Sherwood Pellets: Yay or Nay?

[Marzipan The Bunny]

So I’m thinking of switching my bun from oxbow adult pellets to Sherwood adult pellets. Mars is 5 months old and I’m just using the adult Timothy pellets because he was on Timothy before I adopted him and I didn’t see the point in switching him to an alfalfa based diet just to switch him back to Timothy later on. I’m a bit unsure with oxbow pellets because they use a lot of soy as fillers and a source of protein but I’m also unsure with switching him to Sherwood as they contain alfalfa hay. Should I switch him to Sherwood or just pick a different brand?

[mimimomo]

My bunnies eat Sherwood adult pellets (timothy blend, not professional) and I’m very happy with it. It does have some alfalfa in it, but I don’t think alfalfa is BAD for adults bunnies, necessarily – it’s just that it’s high in calcium and fattening (I think?), so the majority of their hay intake should be something like timothy hay which is lower in calcium. But bunnies shouldn’t be eating a lot of pellets anyway, so they really won’t be getting much alfalfa.

The bag claims you can free feed it because it’s so “healthy”, but I would still measure and limit their intake – my buns actually got a little chubby since they love it so much and I had to cut down how much I gave them. These days, I give each bunny a heaping 1/8 cup per day (for 3 pound Holland lops).

I know some people really love Sherwood pellets because it supposedly cuts down on urine smell..? I can’t compare because I’ve never used another brand, but the only time I can smell my bunnies is when I’m actually cleaning their litter box. Seems to work!

[JackRabbit]

All three of my buns have been on Sherwood adult maint pellets for almost 3 years. Removing soy, fillers, and sugar from my megacolon bun’s food has helped tremendously. One of my girls had bladder sludge and my other girl had issues with urinary calcium crystals and both issues cleared up with the change to Sherwood pellets. We kindof free feed in that I measure out pellets for the day and the buns graze on that amount throughout the day, but once they’re gone, they don’t get more until the next day. I didn’t believe the self-regulating claim at first because my bunnies initially (once they fully transitioned) gobbled up the pellets, but after several months they stopped doing that. Now they eat a little pellets, stop and eat some hay, go do bunny stuff, stop back by the bowl for a little more, etc. i give the same amount of pellets with Sherwood as I did with Oxbow, but now I put the whole day’s worth out at once.
Some bunnies may protest the change since the pellets aren’t sweet. Easiest way to avoid this is a very slow transition. We started by giving Sherwood pellets as treats amd then transitioned over 1 1/2 months (stretched the change out so no tummy upset with my megacolon bun since any change doesn’t sit well with him).
Since being on Sherwood and doing our version of “free feed”, all three buns have been eating their pellets but have also increased the amount of hay they eat.

[Daisy]

I’ve Googled the Sherwood pellet content and they look good to me! As long as the actual contents are fine the pellets are fine regardless of whether it is an alfalfa or thimothy pellet. This chart may help you in future pellet picking: http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-food-comparison.asp. As you can see the Sherwood pellets are all fine except for the Calcium content (it’s red) but that’s because the min is too low and the max is too high. The mode and average calcium amount among the bags your purchase should be just right!

Oxbow is a fine overall brand as well, it all comes down on your spending preferences and extra wishes such as soyfree, grainfree and maybe extra additives such as Yucca or other herbs said to have “special powers”. I believe the normal Oxbow pellets are not grainfree.

[Q8bunny]

Oxbow’s great (especially the organic one), but my bun has done so much better on Sherwood. Big thumbs up.

[Marzipan The Bunny]

Thank you for replying! I think I will go with Sherwood pellets from now on, do I need to switch him over slowely or immediately transition him?

[Daisy]

You should slowly transition to prevent tummy issues.

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