Protexin (Mousey's poops)

[Omi]

Has anyone got a reliable resource which states the %age of fibre in hay and grass? I guess this will vary between species, but probably only slightly. It's not something that online hay suppliers provide.

I'm thinking perhaps people with horses have this information.

[joey&boo]

I don't think it has helped his regular poop directly. But I think it has helped a bit "indirectly". His gut is feeling better now which has lead to his appetite increasing so he eats more hay and the poops are therefore better. But if Mousey doesn't need the added probiotics perhaps fibafirst is better as it
is higher in fibre.

Maybe try increasing dried forage a bit as long as it doesn't result in her eating even less hay?
Maybe try oat or wheat hay?

Thanks Walli, I really appreciate your input. I've never tried wheat hay (well my bunnies havent) - I think her fave is rye, she quite likes burns green oat. But she doesn't like any as much as I'd like

[joey&boo]

Has anyone got a reliable resource which states the %age of fibre in hay and grass? I guess this will vary between species, but probably only slightly. It's not something that online hay suppliers provide.

I'm thinking perhaps people with horses have this information.

I had a google last night. You always end up on horsey sites i'm sure I read grass is really high in fibre but I'd had my first gin in ages so I'll have to revisit

Last night she ate all of her fresh forage except for some grass, all of her nuggets (even hay box ones), looks like she has eaten the dried forage mixed in to her tray but none thats by her sleeping area. I'm pleased she is eating the haybox nuggets again - she just had 4 with breakfast

[Walli]

I had a google last night. You always end up on horsey sites i'm sure I read grass is really high in fibre but I'd had my first gin in ages so I'll have to revisit

Last night she ate all of her fresh forage except for some grass, all of her nuggets (even hay box ones), looks like she has eaten the dried forage mixed in to her tray but none thats by her sleeping area. I'm pleased she is eating the haybox nuggets again - she just had 4 with breakfast

That is really good of you Mousey
Continue that way!

[joey&boo]

Everyones contributions are much appreciate, thanks so much - you've helped

look at my clever Mousey

https://imgur.com/7vIGncR

[Zigzag]

Oooh she’s enjoying that fibre first stick

[Walli]

She looks so relaxed och are really enjoying it

[keletkezes]

This is a super kind offer but what do Chibbs & Lopsy say ?

They don't know and never need to: thye get it out of the path and other areas TBH, not from the pots where I replanted some

Some good FibaFirst nomming

Grass fibre content (from an Irish dairy article): "The NDF [neutral detergent fibre] content of grazed grass varies from 35% for leafy fresh spring grass to 50% for stemmy grass." Latter is becasue fibre increaes with seed head production. The fibre is in the cells walls so you need firmer stems to held up seedheads, so more cells, more density to create firmness. More cells = more cells walls.

There's also this academic article aimed at farmed herbivores, crucially: "The amount of fibre contained within plant material ranged by 23–90%" and "On average, grasses and tree foliage contained the most fibre". This figure might be useful There's also a whole paragraph on Fibre towards the end:

Fibre

There was also substantial variation in NDF values both within- and between-species (Fig. 3). The largest absolute NDF values were recorded from the grasses; Bouteloua gracilis at 90%, Aristida longiseta at 88% and Setaria macrostachya at 86%. The maximum value recorded from any other functional group related to the foliage of two trees; Bauhinia cheilantha at 68% and Mimosa caesapiniifolia at 68%. NDF for tree foliage, herbs and legumes were clustered at the lower end of the range of values. The minimum values of NDF were recorded from the herbaceous legume, Psophocarpus scandens at 23%, the grass, Dactylis glomerata at 27% and the herb, Sanguisorba minor at 30%. The largest ranges of NDF values that were recorded were from the grasses; Dactylis glomerata (27–71%), Phleum pratense (36–68%), Alopecurus pratensis (39–70%) and Lolium perenne (34–62%).

Fig. 3


Ascending median neutral detergent fibre content for 113 forage plant species. Box shading represents functional group. Values are percent of dry plant material (% DM)
Full size image

The largest ADF values were also measured from the grasses; Hyparrhenia hirta at 60% and Enteropogon macrostachus at 57%, whilst the foliage of the tree, Mimosa caesapiniifolia, was also recorded at 55%. High ADF values were rarer than high NDF and only 3% of ADF values in the database were greater than 50%. The lowest ADF values were measured from the grasses, Phleum pratense, Agropyron riparium, Dactylis glomerata, Festuca arundinacea and Lolium multiflorum, with values of 13, 16, 16, 16, and 2%, respectively. The largest ranges of values were also measured from grasses; Lolium multiflorum (2–35%), Bromus inermis (18–46%), Dactylis glomerata (16–44%) and Phleum pratense (13–38%).

[joey&boo]

They don't know and never need to: thye get it out of the path and other areas TBH, not from the pots where I replanted some

Some good FibaFirst nomming

Grass fibre content (from an Irish dairy article): "The NDF [neutral detergent fibre] content of grazed grass varies from 35% for leafy fresh spring grass to 50% for stemmy grass." Latter is becasue fibre increaes with seed head production. The fibre is in the cells walls so you need firmer stems to held up seedheads, so more cells, more density to create firmness. More cells = more cells walls.

There's also this academic article aimed at farmed herbivores, crucially: "The amount of fibre contained within plant material ranged by 23–90%" and "On average, grasses and tree foliage contained the most fibre". This figure might be useful There's also a whole paragraph on Fibre towards the end:

ha ha. I read the very same article...well tried to. So I can't go wrong feeding her mountains of grass it seems, the stalker the better (though she really enjoys softer stuff

Thank You - I'll take you up on a plant or 2 if you're ever over this way to see Matts folks . I found a fairly good amount of ribwort yesterday & saw loads of broad leaf growing round peoples paths & gardens. I reckon it'll be out soon in Wycoller (it wasn't last week - I checked) but it'd be nice to have a couple handy for back up

[Pets mum]

Oh bless her enjoying her fibre stick, she so beautiful