A diet without Pellets - your input for my project.

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gracielee
Me, too!

Post   » Tue Aug 03, 2004 8:53 am


What if you did something really basic-- there's not much out there on guinea pigs. You have enough that you could break them into 2 pretty nice groups. You could do look at a diet with one kind of hay versus another, or fruits and vegetable supplementation versus vegetable only, or you could give one group a 1/2 cup veggies once/day, and the other 1/2 cup twice a day, or . . . .

I think 4 weeks might be long enough for a pellet-free diet. I think I still have some stuff from Dr. Breitweiser in Indianapolis about pellet-free rabbit diets. I'll try to look and see. It's either where it's supposed to be, or I have no hope of finding it.

Could you do fresh grass, hay and pellets versus other veggies, hay and pellets? I wouldn't embark on that one unless your pigs are pretty used to grass to begin with. Ours love to gorge on it when we mow the yard, and Rufus got bloated one time, so now we limit how much we put in a make sure they get some grass at least 3-4 days/week.

Indicators to measure: you could do teeth in mm-- did they grow, get more worn, less worn? I'd do a weekly measurement

weight: daily, you could plot a trend, up, down, or consistent

I don't know how you could accurately measure water consumption or pellet consumption, but weight and teeth would certainly be enough.

ChunkyPiggies

Post   » Tue Aug 03, 2004 1:48 pm


I havent used pellets on my pigs since October. Rocky has been off pellets since Dec (he was only 4 months old).

Prior to stopping the pellets, I had 2 UTI in a matter of 8 months and some other health issues with Smores. And my pigs are young too. Since stopping the pellets, I have had no health problems. each pig gets 2 or 3 cups worth of veggies a day and unlimited orchard grass. All of my pigs (except Rocky) dropped 100-200 grams in the first 3 months but has since steadied. Roxie is still very obesed but always has been. I think thats just her. Piggie is about 1050 and Smores is 950 (has always been small). Both are nice and lean. Rocky is 1100 and still growing. Also very lean looking. Roxie is 1200 and a big gooby blob. Always has been.

Pigwig

Post   » Tue Aug 03, 2004 2:00 pm


I haven't used pellets for several months now - I just feed unlimited hay, piles of grass & a few veggies. So far all five pigs are doing really well! They didn't lose any weight as I reduced the pellets gradually & increased grass. They are very lively, sleek & well. They have access to fresh grass all day as they are in an outdoor enclosure. In the summer, grass contains all the nutrients needed & alongside ad lib hay, they don't really need pellets or loads of veggies. Winter feeding is more of a problem.

ChunkyPiggies

Post   » Tue Aug 03, 2004 2:02 pm


YOu guys gotta keep in mind that pellets were invented so that labs could have something to feed their subjects that were easy and clean to deal with. They only needed their animals to be alive for a good few months.

spikes mom

Post   » Tue Aug 03, 2004 3:12 pm


Erin - if you are doing a project on nutrition, you could use different brands of pellets for your project.

You can compare the nutritional information (if included) on the bags of pellets and see if there is any difference between groups.

It would probably be best to use at least 3 groups consisting of one control group that feeds on the pellets they are used to, and 2 other groups being fed 2 other types of pellets.

Just a thought.

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jennylynn
GL Junkie

Post   » Tue Aug 03, 2004 3:48 pm


I'd be interested in seeing a study involving pellets vs. no pellets.
I've been toying with the idea of taking my boys off pellets, but Joey loves them so much that I haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet. I may give it a try after my move back east.
If you do decide to do this, Erin, definitely post your results here!

Erin8607
Knee Deep

Post   » Tue Aug 03, 2004 5:04 pm


The more I think, the more involved this is for this type if little 3 page project. However, just getting back from the vet with a pig filled with stones, I'm really thinking of switching at least this one cage of pigs to a no-pellet diet. There went another $250 to the vet just for diagnosis, now to wait to see what sort of candidate we have for surgery. *sigh*

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tkkats
4 the Angels

Post   » Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:55 am


I have decided I'm going to switch to a pellet free diet for my gps. I'm gradually cutting back on their pellets and adding more vegetables. They already get an unlimited amount of hay.

I weigh them once a week so it will be interesting to see if their weight changes once I have them completely off the pellets.

The two sows I adopted from the SPCA won't eat the pellets anyhow. They haven't touched them since I brought them home two weeks ago. They seem to be doing just fine without eating them though. I finally just stopped putting the pellets in their cages because I was just throwing them out the next day.

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mattm1

Post   » Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:35 am


Erin, you can use our pigs as your Guinea Pigs, we feed them KM hay, red bell pepper for Vit C, some hay blocks, and one treat a week whic is usaully a nibble ring or two each. Monty the youngest boar has grown like a weed since we got him but is not fat. All six piggies are very healthy, active, and happy. We resued two girls earlier this year who had a pellet only diet, no room to move, either teeth broken off or grown to the back of their their mouth (no vit C), high hair loss, who would not eat hay. Now KM is all they eat and you can't tell that they were ever that bad off.

glade
Even Republicans Give!

Post   » Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:43 am


The only veggie you give them is red pepper?

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gracielee
Me, too!

Post   » Wed Aug 04, 2004 9:36 am


If it's for a 3-page project, my guess is they just want you to be familiar with research design, in which case you could use only 2 pigs, one for the experimental group, one for control.

Primary outcome measure: daily weight gains comparable with the control group

Secondary outcomes: glossy shine of coat (?) length of front teeth at the end of the project (making things up here)

You could write a paragraph on how you're going to supplement for vit c and calcium and such with proper veggie choice.

User avatar
mattm1

Post   » Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:29 am


Red Bell Pepper which is the highest in Vit C. They get limited veggies and time on the lawn when it's nice out. 95% of their diet is hay.

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