Pellet help please

Ninarodders

Ninarodders

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi, I'm new here and a new piggy owner. I got my 2 boys from someone who used to work with my husband. Einstein is around a year and Darwin is around 5 months. They came with pets at home nuggets. Now looking at the ingredients alfalfa is no 1 on the list and worried I need to switch food. I've been looking and looking and its like I need a degree in this lol. I thought about switching to excell but that has it in aswell about no 3 on the list. Any help will be massively appreciated please.

Oh on a side note I took them to the vet last week for a check up just in case and both were signed off healthy boys.
 
I was also worried when a piggie arrived with her own 2 sacks (literally sacks) of the PaH nuggets but they've actually proved our most popular offering. We chose our own Burgess pellets (the blackcurrant version) because they were sold by the vet so I thought they must be OK(?) We started to use some of each to try and wean Flora onto the Burgess but everyone was so greedy for the PaH ones that we now do 3/4 Burgess and then a pinch of PaH on top. It's the quantity that's important - too much gives too much calcium which bungs up the waterworks. We use low Ca bottled water too as we're in a super hard water area. If you do decide to make a change do it gradually so they don't fret... or use a combination for a bit of variety!
 
The comparison chart above is a great guide! We have choose science selective grain free, the seem to be a popular option for many and are made with Timothy hay instead of Alfalfa. ☺️
 
Thank you for the replies. I just got worried when I read alfalfa on the ingredients list. They don't seem to eat much of it tbh. Much less than the recommended amount on the back. They get i think a quarter of cup each but they never eat it all. I'm gona weigh it out again out of interest to see how much they get compared to the recommended amount. I know hay is important so give them 2 or 3 different types a day and they love when I give fresh hay. They obs also get their fresh veggies too. Thanks again. Ill use that chart and see if its worth swapping or not. But if there's other piggies out there who eat it fine then I may stay on it and maybe start adding in a mix of one other brand.
 
Definitely don’t give them what the packaging says - it’s far too much, quarter of a cup is still too much (google says it translates to just over 3 tablespoons). They only need one tablespoon per pig per day, something like 6-10g per day.

Mine had burgess originally but have now moved to Haybox own. My rabbits do still have burgess.
 
I agree with piggies&buns, quantity of pellets is important. A lot of pig foods are alfalfa based anyway. So just make sure you are feeding 1 tbsp per pig with fresh veggies daily and unlimited grass hay. They'll be fine. :)

Mine haven't had p@h or Burgess pellets so can't really comment on them. My 4 have science selective grain free pellets which are Timothy based.
 
Thanks again everyone for the advice. Popped to pets at home today for more hay and noticed they have the science selective grain free so bought a bag. It was 25%off too. I've tried them with a couple of pellets this afternoon and they loved them, they never take the other off my hand like that. I plan to add them slowly to the p@h bag and either continue to give mixed or give mixed till p@h ran out them go onto the new on its own. I've ordered table spoon size scoop for their feed too. (I use the measuring one too much to give so they will get a new one)
 
Hyperdrug were selling a bag for £4.60? Just for future. Also grain free is an acquired taste as it doesnt contain any junk, so they may not take to it straight away. 1 bag should last about 2 month's with just 2 pigs. (I have 4 and it lasts me a month)
 
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