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Tesco purple bag food = EC additives

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Joey&Gizmo

Joey&Gizmo

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I went to tesco today and thought I would have a look at there piggy food because of the good reviews and wanting to wean my boys off gerty, but when I looked at the ingrediants they were the same as gerty with the ec additives. Does anyone know what this means? I thought it said on the reviews that tesco purple bag had no additives and gerty did. Now I'm confused mallethead as I was going to wean my boys off gerty because of the additives.
Can anyone help with the explanation on the additives on both types of food?:)
 
I read the threads saying that gerty had additives but when i compared the ingrediants tesco's they were the same as gerty! Maybe gerty had changed or tesco? Just confused on which one to feed now.
 
Sorry, I can't help you as I don't feed either!
 
Joey&Gizmo said:
I read the threads saying that gerty had additives but when i compared the ingrediants tesco's they were the same as gerty! Maybe gerty had changed or tesco? Just confused on which one to feed now.
Click to expand...

I don't have either bag to compare, but I do think this highlights a real danger in relying on old information on forums etc, since ingredients change all the time. Possibly Gerty has improved or Tescos has declined, as you say.
 
I agree with Pelicano - unfortunately stuff like this changes from time to time and isn't necessaily reflected in reviews. I am going to make this a sticky to bring this to the attention of others until we know more. If anyone has any more info on this, please post it below. I feed this or Wagg on the basis that the EU additives were not present, so we will probably be switching.
 
I went to wilkensons today and looked at the ingrediants of wagg and wilko own make again in the list were the ec addiditives. So this may mean that most guinea pigs food contain it? Ive not had a look at p@h or nugget type foods. Ive being looking on the internet for more info but it just said that ec additives are used to keep food fresh for longer and to preserve vitimins etc. Also it said its commonly used in pet food.
Maybe your right and gerty had improved.?
Anyone else got any info?
 
This is what I found on the internet a list of ingrediants from various piggy foods.

Wagg Guinea Pig Crunch contains Peas, Wheat, Oats, Wheatfeed, Oatfeed, Toasted Soya, Maize, Grass, Lucerne, Sunflower Ext., Vegetable Oil, Glucose Syrup, Carob Meal, Linseed, Vitamins & Minerals, Yeast. With Antioxidant: EC additive.

Gerty:
INGREDIENTS
Alfalfa, flaked maize, oats, flaked peas, soya, flaked wheat, wheat flour, alfalfa stalks, linseed, carrots, soy oil, minerals. With antioxidant, coloured with EC additives.

Pets at home.
Ingredients:
Guinea Pig Pellets (Wheatfeed, Grass, Oatfeed, Non GM Soya, Sunflower, Molasses, Vegetable Fat), Toasted Wheat Flakes, Toasted Pea Flakes, Toasted Soya Flakes, Toasted Oat Flakes, Extruded Biscuits (Wheat, Oat Feed, Non GM Soya), Toasted Maize Flakes, Toasted Bean Flakes, Carrot Flakes, Soya Oil, Whole Maize, Dried Grass, Minerals and Vitamins.
o Antioxidants and Beta-carotene - to help promote a healthy immune system for your guinea pig.

I looked at the nuggets excel guinea pig and its says on the list : Grass, Maize, Wheat, Lucerne, Soya Bean Hulls, Peas, Soya, Oat Bran, Unmolassed Beet Pulp, Yeast, Soya Oil, Ligno-Cellulose, Molasses, Calcium Carbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Vitamins, Fructo-oligosaccharides 0.25%, Salt, Minerals, Blackcurrant Flavour, Oregano Oil, Contains Natural Antioxidants. No artificial colours or preservatives.
This was the blackcurrent and orgeano nuggets.
 
The coloured additives are there to make the food look more appealing to the humans (most likely children) feeding it to their guinea-pigs. For example, if the food contains flaked peas, they would look washed-out without a colourant being added. I can't help but think they're completely unnecessary and may end up being harmful to pets if fed over long periods of time.

There are other manufacturers who don't use them, e.g. Burgess Excel nuggets specifically state that they don't contain any artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.

