Different type of hay for your rabbit/guinea pig

[Surrpaws]

Your rabbit/guinea pig should consist mainly of hay. I am sure alot of new rabbit/guinea pig owner would be confused as to what kind of hay to buy for your rabbit or how to store hay. We have compiled a list to clear the confusion.

Type of hay

Timothy – Most commonly fed to adult rabbit/guinea pig

Meadow Hay – Can be mix with timothy hay for a range of flavour

Orchard Grass – Can be mix with timothy hay for a range of flavour

Alfalfa – Due to it high nutrition value, it is to be fed to young rabbit or underweight rabbit only

Oat/Wheat/Barley – Can be fed to rabbit to provide roughage which reduces the danger of hairballs and other blockages

Type of cut

First Cutting – More roughage

Second Cutting – Larger percentage of leaves to stems, has a finer and softer stem

Third Cutting – Typically very soft hay that is primarily leaves with very few small stems

How much to feed your rabbit/guinea pig?

Birth to 3 weeks–

mother’s milk
3 to 7 weeks–

mother’s milk, alfalfa hay and pellets
7 weeks to 7 months–

unlimited pellets, unlimited alfalfa hay
7 months to 1 year–

introduce timothy hay, grass hay, oat hay, and other hays; decrease alfalfa
1 year to 5 years–



Unlimited timothy, grass hay, oat hay
1/4 to 1/2 cup pellets per 6 lbs. body weight
Over 6 year–



Adult diet for rabbit with normal weight
Alfalfa hay for underweight rabbit
How to store hay

Best stored at room temperature or cooler in a dry location out of sunlight
Container that is not air tight works well.(Your hay needs to breathe, as it naturally has a moisture content that will cause growth of mould)
Do not store your hay in sealed plastic bags.

Source www.[spammer].com

[WICharlie]

Thanks for the information, Surrpaws. One thing I want to point out is that male baby guinea pigs have to be removed from the mother and female siblings at 3 weeks of age which is when they start becoming reproductively mature. So they need to be able to eat solid food before that time. So where it says that they need to be on mother's milk from 3 to 7 weeks is inaccurate for a guinea pig. The mother pig may continue to nurse her female offspring after that but will have probably started the weaning process. Also, it is not necessary to provide alfalfa hay to baby pigs if say, parsley is added to their diet to give them the extra calcium they need.

You also state "decrease alfalfa," from one to five years. People may be mislead to think that it's okay to give alfalfa in lesser amounts all through to the fifth year. Guinea pigs should not eat alfalfa after one year of age and many believe the extra calcium should stop at 6 months.

I know only about guinea pigs, so I can't attest to any of this information for rabbits. Perhaps it would be better to have a different chart each for rabbits and guinea pigs.

[WICharlie]

I went back and reread your post and I see that there may be some confusion in how you put your spaces in your chart as to what the animals should eat at what age. There should not be a space after the hyphens.

Since rabbits and guinea pigs have different needs at different ages, it might be good to have a separate chart for each of them. Rabbits in particular are born helpless and need to stay with the mother for a much longer period of time than a guinea pig baby does.

Your charts also do not make any mention of fresh vegetables in the diet. I also disagree with providing unlimited pellets to guinea pigs (I am not as familiar with rabbits). Unlimited hay yes, but I think pellets should be limited to a certain amount a day. Some guinea pigs may eat all pellets and not hay, and that would not be healthy for their digestion or the health of their teeth.

[Lynx]

This person is a spammer. I am closing the thread.