you