Pellets – New flavour transition/new brand?

[Azerane]

I’m trying to decide what to do. The bunnies are getting low on pellets and money is pretty tight this month, so I’m trying to decide whether I buy a different flavour than normal or transition to a different brand which is cheaper. They’re currently getting Burgess Excel, Mint flavour, and while the mint is on sale, the store is out of stock (I don’t have time to wait for them to come back in). I could buy the mint from another online store but it would cost an extra $7 (not much I know, but I need every extra cent I can get at the moment) so I thought that perhaps I could buy the Oregano flavour instead. Would I need to transition like if I was switching to a new brand?

Mint Ingredients: Grass Meal, Wheat, Wheat Feed, Oat Feed, Soya Bean Hulls, Yeast, Lucerne, Mint, Molasses, Limestone, Soya Oil, Ligno-cellulose, Egg Shells, Short Chain Fructo-oligosaccharides 0.25%, Salt, Minerals.

Oregano Ingredients: Grass Meal, Wheat, Oat Feed, Soya Bean Hulls, Lucerne, Peas, Yeast, Molasses, Thyme, Soya Oil, Ligno-cellulose, Limestone, Monocalcium Phosphate, Short Chain Fructo-oligosaccharides 0.25%, Salt, Egg Shells, Minerals, Oregano Oil 0.1%.

My other option is to switch them to Vetafarm pellets. Which obviously runs two risks. The first being that they won’t like it, the second being that it may not agree with one or both of them. Although of course this could happen with the different flavour of Burgess, I feel the risk is less. That being said, I can get the Vetafarm pellets for about half the cost of the Burgess, and I can buy them almost anywhere, instead of having to rely on online stores and paying for shipping for the Burgess.

Vetafarm ingredients: Fescue, lucerne, oat fibre. 

Whole grains: wheat, soybean and oats.

Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, C, D3, E, H & K.

Minerals: Calcium, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, sulphur & zinc.

Min Crude Protein 13% 

Min Fibre 16%

Min Crude Fat 3%

Max Salt (NaCl) 0.5%

Vetafarm fibre isn’t ideal, but they eat plenty of hay to make up for that. I’m not sure how much of an issue lucerne (alfalfa) as a second ingredient is. I want to do what’s right for the bunnies, but I also need to be able to pay my bills

Any thoughts?

[Gina.Jenny]

I always use two types of pellets, one for morning and one for evening. This has lots of advantages, more interesting for buns, better chance of stocking up on one when its on offer, less stress if one is hard to come by. I doubt the oregano ones would be much different digestion wise but they smell very strong (I used them for our first bun) so they probably taste strong to a bunny’s sensitive taste. If you still have enough of the mint ones for one feed a day, you could try the cheaper stuff for the other meal? I use Harrington’s optimum now instead of burgess, its similar enough that the buns didn’t mind when I made the switch, and is often on offer. I don’t know if that is a brand you can get, but its fairly similar to the plain burgess according to hungry buns!

[Bam]

Az, I don’t think lucerne (alfalfa) is bad per se – when it’s an ingredient in a pellet. You have to look at the overall calcium-content and the calcium/phosphorus ratio in the pellets. If the calcium in a pellet comes from alfalfa or from sth else, it doesn’t matter, it’s still calcium. Calcium from alfalfa isn’t worse than calcium from some other source. Protein is more complicated since protein isn’t uniform, but to my knowledge, there’s nothing wrong with protein from alfalfa, it’s just that there’s more than an adult bun need if you feed alfalfa hay instead of grass hay. In a pellet, the protein-content is a mix of protein from many of the ingredients, and it’s not specified how much comes from each. According to Molly Varga, pellet producers frequently change the ratio between raw products in a pellet because prices of raw products vary.

Anyway, this means that different bags of the same food can taste very different to the buns, and this can have an effect on the buns’ appetite. The point is, not even the same brand of pellets is the same over time. This could in part be why Burgess adds mint or oregano. It’s declared in percentage of weight and helps maintain a taste that is consistent over time.

If they eat lots of hay, pellets are far less important. Check calcium and Ca/P ratio of Vetafarm, if it’s the same or similar to Burgess, think you could try those.

