Should I Switch to Burgess?

[beebun]

Okay, so Burgess finally expands to Indonesia (yay) and I’m thinking of switching Chito over to their pellets. Now he’s eating Oxbow. I’ve heard a lot about the brand and what it stands for, and they have a lot more fiber in them (I think), so I’m seriously thinking of switching after we finish the bag we have…in maybe about 4 months.

That being said, I’ve also heard of buns producing too much cecotropes or sth like that due to the packed nutrition. Chito is doing great with Oxbow but if Burgess (mint or oregano) is better I’ll start saving for when we run out of the Oxbow.

Pros/Cons appreciated! Thanks a lot y’all <3

[LongEaredLions]

According to the Burgess website, the ingredients for the mint/oregano nuggets are:

MINT
Grass Meal • Wheat • Soya Bean Hulls* • Oat Feed • Wheat Feed • Yeast • Lucerne • Mint (1.25%) • Soya Oil* • Limestone • MonoCalcium Phosphate • Dicalcium Phosphate • Minerals • Salt • Short Chain Fructo-oligosaccharides (0.25%) • Ligno-Cellulose. *May Contain GM Materials

OREGANO

Grass Meal • Wheat • Oat Feed • Soya Bean Hulls* • Wheat Feed • Lucerne • Peas • Yeast • Thyme (1.25%) • Soya Oil* • Monocalcium Phosphate • Dicalcium Phosphate • Salt • Limestone • Short Chain Fructo-oligosachharides (0.25%) • Ligno-cellulose • Oregano (0.06%). *May Contain GM Materials

The ingredients for the Oxbow adult rabbit food are:

Timothy Grass Meal, Soybean Hulls, Soybean Meal, Cane Molasses, Wheat Middlings, Sodium Bentonite, Soybean Oil, Salt, Lignin Sulfonate, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Yeast Culture, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate

I went through and deleted all the ingredients that appeared in all three foods, and we are left with:

MINT
Oat Feed • Lucerne • Mint (1.25%) •

OREGANO

• Oat Feed • Lucerne • Peas • Thyme (1.25%) •

OXBOW

• Cane Molasses

Both Burgess feeds contain oat feed and Lucerne. Neither of these ingredients are necessarily bad for your bunny, however, they may not provide the best nutrition. Oat feed is a filler, and while oats can be given to your bunny it isn’t generally recommended as their low nutrition and higher fat can cause weight gain. Lucerne, or Alfalfa, is generally only recommended for young bunnies as it is very rich, especially in calcium, which is hard on your bunny’s excretory system. The Oregano food also contains peas, which are also a filler that provide little nutrition to your bunny. While the Oxbow food doesn’t contain these fillers (it does contain soybean hulls-filler!) it does contain molasses, which is unnecessary sugar in the food.

The nutritional statistics of the foods are as follows:

OREGANO
 Beneficial Fibre 39% • Crude Protein 12.7% • Crude Oils & Fats 4% • Crude Fibre 19% • Crude Ash 6.5% • Sodium 0.17% • Calcium 0.75% • Phosphorous 0.5%

MINT

Beneficial Fibre 39% • Crude Protein 13% • Crude Oils and Fats 4% • Crude Fibre 19% • Crude Ash 6.5% • Sodium 0.18% • Calcium 0.75% • Phosphorous 0.5%. *May Contain GM Materials

OXBOW

[Azerane]

Both are a quality feed, and I don’t think you can really go wrong feeding either one. I did switch to Burgess from Oxbow, my reasons being primarily that my rabbit, Bandit wasn’t tolerating the oxbow very well, and secondly, I like that the Burgess doesn’t contain molasses. Whether that makes a difference or not I really don’t know, but for me I like that it’s not in there. Currently, my pair Apollo and Luna are on Burgess simply because it was what I was on before, they love it. Luna does seem to do quite a lot of cecal poops, but I don’t know whether that’s the Burgess or just her because she’s been on it the two months I’ve had her. They only get two tablespoons each daily.

[beebun]

Oh wow LEL thank you so, so much for the pack full of info! That definitely helped. I just heard that the term beneficial fiber and crude fiber doesn’t mean the same thing! That settles it for me. Chito doesn’t get a lot of pellets (2tbsp a day) but he has ‘I don’t like hay’ days so I think we’re staying on oxbow. I do love Burgess’ snack and herbs line though- Chito mows over his ~botanical~ hay :>

I see, Azerane, thank you for the reply! I’ve heard that some buns really love Burgess (part of the reason I considered switching) too<3 i guess what you said is true- both are good food!

[Author]

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