[Gpdd] [CARE] Colourings in propriety GP foods & Cystitis

[Alison Varndell]

Dear Debbie,

I wholeheartedly support your entire posting concerning the shocking situation of manufactured piggie food.   I too feel that guinea-pig lovers should unite and put pressure on these massive companies, forcing them to perform their role more responsibly.

In good faith most guinea pig lovers purchase mix assuming that the manufacturers use specialist research so that they can caringly provide the best possible nutrition, only to discover, to our horror, that we have unwittingly been slowly killing our darlings!!!!  

I too am a member of the Cambridge Cavy Trust and it is only through their newsletter that I discovered the damage that the colours can do.  As far as I know, they are the only organisation carrying out research in order to benefit the health of guineas.  Let's get real: where there's no potential for profit, there's no research.  

Since discovering the issues surrounding colours, I've gone through various traumas trying to purchase food that will not poison my honies. I travel miles to get goat mix, as recommended by CCT (It has no additives - presumably the company reasons that farm animals don't need 'designer' food, unlike us 'stupidly-impressed' pet owners).  However, since then, the wholesalers has terminated their contract with the goat mix producer.  I had to buy a massive sack of goat mix last time and when I got it home I discovered it was a different kind with loads of maize which my piggies won't touch.  I'm constantly trying to decide up the best solution.  I sometimes buy Gertie and then spend hours picking out the biscuits.  I don't know if Gertie producers know about CCT research.  In the short-term they might reason that it's not in their interest to change the food because the biscuits are cheap and quite bulk, so it make production cheaper.  

There are some new pellets which highlight the fact that they don't contain any additives, so I might contact CCT and ask them about these.

Any advice for me, a slave living in the UK, would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Pepe, Bertie, Marcel and me (Ali)