Don’t know if I’m making sense here, it’s still early and I’ve only had 1 cup of coffea yet.

[Azerane]

Thanks to both of you Regarding the smell, the mint flavour does smell strong as well, I think perhaps that’s what they like about it, however the different strong smell could be off-putting. Very clever idea feeding two varieties as well, I never thought of that

I know the Ca/P ratio is important, however Vetafarm doesn’t list either on their packaging. I can’t imagine it would be terrible, but I’ve just sent them a quick e-mail to ask about it. I likely won’t get a response until Monday but we’ll see.

Just as an overview, there’s really only Burgess, Oxbow, and Vetafarm here that are quality pellets, grass hay based. Everything else is lucerne or grain based. Vetafarm is the cheapest, then Oxbow, then Burgess.

They only get 2 tablespoons of pellets each daily, so I suppose that pellets aren’t terribly important in terms of quality, as opposed to if I was feeding them as half of their diet or something. I don’t know why, I just feel guilty switching

[Bam]

Bunnies do that to their hoomins! Make us feel guilty so we’ll give them more treats and tunnels and plush beds etc. That’s part of their strategy for world-domination. It’s working, too!

I currently give 4 types of pellets, tiny amounts of course. One has a strong scent of fenugreek. Problem with that one is my dog finds it super-delicious. Every chance she gets, she steals those pellets from Bam, and Bam can’t do much about it since she’s 14 times his size =/

[Azerane]

4 kinds of pellets! Wow, that’s great. This is making me feel much better about switching.

[Gina.Jenny]

When we first got Podge, and I was trying to get his tum settled, I bought a small bag of Naturals Meadow Menu, as it contained all kinds of things that might help, and all four buns turned their noses up and left them to be swept up. Mini and Snickers seem to view all foods as treats, so as an evening treat the other day, I gave them a few of these, and they tucked in, now all six buns want the scorned pellets! Being totally indoor buns now might have something to do with it, as they aren’t spoilt on fresh grass 12 hours a day.

[Q8bunny]

Man… I should count myself lucky that all Chewie’s ever had consistently is Oxbow
I dearly want to have him try the mint Burgess Sadly it’s another 18 months away. The Oxbow organic smells yummy to me – do you guys have that?

[Azerane]

I think we can get the Oxbow organic online, but it costs just as much as the Burgess. My main point for switching to Vetafarm right now is cost.

[Q8bunny]

Oh booo… I thought your store carried it

[Azerane]

Well I could probably get a vet that stocks oxbow to order it for me, but I doubt I would like the price

[Alfreds minion]

That’s interesting that oxbow isn’t available in stores where you are. It’s easy to get here, though expensive at about $25 a bag. Except for one place that sells it for $20. And at least there’s no postage to pay. I’ll be glad when Alfred is a little older and I can cut down his pellets a bit.

[jerseygirl]

They dont have any of the light version either?
With the oregano flavour, maybe pop a few mint tea bags in the bag to try infuse a familiar smell. Might trick them enough to take a bite. lol
You could try giving them some fresh or dried oregano beforehand too, to see how they like the flavour. Ive seen bunches of dried oregano at some of the italian fruit & veg places.

[Azerane]

@Alfreds minion, I can buy oxbow from certain vet clinics, but most pet stores don’t stock it. It does start at around $20 a bag, up to about $25 as you said.

@JG, none of the light, though they have the junior and dwarf mint. I was looking to buy from the little helpers site because last time she let me pick it up instead of paying for shipping, though I’ve no idea if she still does that. But it would have worked out cheaper than the really cheap price on them from Guinea Pigs Australia shop and paying $15 for shipping.

I think I might get the Vetafarm for now, it’s a pain to switch but nicer on the bank account When money is less of an issue I’ll just switch back to the Burgess, or perhaps even given them a mix like others seem to do.

[Azerane]

Just an update to this, I’ve already ordered the Vetafarm pellets, but I received a response from Vetafarm today about their calcium content and ratio. Calcium is 1% max and the Calcium/Phosphorus ratio is 2:1 which is the ideal ratio. So that’s good.

I’m hoping they arrive tomorrow, but will probably be Friday. We’re getting pretty low on pellets and bunnies will not be impressed if they miss out

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