Which Food Is Better?

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Hank288

Hank288

Adult Guinea Pig
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I have been feeding my guinea pigs pellet based food as they were very selective when eating muesli.
So currently I have been feeding them pets at home own brand pellets, my girls love them but I am concerned that it doesn't say what calcium levels they contain.
The nutrition content of pets at home food is as follows:
Composition and Nutrition Composition: Wheat and Oat Bran, Grass Meal, Soya, Peas, Unmolassed Sugar Beet Pulp, Brewers Yeast, Vegetable Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Fructo-Oligosaccharides, Calcium Carbonate. Analytical Constituents: Moisture 10%, Protein 16%, Oils and Fats 3%, Fibre 16%, Ash 6.5%.

I have recently seen that Tesco do their own pellet food and it is much cheaper. the nutrition content of this one is
Composition, Wheatfeed, Oatfeed, Sunflower Meal, Grass, Lucerne, Carob Bean Meal, Vegetable Oil, Minerals, Linseed (1%), Additives (Per Kg), Nutritional Additives: Vitamin A 15, 000 iu, Vitamin D3 1500 iu, Vitamin E 90 mg, Vitamin C 250 mg, Zinc Chelate of Amino Acid Hydrate 133 mg, Manganous Oxide 48 mg, Zinc Oxide 41 mg, Copper Sulphate Pentahydrate 25 mg, Calcium Iodate Anhydrous 2 mg, Antioxidant, Analytical Constituents, Protein 16%, Fat Content 4.5%, Crude Fibre 17%, Inorganic Matter 7.5%, Calcium 0.8%, Phosphorous 0.6%

I was just wondering if people knew what the best one for their health would be?
I do not mind paying the extra if the pets at home one is healthier.
If any one has any advice that would be appreciated, thanks
 
while I would love to buy them that food, I have 4 hungry piggies who eat me out of house and home. so it is not really affordable for me. I am looking for a good but readily affordable pellet based food.
 
I get a 10kg bag of science selective, roughly £20 from Amazon, it lasts my 6 guinea's around I would say 7 weeks or so. I've been using it since I first adopted our guinea's just over a year ago, it seems great, their coats are lovely, when we first got them their coats were a little bit coarse but not now.
 
Is that the one shaped a bit like a flower? I used to get them small bags of it and they loved it. It is much cheaper on amazon than in the pet shop.
 
Kerrie74 said:
I get a 10kg bag of science selective, roughly £20 from Amazon, it lasts my 6 guinea's around I would say 7 weeks or so. I've been using it since I first adopted our guinea's just over a year ago, it seems great, their coats are lovely, when we first got them their coats were a little bit coarse but not now.
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Is that the one shaped a bit like a flower? I think I used to get it as a small bag but it is much cheaper on amazon. they liked it, if it is the same one.
 
Yeap that would be the one :) It does add up a bit if you get small bags from P@H or some other local pet shops/stores, it's like with the mouse food as well, my son has two mice and from the pet shop it costs over £3 but from amazon it's about a pound cheaper.
 
Selective science is cheaper than pets at home and excel and I think it is the best! I feed a mix of pets at home, science selective and excel mint pellets because my piggies like the variety.
 
My piggies previous owners fed them the Pets@Home nuggets which they loved. I requested samples from Burgess and Science Selective to see which they preferred (plus information brochures were provided). Mine left the Science Selective pieces whilst eating all their Pets@Home nuggets and when I tried Burgess excel nuggets, that went as well (maybe because it's same size as the Pets@Home nuggets)? I also tried Waggs crunch mix but the piggies were 'selective' eating so I stopped that (leaving the green shapes and red/orange nuggets behind).

So Burgess it is! I actually didn't realise I had a 2kg bag sitting around at home which is a bonus - the Burgess excel nuggets and Wagg mix was given to us when we purchased our old 120 cage off Gumtree. Maybe it's worth requesting the samples so you can trial before buying.
 
The size of the pellets does not fool the guinea pigs! :td: I have tried mixing the Harringtons (their regular pellets) with the Pets@Home, but they still avoid the P@H pellets! There is no point buying the "best" or the cheapest pellets if your pigs won't eat them. :tu:
 
@Hank288 I have 1/2 - 3/4 of a bag of Burgess Excel Blackcurrent and Oregano pellets at home which my boys won't eat. They prefer the Burgess Mint flavour which they scoff down like there's no tomorrow. I was wondering what to do with it as I don't want to just throw it away having paid money for it. You'd be welcome to take it home and try it with your girls if you'd like for free? Just be aware though that Burgess contains medium to high levels of calcium that's the only downer really. Eventually I'm going to try and wean my boys onto the Vitakraft pellets once they get near to the end of their Burgess bag, if they'll eat them. We'll see what happens though. :D

In terms of cost I have bought a 10kg (huge) bag of Burgess Excel pellets from Amazon for £20 which is the same price as the 10kg Pets at Home one. If you buy the Vitakraft pellets through zoo plus.co.uk you can get 8kg for £30 which does mean that you are paying £10 more and getting 2 kilos less than the other two brands, but it's much better for them and causes fewer health issues.
 
