[Gpdd] re: [HEALTH] <unlimited hay>

[Lauren Cordeiro]

Hi Gillian,
I think it might have been my comment about reducing the hay and veggies to get my GPs to eat their pellets. I do agree w/ you that this wasn't a great idea, and I have since switched to Oxbow's Cavy Cuisine which they love, as well as give them unlimited tim hay, some daily veggies, and a vit. C supplement. My reasoning at the time was that commercial food was more nutritionally fortified than plain hay and more nutr. complete than veggies, so I figured the pellets alone would be better than just hay and random veggies. But I now know that GPs eat a tremendous amt. of stuff in the wild to obtain the same level of nutrients available in a small amt. of pellets. Because they had to eat so much "roughage" then, their teeth evolved to grow continously - something which in captivity needs to be countered by an unlimited amt. of roughage like hay, like you said. However, I still am more apt to trust the commercial piggie diets to provide my pigs with their total recommended nutrition, rather than try to manage the correct amts. of various vitamins etc. on my own by calculating how much of a certain veggie I should give to them. Also, piggy ancestors in the wild may not have gotten the premium level of nutrition as domestic pigs do, so that may have been one of the reasons they didn't live to 8 or 9 years! However, lots of animal owners, including cat & dog owners, give their animals "real food" instead of commercially-prepared diets, by planning their own homemade diet w/ input from their vet. Probably the animals like the fresh food better, and also it reduces all the preservatives and stuff in commercial foods. I use a combo of grains and veggies in addition to Nutro lite dog food for my rats, because the kind of rat food I have available is not all that great for them, I've come to conclude. And seriously, the kind of crap that is put in "grocery-brand" cat and dog food should be illegal!! (Here's a really good link for everybody: http://www.api4animals.org/79.htm ) Anyway, I just wanted to clear up that, and make it clear that I'm not starving my GPs or anything!!! Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. Wheeks and kisses,
Piglet, Pooh Bear and Lauren