Pellet Brands

[MoxieMeadows]

I am curious as to what people’s opinions on what the best brand if pellets are. I need to change Finnegan’s pellet brand, since his previous owners had him on what seems to be a rather low quality brand. Dumor small animal classic diet pet rabbit food.
Crude protein, min. 13%
Crude Fat, min. 2%
Crude fiber min. 16% max 21%
Calcium min. 0.5% max 1.0%
Phosphorus min. 0.5%
Salt min. 0.5% max 1.0%
Vitamin A, min. 4,545 IU/lb
Vitamin D3, min. 454 IU/lb
Vitamin E, min 50 IU/lb

Ingredients:
Wheat Middlings, Soybean hulls, dehydrated alfalfa meal, cane molasses, soybean meal, flaxseed meal, feeding oatmeal, calcium carbonate, sodium bentonite, vegetable oil,salt, and TONS of other things I don’t feel like typing out lol.

I had Moxie on Sherwood Forest adult rabbit food, which she did well on, and I am highly considering it:

Important information
Ingredients :
Alfalfa hay, timothy hay, whole oil seed blend (flax included)*, Monodicalcium phosphate, salt, choline chloride, essential amino acids, chelated minerals, B-vitamins, cobalt carbonate.

I just didn’t know if there was something better out there that you guys could suggest. Preferably something I could order off of Amazon (US). I suppose I could take a look at Petco though, but it is a 2 hour drive away, and I tend to be dissatisfied with their selections.

If it helps, he is a mature(3ish years old)lion head. From what I have known, he has been on the above mentioned pellets and alfalfa hay his whole life up until he came to me.
Thanks so much in advance guys!!

[MoxieMeadows]

Please ignore the typos lol. Internet is too slow to edit, and it is after 1AM and my brain is fried, haha

[Deleted User]

I give my boys Oxbow. They like the taste, and they’ve never had an issue with it.

[Luna]

I used to give Luna Kaytee Timothy Complete but I switched her to Oxbow.

Oxbow
Crude Fat min 2.00% (kaytee 1.5)
Crude Fiber min 25.00% (kaytee 20)
Crude Fiber max 29.00% (kaytee 25)
Moisture max 10.00% (kaytee 12)
Calcium min 0.35% (kaytee 0.25)
Calcium max 0.75% (kaytee 0.75)

[MoxieMeadows]

So this might be completely false, but I was reading reports online about how oxbow pellets expand really quickly and choked their rabbits? I have no experience with that brand, so I have no idea. I just always try to air on the side of caution. have any of you guys had issues with that?

[joea64]

This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing. I suppose there might be a risk of pellets expanding by picking up moisture if they’re not stored properly, though. And there is always a risk of rabbits’ choking if they eat any food too fast; happily, I don’t think my buns are particularly prone to that, now that their sense of food security has been thoroughly established. These days, they take their time with their hay, pellets and greens and only get really wild about treats (Oxbow cookies and oats).

[Luna]

Posted By MoxieMeadows on 3/27/2018 8:15 PM

So this might be completely false, but I was reading reports online about how oxbow pellets expand really quickly and choked their rabbits? I have no experience with that brand, so I have no idea. I just always try to air on the side of caution. have any of you guys had issues with that?

I haven’t heard of that before. Even though Luna vacuums up her pellets, she hasn’t had any issues with the Oxbow pellets. But she doesn’t get them in a bowl in 1 sitting; I spread them out throughout the day. 

[Tay]

I order from small pet select – pellets are green and Charlie goes crazy for them. switched her over to that from Oxbow

[LBJ10]

Sherwood is a good brand. But my boys get Oxbow. I’ve never heard of the pellets swelling fast. I did find a wet one on the floor once and it was bigger than the dry ones, of course, but it wasn’t ginormous or anything. It just looked like it had expanded a little bit and I’m not sure how long it took it to get like that.

[Muj Mom N Bun]

I use Kaytee Timothy complete bcz that is what the previous owners of Bun had always had her on… she inhales them when I give her them only at night, but if I give her a small bit of them in the morning, she will eat a little more lady like…

Luna, have you seen any preference / improvement since you switched to Oxbox? Since Bun loves her Oxbow cookies, I have been considering switching her to Oxbow. She gets completely ravenous just hearing the bag of those cookies!