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My 2 fusspots won't eat burgess any more since the packaging changed. They are now on Wainwrights. And love it. :nod:
 
I got a trial sample a supreme science pellets today. Both sets of girls loved it and even left veggies to stuff their faces with it, I have never seen them do this before so it must be good. I can get a 10kg bag for like £19 on amazon so I will order that tomorrow. @Drezella thanks, I am sure mine greedy pigs will eat it, only if you are sure yours won't eat it. As soon as I get my car back I will come see you and the boys.
thank you all for your help in finding me a new food :love:
 
I tried my 8 pigs with the Mr Johnson's pellets yesterday. They garnered even less interest than the Science Selective. Only 2 of the pigs ate any of them. Will be sticking with the Harrington's.
Constituent-wise, there is not a lot between them. In the end, it just comes down to which one your piggies will eat!

Science Selective Protein 16.0% Crude Fibre 15.0% Vit C 800 mg Calcium 0.8%
Mr Johnson's " 18.0% " " 13.0% " 400 mg " 0.8%
Harri's " 17.0% " " 17.0% " 300 mg " 0.8%
 
Still on the subject of pellets, has anyone tried Fibafirst? These are not so much pellets as sticks! They are made by Supreme Petfoods, makers of Science Selective. They probably have the highest fibre content of all pellets; up to 30% and Vitamin C at 1000 mg. I haven't tried these with the present herd, but the previous guineas quite liked them. I might buy a small box and try them out with my eight piggies.
 
Hank288 said:
@Drezella thanks, I am sure mine greedy pigs will eat it, only if you are sure yours won't eat it. As soon as I get my car back I will come see you and the boys.
thank you all for your help in finding me a new food :love:
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Yes I'm sure, you are welcome to it. Sure when your car is sorted we'll arrange to meet up again. Hope you and the gang are well :D
 
Hank288 said:
I have been feeding my guinea pigs pellet based food as they were very selective when eating muesli.
So currently I have been feeding them pets at home own brand pellets, my girls love them but I am concerned that it doesn't say what calcium levels they contain.
The nutrition content of pets at home food is as follows:
Composition and Nutrition Composition: Wheat and Oat Bran, Grass Meal, Soya, Peas, Unmolassed Sugar Beet Pulp, Brewers Yeast, Vegetable Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Fructo-Oligosaccharides, Calcium Carbonate. Analytical Constituents: Moisture 10%, Protein 16%, Oils and Fats 3%, Fibre 16%, Ash 6.5%.

I have recently seen that Tesco do their own pellet food and it is much cheaper. the nutrition content of this one is
Composition, Wheatfeed, Oatfeed, Sunflower Meal, Grass, Lucerne, Carob Bean Meal, Vegetable Oil, Minerals, Linseed (1%), Additives (Per Kg), Nutritional Additives: Vitamin A 15, 000 iu, Vitamin D3 1500 iu, Vitamin E 90 mg, Vitamin C 250 mg, Zinc Chelate of Amino Acid Hydrate 133 mg, Manganous Oxide 48 mg, Zinc Oxide 41 mg, Copper Sulphate Pentahydrate 25 mg, Calcium Iodate Anhydrous 2 mg, Antioxidant, Analytical Constituents, Protein 16%, Fat Content 4.5%, Crude Fibre 17%, Inorganic Matter 7.5%, Calcium 0.8%, Phosphorous 0.6%

I was just wondering if people knew what the best one for their health would be?
I do not mind paying the extra if the pets at home one is healthier.
If any one has any advice that would be appreciated, thanks
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I use science selective my guineas love it
 
7squeakers. said:
Still on the subject of pellets, has anyone tried Fibafirst? These are not so much pellets as sticks! They are made by Supreme Petfoods, makers of Science Selective. They probably have the highest fibre content of all pellets; up to 30% and Vitamin C at 1000 mg. I haven't tried these with the present herd, but the previous guineas quite liked them. I might buy a small box and try them out with my eight piggies.
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Yes I Have used the fibafirst sticks. I only tend to use a few as a treat but my piggies do love them. I use it as added fibre a couple of sticks each during the week. It does tend to only go once the veggies have gone though but they do still like them and it keeps them busy gnawing for a while.
 
7squeakers. said:
Still on the subject of pellets, has anyone tried Fibafirst? These are not so much pellets as sticks! They are made by Supreme Petfoods, makers of Science Selective. They probably have the highest fibre content of all pellets; up to 30% and Vitamin C at 1000 mg. I haven't tried these with the present herd, but the previous guineas quite liked them. I might buy a small box and try them out with my eight piggies.
Click to expand...
Yes I tried fiba first too but as a treat. They smell lovely kind of like oregano (I think) Alby wasn't so keen on them but Fudge loved them. He used to drag them out the dish and run away to eat them somewhere else. Which is strange as Alby is my greediest piggie and he didn't like them, used to throw them out the dish to get to the nuggets. Lol.
 
:DAs I have mentioned in this thread earlier, I have tried my herd with Science Selective and Mr Johnson's pellets. My pigs were not keen on either. So now I have a 350 gm bag of SS and a 1.5 kg bag of Mr Johnson's that I will not be using. If anyone is interested in trying their pigs with these, or feeds them on these anyway, I will be happy to send you the bag(s) for free. If you just PM me and send me your address, I will ship them out in the next day or two. I have only got 1 bag of each, so first come, first served. :tu:
 
7squeakers. said:
:DAs I have mentioned in this thread earlier, I have tried my herd with Science Selective and Mr Johnson's pellets. My pigs were not keen on either. So now I have a 350 gm bag of SS and a 1.5 kg bag of Mr Johnson's that I will not be using. If anyone is interested in trying their pigs with these, or feeds them on these anyway, I will be happy to send you the bag(s) for free. If you just PM me and send me your address, I will ship them out in the next day or two. I have only got 1 bag of each, so first come, first served. :tu:
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Very kind offer
 
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