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A question about Excel Rabbit/Guineapig food

Sue&Sooty

Wise Old Thumper
Excuse me for being a bit dim about this but I have searched for info on this and can't seem to find any.

I understand that pigs shouldn't have rabbit pellets but does that also work the other way round? Only the friend I got Sooty off buys the big sacks of food so I have always got their food from her as I thought it would be best to keep him on what he has always had, Excel pellets.

Now I went round to get a refil from her today and she says she's now just buying Excel Guinea pig pellets and that they would be fine for the buns too.

Is this right?

I am happy to buy my own food if needs be but it could make it a bit awkward
 
I would not reccomend it, as guinea pig food has a lot of extra vitamins etc in it then the rabbits do not need. These may become toxic if fed in large amounts. Also guinea pig food does not have anywhere near enough fibre in it. I would definately stick to the rabbit version. Is there nowhere you can buy it from?
 
I'm probably completely wrong, but I don't think guinea pig food is really recommended for bunnies. It has added vitamin C in it, which the bunnies don't need and I'm not sure about the fibre content either.
Hope someone more knowledgable comes along soon.
 
When my mum kept her rabbit and guinea together thats what they had,im sure there is something on there website,which says to feed rabbits and piggies sharing homes
 
Thanks for your reply

Yes I can get it at my local non animal selling :thumb: pet shop. When I said it could be awkward I mean't with my friend.

BUT I will do whats best for my buns 8)
 
Hiya I just found these details on the burgess website:

Excel guinea: Protein 17%, Fibre 15%, Oil 4%, Ash 6.5%, Calcium 0.8%, Phosphorous 0.5%, Vitamin A 22,000 iu/kg, Vitamin D3 1,250 iu/kg, Vitamin E (alpha tocopherol acetate) 100 iu/kg, Vitamin C 800 mg/kg, Copper as cupric sulphate 15 mg/kg.

Excel rabbit: Protein 12%, Oil 4%, Ash 7%, Fibre 14%, Calcium 0.90%, Phosphorous 0.51%, Vitamin A 11,000 iu/kg, Vitamin D3 1,500 iu/kg, Vitamin E (alpha tocopherol acetate) 60 iu/kg, Copper as cupric sulphate 15 mg/kg.

The protein in excel guinea is way too high for a bunny and is likely to lead to digestive trouble. You can also see that the vits A and E content are far lower in the rabbit version, these are fat soluble vitamins so they do build up in organs like the liver if overfed, unlike vit C which is water soluble and theoretically any excess should be weed out.

So, no, I wouldn't feed excel guinea to a rabbit!
 
No that's the main reason I swapped to Science selective at 19% (I think) although bizarrely, I think the protein content in SS is slightly higher than in Burgess.
 
Bit of a tangent, but this cracks me up, from the burgess site:
Supa Rabbit Excel® contains Profeed®, a blend of natural carbohydrates - a source of specific Fructo-oligosaccharides,

Doesn't it remind you of those awful shampoo/face cream adverts :lol:
 
AlisonA said:
No that's the main reason I swapped to Science selective at 19% (I think) although bizarrely, I think the protein content in SS is slightly higher than in Burgess.
yes thats what mine have,they all do well on it,although i ran out and they have been having dodson and horroll they dont seem to mind though!
 
Quoted from the Burgess link posted

""Although it has been common practice over the years to keep guinea pigs and rabbits together sharing the same hutch, there is nowadays considerable evidence against doing so as there are risks of both injury and illness to both animals. However many guinea pig owners also own rabbits, and Supa Guinea and Supa Guinea Excel can safely be fed to both, ensuring that the guinea pig receives its required level of Vitamin C. ""

Do you think this is true? I just seem to find conflicting advice everywhere I look!! :roll:
 
Sue&Sooty said:
Quoted from the Burgess link posted

""Although it has been common practice over the years to keep guinea pigs and rabbits together sharing the same hutch, there is nowadays considerable evidence against doing so as there are risks of both injury and illness to both animals. However many guinea pig owners also own rabbits, and Supa Guinea and Supa Guinea Excel can safely be fed to both, ensuring that the guinea pig receives its required level of Vitamin C. ""

Do you think this is true? I just seem to find conflicting advice everywhere I look!! :roll:
Well like i said,my mum did it with hers each to there own i suppose
 
It may be ok to feed but it's certainly not ideal - look at the difference in the nutritional analysis. I would be most concerned about the protein level, that really is way too high to do a bunny any good.
 
i feed my buns on burgess excel and excel junior and dwarf and they love it my guineas get supa guinea and they love it too ive had no probs but they wont eat anything else! i got them mixed up once and they didnt touch there breakfasts it wasnt till i looked at the diffrent shaped pellets that i realised what i had done
 
I would feed rabbit food only.

I switched to Science Selective though for the rabbits and piggies and they seem to prefer it. It is much higher in fibre
 
Thank you all for you replies..

I'm not overly happy about giving them the piggie food but I've decided how I can get myself out of an awkward situation with my friend. I'm gonna say to her that my 2 didn't like it so I will buy the rabbit version instead of getting it from her. That way I can also swap them over to Selective Science too, I'll just do it gradually whilst using up the bag she gave me yesterday.

Hopefully the friendship won't suffer as a result

Thanks again
 
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