A diet without Pellets - your input for my project.

Erin8607
Knee Deep

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:21 am


We have to do a research project this quarter and I'd like to do something with guinea pigs so I chose to use two groups of my pigs and do a normal diet of free-fed pellets, unlimited hay and water with a daily ration of some veggies or other vitamin C suppliment. Another group, I'd like to do a diet with unlimited hay and an ample amount of fresh grass and vegetables - no pellets.

Can those of you who do this instruct and/or share your experiences? I'm guessing that the pigs that go off pellets will lose some weight at first, but how long until the weight stablizes, how much did your pigs lose, etc.

I have about 4 weeks until it's due, do you think this will be enough time for me to collect data for a presention or should I seek out another topic? If so, any ideas?

Thanks.

Erin8607
Knee Deep

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:26 am


Oh, I'd also need some sort of resources to back why I chose this. So, if you know of any websites that go into any sort of detail about no-pellet/limited-pellet diets for pigs and/or rabbits please do post them. I asked her if the forum information and personal accounts from members would be sufficient and she prefers that I get other sources as well.

Erin8607
Knee Deep

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:47 am


Just doing some searching and posting links for myself to go back and read tomorrow.

https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewt ... ht=limited

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snowflakey
E's Moriarity

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:14 pm


That is interesting. I believe E has her bunnies on a no-pellet diet, but she is *so* awol right now!

You have 4 weeks, but do you think you'll keep up the experiment for longer? I would think that long-term effects would be very interesting. Good luck.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 1:44 pm


If you have lots of tasty fresh grass, I predict you won't see any weight loss. It would be cool if you could get a measurement of their teeth before and after the experiement to see if not eating pellets wore their teeth down more.

Sounds interesting. My only concern would be that I doubt you will find observable differences in the two groups. You could also experiement on weight vs. cage set up -- i.e. lots of shelves, things to climb over, water and foods put in different locations. You'd have to make sure they had precisely the same foods.

I think getting your pig active is a big plus. Might be hard to randomize the subjects (perhaps you could toss a few pigs in the air, bounce them off a wall, and see if they end up in test housing #1 or test housing #2).

spikes mom

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:15 pm


Hi Erin, for a research project, generally you need to keep all things equal other than the one being tested. It would be a good idea to keep track of the piggies water consumption (both groups) as well as the amount of pellets consumed by your pellet group. The more measurements the better for comparison purposes.

Make sure the piggies are kept in the same area so the environmental conditions are the same for both groups, use the same bedding etc.

Sorry, if this is too much, I was a biology major and worked in a lab. Probably using only 2 groups will not be very indicative of "significance differences", but it isn't a bad place to start.

spikes mom

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:19 pm


Also, animals that may initially lose weight because they miss their pellets may eventually gain that weight back when they start consuming more of the food that is available - this is called the "Rebound Effect".

Nurgle
...what, what, what?

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 3:40 pm


I'm thinking this might be too short for many of the benefits of a pelletless diet (isn't better teeth one of them?) to start showing up.

But you have our attention! You could do this experiment for us.

Because we love you so.

You would have to track (for years) what pig got what illness, who needed teeth work, and make sure that you don't make any other major changes for at least a year.

This is the kind of project I love! But I cannot have the numbers of pigs necessary to do.

Erin8607
Knee Deep

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 4:48 pm


Yes, I can definatly see that the 4 weeks time period I have to work with probably won't be enough to collect data. I'll probably nix this idea for now and move on to something else, I'm open to some ideas. Doesn't have to do with nutrition - the basis of this quarter is animal nutrition, reproduction and life cycles - so something along those lines outside of breeding some animals ;-)

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Red Blur
Chocolate Giver

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:03 pm


Does your project have to include some sort of experiment or can it just be pure research?

I was never good at coming up with my own topics. Tell me what to research and I can go to town. Make me think of something to research and my mind goes blank.

Erin8607
Knee Deep

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:10 pm


No, I don't believe it needs an experiment. I'd have to look over my syllabus again, which I don't have on me.

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Red Blur
Chocolate Giver

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:26 pm


I'm curious as to why gps don't produce their own Vit. C like many other mammals (not including us humans).

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