[HocusPocus11018]

Oxbow Essentials young rabbit

[LittlePuffyTail]

Oxbow. My Bindi only gets wet pellets that I serve as like a porridge. He got pellets caught in his throat twice and it was terrifying. Never heard that about Oxbow brand specifically causing problems. I think some buns just eat them way too fast. It’s a good idea to always spread the pellets. I was doing this with Bindi and he still had problems but my other’s have all been fine with just spreading them around.

[kurottabun]

Am following this thread as I am also curious about this. Anyone able to see if the below feed from Blue Seal is alright? Thanks in advance!

[kurottabun]

Also, would just like to add that Oxbow is ridiculously overpriced over here as I’m halfway across the world, so that’s not really an option for me unfortunately :/

[rachandstickybuns]

I have angora rabbits so their fur is longer than a lionhead, but yours still has that sweet mane. I studied a lot of rabbit food and found a brand called Brytin that you can order from Valley Vet. Ingredients are superior, but it is expensive.

[LBJ10]

kuro – If your rabbit is an adult, then that food would be too high in protein and fat. Calcium is borderline too much. Fiber is on the low side. I would look for a plain pellet with timothy hay as the main ingredient (not alfalfa). Hopefully that helps.

[kurottabun]

Is it okay if I mix a timothy based pellet together with this?

[kurottabun]

Edit: So my husband and I discussed about this and decided to get Oxbow despite the hefty price compared to other brands. Kurotta is a Netherland Dwarf so he doesn’t need to eat that much – which means the pellets should be able to last for quite a long time. We still have 3kg of the old pellets left though 

There was only one Oxbow pellet we saw at the pet store, which we bought. Is this the one that everyone is feeding their buns?

Oxbow Adult Rabbit Food

Ingredients

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

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein (min)	14.00%
Crude Fat (min)	2.00%
Crude Fiber (min)	25.00%
Crude Fiber (max)	29.00%
Moisture (max)	10.00%
Calcium (min)	0.35%
Calcium (max)	0.85%
Phosphorus (min)	0.25%
Salt (min)	0.50%
Salt (max)	1.00%
Copper (min)	30 ppm
Vitamin A (min)	19,000 IU/kg
Vitamin D (min)	900 IU/kg
Vitamin E (min)	190 IU/kg

[Luna]

Posted By Muj Mom N Bun on 3/29/2018 3:07 PM

I use Kaytee Timothy complete bcz that is what the previous owners of Bun had always had her on… she inhales them when I give her them only at night, but if I give her a small bit of them in the morning, she will eat a little more lady like…

Luna, have you seen any preference / improvement since you switched to Oxbox? Since Bun loves her Oxbow cookies, I have been considering switching her to Oxbow. She gets completely ravenous just hearing the bag of those cookies!

I haven’t noticed a preference since I switched to Oxbow pellets…Luna chows them down just as fast as the Kaytee pellets . She would occasionally show evidence of intermittent loose cecals – cecal stains on the carpet and 1 occurrence of a whole loose cecal – but after switching the pellets I only see a pea-sized cecal stain at less frequent intervals than before.

[Luna]

Posted By kurottabun on 3/30/2018 2:02 AM

Edit: So my husband and I discussed about this and decided to get Oxbow despite the hefty price compared to other brands. Kurotta is a Netherland Dwarf so he doesn’t need to eat that much – which means the pellets should be able to last for quite a long time. We still have 3kg of the old pellets left though 

There was only one Oxbow pellet we saw at the pet store, which we bought. Is this the one that everyone is feeding their buns?

Yes, that is the one I feed Luna .

[Muj Mom N Bun]

Thanx Luna, I may consider changing up since I’ve really seen that Oxbow appears to be one of the few companies that care about what doesn’t really belong in rabbits foods… wondering if they can be purchased on Chewy along with Bun’s little and Oxbow treats… that would mean a lot less running around for me!

[professorzap]

I get my Oxbow timothy pellets from Chewy.  That’s also where I get Oxbow Oat hay and Oxbow Meadow hay.  I get much bigger boxes of Oxbow Timothy Grass and Oxbow Orchard Grass from Dr. Foster and Smith, where I also get horse digestive Probios (my bun gets half a Probios daily).  That’s where I’ve found the food/hay cheaper.  Definitely cheaper than Amazon.

[Author]

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