No pellet diet?

[LazloTheBunny]

Ive currently been doing research on food and pellet amounts as a lot of my guinea pigs and both rabbits feel skinny/ are underweight. Ive been correcting veg amounts and looking into helping them gain weight. For guinea pigs i know cutting out pellets and a bit less veg will get them to eat more hay and in turn gain weight from that. Im not sure if its just due to it being winter though. Ive been doing the same for the rabbits and have noticed their poos look a lot better, does anyone feed no nuggets or have any tips to get them to gain weight. They have 4 places where they can get hay and over winter no longer have access to their avairy to keep them warmer though their shed is big enough to encorouge plenty movement. Currently only giving a small handful of nuggets and using them to train them but im giving less each time.

 

[Omi]

First of all I would make a habit of weighing the bunnies and the piggies , probably weekly, and keep a record of it over a few weeks. It's important when changing diet to also check their weight over time. Sometimes also bunnies and piggies can feel skinny and it's sensible to confirm that that is in fact the case. Also need to confirm that none of them are actually losing weight.

 

[SarahP]

I've never known guinea pig to gain weight through giving less veg and no pellets. They have to eat a lot of hay for most of the day to make up for the calories that they would willingly eat quickly with pellets and veg. I know some people cut out pellets to try to reduce calcium down, but I'm sure my pigs would rapidly drop weight if I cut pellets out and reduced the veg.

With rabbits, I've fed a hay and dried forage only diet (with about 4 different types of hay), which was due to them constantly going into stasis and not being able to cope with any other food type. Weirdly, their weights remained completely stable.

 

[Mervinius]

I dont know about guinea pigs, but both my buns are on a pellet free diet. I wouldnt say it would help them put on weight though. I did it due to stasis issues like SarahP and have recently changed my new rescue pellet free, becuase he lives with Pip. Pip has been pellet free for many years and has kept a very stable weight. Now she is older we do give her oat hay cos i was worried about her being slimmer now she is 10. But its just her body shape changing, rather than her weight.
It definitely improves their poops, but i would check if their weight is changing and get them vet checked before changing their diets majorly.

 

[LazloTheBunny]

First of all I would make a habit of weighing the bunnies and the piggies , probably weekly, and keep a record of it over a few weeks. It's important when changing diet to also check their weight over time. Sometimes also bunnies and piggies can feel skinny and it's sensible to confirm that that is in fact the case. Also need to confirm that none of them are actually losing weight.

Yeah ive been planning to but waiting for some new scales to arrive since my regular ones are wrong. Getting some proper animal ones though whichll help

 

[LazloTheBunny]

I've never known guinea pig to gain weight through giving less veg and no pellets. They have to eat a lot of hay for most of the day to make up for the calories that they would willingly eat quickly with pellets and veg. I know some people cut out pellets to try to reduce calcium down, but I'm sure my pigs would rapidly drop weight if I cut pellets out and reduced the veg.

With rabbits, I've fed a hay and dried forage only diet (with about 4 different types of hay), which was due to them constantly going into stasis and not being able to cope with any other food type. Weirdly, their weights remained completely stable.

Yeah id thought it odd too but for the less veg its a case of giving them the proper amount, id recently lost 3 (old age had to be put down) so was feeding a bit too much for the amount i had, but the no pellets made sense once i looked into it. Pretty much all of them have had a calcium issue due to our super heavy water which i only recently found out we had so they now get filtered water which is helping. My rabbits have pretty strong guts aside from one who eats a bit to much hair sometimes but is fine aside from that, but the more pellets they get the less veg, hay amd ceatrophs he eats which isnt good

 

[LazloTheBunny]

I dont know about guinea pigs, but both my buns are on a pellet free diet. I wouldnt say it would help them put on weight though. I did it due to stasis issues like SarahP and have recently changed my new rescue pellet free, becuase he lives with Pip. Pip has been pellet free for many years and has kept a very stable weight. Now she is older we do give her oat hay cos i was worried about her being slimmer now she is 10. But its just her body shape changing, rather than her weight.
It definitely improves their poops, but i would check if their weight is changing and get them vet checked before changing their diets majorly.

I am looking into types of hay or oats to occasionally feed to help the weight since we wouldnt be spending it on nuggets. As ive been decreasing nuggets i have noticed their poos look a lot better and im finding less ceatrophs in the shed which is great. Theyre due for vaccines soon so ill speak to the vet then, but last time i went they said they were lean but could do with gaining a bit.

 

[Shimmer]

Rabbits should be fine if gradually transitioned to a no pellet diet. They should always have plenty of hay (or access to grass). I feed lots of forage from the allotment and suitable kitchen scraps. I do use a small amount of pellets as I find it useful to make sure they are eating OK. Leftover pellets are a sure sign that something is wrong. They are also useful as bribes to get them eg back into their hutches. I don't use any other commercial food / treats.

I wouldn't go pellet-free with the guinea pigs, though. I think it's much easier (and cheaper?) to give them a balanced diet with good quality pellets. The need vitamin C in their diet, which can be harder eg in winter using forage. Supermarket sources of Vit C rich food can work out quite expensive. GPs don't seem to have the same issues with pellets as rabbits do. None of mine have ever had dental issues. Older GPs need to maintain their weight, which is much easier with pellets. I've never had an overweight GP, unlike rabbits who will selectively feed on pellets rather than greens - GPs seem to do the opposite, in my experience, and often don't clear all their pellets, whereas rabbits always would.