Kms pellets, has white things in it

platypus · Post » Sat Jan 18, 2020 2:51 am

This is my first post ever although I have very much appreciated the wonderful advice & shared experiences from so many of you over the years. My piggies and I cannot thank you enough!

This last batch of timothy pellets from Kms has quite a few white things in them, it's weird. They are oval in shape, around 1/4" long, are rounded on one side and there is a line down the middle of the other side (lengthwise). These might possibly be timothy seeds (per Google) although i would expect all the seeds would be crushed during the processing of the pellets. So I am just guessing if they might be seeds or not (I don't know how to attach a pic)

Have any of you noticed this also? Do you know what these are? Is it safe to feed it to my Gilbert?

And yes, I too have noticed that things are not the same at Kms. For instance, I have emailed numerous times about these white things and have also called & left msgs (when I could even get through). I have not received any response at all and this has been going on for *weeks*. I am baffled as to why Dan has not replied and it just makes me more suspicious about the pellets. This has never happened before, Linda or Nessa always responded promptly

I have always loved that Kms has the lower amount of calcium but with this issue I am having doubts as to quality. It seems like people on the forum like the Oxbow Essentials quite a bit. I fed Oxbow Cavy Cuisine in the past before i switched to Kms, but now with Linda being gone and this pellet problem, I'm open to suggestions as to what the current best timmy pellets are (and yes, please, I'm very sensitive to the calcium content. I just lost my Izzy, Gilbert's brother, to a blocked urethra from a bladder stone. And though Dr Nakamura said it was genetic, not calcium, I still monitor calcium which is why years ago I switched to Kms in the first place)

daisymay · Post » Sat Jan 18, 2020 4:11 am

We can only get Oxbow here, I just wanted to say how sorry I am that you lost Izzy. RIP little man. Popcorn among the clouds, forever young and in perfect health. Sending hugs to you and Gilbert.

I am hoping Jaffa whom we lost December 2nd 2019 and Joy whom we lost 13th January 2020 met Izzy and is showing him all the best green grass there is in paradise!

Post » Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:47 am

If you have a clear, crisp photo, you can send it to me. Include some of the pellets in the photo and perhaps a ruler to gauge size.

KMS Hayloft depends on the mill they choose to use to produce the pellets they require. They provide the formula that is supposed to be used (this generally includes a premix that has vitamins and minerals in it - that would have the stabilized vitamin C). Linda occasionally had issues over the years with some of the mills she used and I believe was not present when the batches were actually produced. A mill would blend/mix a variety of feeds for different people/businesses. If they messed up, she would not know unless her customers contacted her with an issue. Because of how she had her pellets produced, they were pretty fresh.

Sef · Post » Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:49 am

Which KMS email address have you been using, Platypus? I just received a shipment of KMS two weeks ago and it looks perfectly fine. I'd be very interested to see a photo of what you're describing.

Post » Sat Jan 18, 2020 12:11 pm

I'm curious, too. I get Oxbow, but I did try the KM pellets a few months ago and did not see what you describe. I would ask them if this is a new supplier or a new batch.

Post » Sat Jan 18, 2020 8:59 pm

I wrote Platypus:

I will put this up. But I can tell you what this is right now. It is grains of wheat. You can soak some for an hour or two and then keep them in a moist container and they will sprout. You might even get some wheat grass out of it.

All mills have lots of ingredients floating around. Wheat is one of them. I believe it is only in the extrusion process that the wheat is heated (and wouldn't sprout). This should sprout and look grassy.

Note, the top grain I think is an oat grain. The bottom ones are all wheat.

I am adding a picture I took of some wheat I was going to feed my chickens but complained when I found weavils in it:

platypus · Post » Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:14 pm

Thank you, daisymay, for the sweet words about my Izzy. I'm sorry you lost your Jaffa & Joy, and so close together. Yes, hopefully they are all 3 prancing together, maybe with all the other piggies who have passed on. I suppose pretty much everyone here on the forum have lost beloved piggies, their lifespans are too short. I don't know about anyone else, of course, but for me the pain never goes away and my heart hurts for my piggies and for all of my other critters who have graced my life.

I appreciate your helping me with this, Lynx, it's been bothering me for weeks. Even though I am not giving my Gilbert any of the seeds, I wanted to be doubly sure that the pellets weren't contaminated. I may just change over to the Oxbow Essentials. Gilbert gets just a small amount of pellets so maybe I'm just worrying too much here