New Excel complete cubes

I don't think anyone has posted about these yet, probably because they are not available yet. Burgess are bringing out boxes of complete cubes for rabbits and guinea pigs. From the looks of it they are a cube combination of hay, herbs and pellets. To be honest I can't see them replacing sales of hay/pellets however I am sure people will buy them as a treat. Here is a pic of the advert that is in the trade press



What are your thoughts?

Hmm interesting! Increased fibre is good but I can't see '4 cubes a week' replacing pellets. As you say they might make a good treat but Elsa would turn her nose up no doubt!!

ElsasMummy said:

Hmm interesting! Increased fibre is good but I can't see '4 cubes a week' replacing pellets. As you say they might make a good treat but Elsa would turn her nose up no doubt!!

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I get the impression the whole thing is supposed to replace pellets and hay. Its marketed as a "complete" food. Can't see my bunnies looking at a cube and thinking "yum, thats my meal for the day" :lol:

Is it suppose to replace hay aswell :? as I thought the whole point of bunnies having unlimited supply of hay was not only for digestion but for their tushies too, not to mention they constantly love munching and keeps them from boredom. Plus I can see them being expensive, a bag of excel pellets for me lasts months and only costs £4 and then you can get hay cheap.

Pretty pointless idea in my opinion.

They look good as a treat, but not as a complete food. I personally think it should be changed to complimentary food, as nothing like this could replace goood quality, long stranded unlimited hay.

Quote from Burgess themselves "Justin Heaton, Head of Marketing for Burgess Pet Care, said: “Once again we are incredibly excited and proud to be launching a pioneering new product to the market. Our studies revealed foods labelled ‘complete’ are generally fed alone, without the hay necessary for fibrevores.

“As the UK’s leading veterinary brand for fibrevores, we felt obligated to create a truly healthy, 100% complete food to ensure that pets are being correctly fed. The additional beauty of this product is that it really drives home to fibrevore owners that hay IS food!”
"

I read that as they are stating that the rabbits do not need hay as well as this "complete" food. So the buns would be missing out on the dental wear that chewing strands of hay provides. I can't see that chewing a compressed cube provides the same dental workout.

Plus I've read somewhere that they only need to be given one of these every few days. If this is correct, that encourages less interaction between the owner and rabbit plus none of my buns have any idea of portion control :lol: so would trough it in one go then starve until the next one (assuming I was following Burgesses advice, which I clearly won't do )

I don't like the idea. That's not unlimited hay and marketing it as a "complete" food is misleading and dangerous. A step backwards in educating people about what rabbits need to be fed.

I think that this is a stupid idea. Goodness knows how many bunnies will not have a decent variety in diet and access to hay beacuse of these.

I might email them!

I guess for the uneducated, that feed mostly pellets, they could be an improvement. We'll stick to hay, a few pellets and greens though.

Pebblesetc said:

I don't like the idea. That's not unlimited hay and marketing it as a "complete" food is misleading and dangerous. A step backwards in educating people about what rabbits need to be fed.

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This! 4 cubes a week does not replace unlimited hay :shock:

If i remember rightly, there was another thread about a similar, if not the same product, which was going to be marketed as 'suitable for when you are going on holiday for a few days'.

These products are not suitable at ALL for rabbits who need to graze constantly.

Yet another money making scheme without the animals welfare in mind. Typical.

RedFraggle said:

I guess for the uneducated, that feed mostly pellets, they could be an improvement. We'll stick to hay, a few pellets and greens though.

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I agree with this.

They look like they could be quite expensive, however and so may not appeal to a budget market that just buys cheap pellets from PAH or local petshop.

The ad does say three times that the product contains long-fibre timothy hay and several of the responses read as if it doesn't.

I like feeding different things through the day, and not to have everything from the one company, but if they weren't too pricey I might get them as a one off, to try out and feed alongside other things.

Seems to me like they have hastily come up with something to rival Supreme's Fibafirst, except that encourages lots of hay to be fed as well.

Not impressed by it and not something I shall be buying.

I think it's easy for all of us, who know about proper nutrition, to jump on these and say they are no good.....

However, to the average owner who feeds muesli and barely any hay/no hay - surely this is a really good product to encourage them to buy? We can't speculate about the price they are going to charge so can't assume the 'average' owner isn't going to buy this. Yes, hay is important as a separate thing and we all know that but jumping on Excel for making a product that isn't just rubbish muesli and actually contains a lot of fibre and hay is a step in the right direction if it attracts the people who would usually buy muesli and nothing else. I mean, if nothing else - if it gets onto the shelves at P@H (I expect it will as it's Burgess) it will show people that hay is needed because some people simply aren't aware (and who can blame them sometimes when most P@H staff are hopeless and there's barely any hay in with the animals anyway).

Depending on price I may buy this as a treat to be fed alongside everything else :thumb:

PS - I don't particularly like how they say to feed 4 a week however because if someone actually did that to their bun and fed nothing else (it is labelled as a complete food) then I expect GI Statis would occur as they are not eating enough

catherine09 said:

I think it's easy for all of us, who know about proper nutrition, to jump on these and say they are no good.....

However, to the average owner who feeds muesli and barely any hay/no hay - surely this is a really good product to encourage them to buy? We can't speculate about the price they are going to charge so can't assume the 'average' owner isn't going to buy this. Yes, hay is important as a separate thing and we all know that but jumping on Excel for making a product that isn't just rubbish muesli and actually contains a lot of fibre and hay is a step in the right direction if it attracts the people who would usually buy muesli and nothing else. I mean, if nothing else - if it gets onto the shelves at P@H (I expect it will as it's Burgess) it will show people that hay is needed because some people simply aren't aware (and who can blame them sometimes when most P@H staff are hopeless and there's barely any hay in with the animals anyway).

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I do agree with this. :thumb:

This is the reality of the pet rabbit and anything which improves their diet is a step in the right direction.

I do agree that for some rabbits this may well be an improvement in diet & nutrition but I do think that Burgess might well price themselves out of that market which will be a shame.

I might well try them as a treat if not too expensive but I don't think any 'complete' food can replace a good quality hay in a rabbits diet. My little Macie would be lost without an unlimited supply of hay - she's a hay loving monster

I have just sent them an email about my concerns, I await a reply

To come from another point of view...

they may well be good for all those bunny's kept in hutches in someones backyard who don't currently get given any hay. Through this they are at least getting some fibre that the wouldn't otherwise be getting.

(Just seen your post Catherine!)

SamanthaJane said:

To come from another point of view...

they may well be good for all those bunny's kept in hutches in someones backyard who don't currently get given any hay. Through this they are at least getting some fibre that the wouldn't otherwise be getting.

(Just seen your post Catherine!)

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True, but will their owners care enough to shop around for rabbit food instead of just buying whatever muesli is cheapest in the supermarket? I'm sure some will and will see it as very convenient but I fear that buns who are already being ignored at the bottom of the garden are unlikely to benefit from this product sadly

I guess the inbetween-y bunnies will benefit (ones who aren't totally ignored and whose owners just don't know what to feed a rabbit) though which is good. But I don't think anyone on here will use them other than for treat purposes.

Vita said:

The ad does say three times that the product contains long-fibre timothy hay and several of the responses read as if it doesn't.
.

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:wave: As someone who has commented on the hay issue, I stand by what I said. I really don't see how they can get quality strands of hay into such a small cube and I'm not convinced of the amount of hay in the cube providing adequate chewing action as well as the volume of fibre.

I think it would have been better to market it as a complimentary food rather than a complete one and to state that rabbits need large quantities of good quality hay in their diet. Of course Burgess are not going to do that as there's nothing in that for them.