When I was a child we had a cat who was fed Whiskas (which probably did contain colourants, but this was in the 70s and I wouldn't feed it now) and she never needed to go to the vet, a neighbour's cat was fed on cheap supermarket cat food and was ALWAYS at the vet. From then on, I've always followed this adage:

It's a false economy to feed animals cheap food.
 
So I'm guessing that the nuggets are the best type to feed? But gerty isnt a cheap food as you stated that 'It's a false economy to feed animals cheap food.' I'm just wondering if all guinea pig food contains the EC additives. I got in contact with my local piggy rescue and they said that they have used gerty for years with no problems and that her piggys live until 9yrs on gerty.
Just wanted to do the best for my piggys and once the gerty is all gone I will try the switch onto excel nuggets. (fingers crossed that they like it!)
 
I admit that I'm biased against foods with artificial colours in them. They're completely unnecessary in animal food.

The nuggets prevent selective feeding. When I had guinea-pigs as a child, they only ate certain bits of the muesli. At one point we were feeding them just flaked peas, because they ignored everything else in the mix and so it was a waste to buy it (they spent all day in the garden though, so the muesli made up hardly any of their diet). [The muesli likely had artificial colours added to them, but I wasn't aware of these at the time.]

I suggest you don't wait until all of the Gerty has gone - to prevent diarrhoea, you'll need to switch them over gradually to whichever nuggets you choose.

I hope you find nuggets which your guinea-pigs like and you're happy with. Have a look to see what other people say about different nugget varieties, and see which one suits you best. If Gerty isn't cheap like you say, they probably won't be any more expensive.
 
My piggys have been on gerty for two years, so I really hope they will take to the nuggets. What do you mean by 'don't wait until all of the Gerty has gone - to prevent diarrhoea' do you mean buy the nugget food and mix it in with the gerty and then gradually reduce the amount of gerty?
I'm going to try the excel nuggets. Are the blackcurrent and orgeno excel nuggets any good? It says they dont have the colourings etc.
Thanks for the advise!
 
i feed my little splodge and marmite on tescos guinea pig food and they LOVE IT! ( i think its a good idea to do a mix e.g musli, forage and specil
nuggets, to stop selective feeding.)
well thats my opinion!
x
 
I feed my piggies on Burgess Excel Supa Nuggets. The bag is in the shed but I'll have a good look on the bag tomorrow. The big 15kl bag must have to be filled with some sort of info to use up the space. All I know is that all my piggies eat every last scrap of it and go mad for it when I come dancing allong with it. I weaned a couple of rescue pigs off Wagg and over a few days of introducing nuggets they wouldn't even touch thier Wagg anymore and even managed to pick it out of the bowl mixed in with nuggets and leave the Wagg in a pile on the floor.
Hope all goes well.
 
Right so your saying to mix the nuggets with a muesli?
Its not going to well at the moment as they are still just eating the gerty and not the nuggets. Ive been mixing it in for 2 weeks now,but I'm still going to contiune to mix the nuggets in as I have quite alot of gerty left still.
 
Joey&Gizmo said:
Right so your saying to mix the nuggets with a muesli?
Its not going to well at the moment as they are still just eating the gerty and not the nuggets. Ive been mixing it in for 2 weeks now,but I'm still going to contiune to mix the nuggets in as I have quite alot of gerty left still.
Click to expand...

Mix it in then slowly but surely wean them off it... some piggies will point blank refuse to eat it but adventurely they will I recon just like us humans if it's the only thing there we'll eat it lol!
 
I would like to know what food I should swap Africa too actually, I give him wagg atm and he's stopped eating it or is eating bits. I've never noticed this before because Leo ate it too so it always got empty but Africa rarely touchs the stuff and that makes me think he doesn't like it. I was thinking of going back to the Pets@Home pellets as thats what he was on in the beginning since he is P@H guinea pigs.
 
If i was you i would put him back onto the p@h pellets so he cant just eat the bits of wagg that he likes as that is selective feeding and its best for him to be on the pellets to make sure he is getting the right nutrients. I would love it if my boys would take to pellets as they are leaving the corn bits and biscuits on the gerty and its a waste.
 
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