Amazing digestive results using Sherwood Pellets

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skinnypigs1
Supporter in '12

Post   » Tue Feb 27, 2018 4:00 pm


Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein minimum 14%
Fat minimum 5%
Fiber min-max 24-29%
Calcium min-max 1-1.6%
Phosphorous min 0.4%
Salt min-max 0.25-0.75%
Vitamin C min- 250mg/kg

Ingredients:
Alfalfa Hay, timothy hay, whole flax, whole safflower, monodicalcium phosphate, salt, choline chloride, DL-Methionine, Vitamin C, Copper, Amino acid chelate, lysine, Zinc amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, niacin, L-threonine, selenuim yeast culture, ethylene diamine dihydroiodide, cobalt carbonate.

ValeriesZoo

Post   » Tue Feb 27, 2018 4:06 pm


Here is a list of the ingredients for Sherwood Pet Health Adult Guinea Pig Pellets
I’ve got a folder here on my desktop of ingredients and analysis for all the most commonly used brands that I was looking at and pouring over when I was debating on trying these or not

Ingredients: Alfalfa hay, timothy hay, whole flax seed, whole safflower seed, Monodicalcium phosphate, salt, choline chloride, essential amino acids, chelated minerals, ethylcellulose coated ascorbic acid (vitamin C made shelf-stable by coating it in cellulose fiber), B-vitamins, cobalt carbonate.

Guaranteed Analaysis
Crude protein, minimum……14%
Crude Fat minimum…………….5%
Crude Fiber min..………………...24%
Crude Fiber max……………………29%
Calcium (min)……………………... 1%
Calcium (max)………………………. 1.6%
Phosphorus (min)………………... 0.4%
Salt (min)………………………………0.25%
Salt (max)…………………………….0.75%
Vit C min……………………………….250mg/kg

afdani1984

Post   » Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:28 pm


We have recently transitioned to Sherwood for both the pigs and the rabbits. It's only been about a week, but I've already noticed some positive changes. Up to this point, we've been feeding Oxbow, low calcium vegetables, and our water is filtered. There have been quite a few things, some large, expensive and traumatic, others just small things, that seemed to pile up and made me really look at what we were feeding and consider making a change.

We have one pig, Truman, who was diagnosed with a suspected bladder stone last February, it either broke up or he passed it, because he never required surgery. He does still cry when passing stool, but maintains weight and appetite and has a good attitude. The tentative diagnosis for him was Interstitial Cystitis. He's not passing calcium like he should and it sits in his bladder. So far I haven't noticed any significant changes with Truman, aside from the fact that he's actually passing the sludge now.

In January, we unexpectedly lost Roosevelt, Truman's cagemate,to a very large bladder stone. He was booked for surgery, went downhill and they suspected it may have passed into his urethra, pushed his surgery up, and the morning we brought him in felt like it was actually in a ureter. Our clinic isn't equipped for micro surgery, we could have taken him to Cornell, but his recovery prognosis was poor. I wasn't going to torment him and so we decided the kindest thing to do was to let him go.

Fiona, my female rabbit, has always been what I'd call finicky. The Oxbow pellets were hit or miss with her, sometimes she'd eat them, sometimes she'd ignore them. Her hay intake wasn't that great either and I very rarely ever saw her drinking. Two weeks ago she went into GI stasis. No apparent cause noted by the vet. If you think hand feeding a guinea pig is a challenge, rabbits are worse. I think I still have scratches. It took probably two days to get her back to eating enough on her own to stop hand feeding, and a week before she went back to normal. Since switching, her stool...which were pretty consistently small and black, are much more golden brown and normal looking. She actually eats the pellets, her hay intake has increased and I actually see her at the water dish. I feel like she's more active as well. I look back on some of her old photos and realize she looked bloated and unhappy.

Gus, my senior pig. Back in November he had short period of appetite change and weight loss. As he's hit senior age, he's also had some issues with soft,smelly poop. He went off pellets, but was showing interest in hay and veggies. We booked him in with the vet, who said clinically and body composition wise everything checked out. We decided to book a follow up, I'd chart weight and diet for the week and see what happened. Nothing significant was changed in his diet, just lots of observation. The first few days, his weight continued to dip slightly, but then a few days before our followup it went back up to what we had deemed his "senior weight." He maintained weight and appetite until January, but the soft and smelly poops were pretty consistent. He lost weight while I was gone for two weeks and they were in my husband, but as soon as I got home it went back up and every thing was normal. It started up again about two weeks ago, right around the time I'd been debating making the switch in foods. Our vet visit today was inconclusive. She wants to see how he maintains on the new pellets.

This is what his poops looked like before, and this is a week off Oxbow.Image

There's been a few other small things I've noticed as well. Woodrow looks far less puffed and bloated, and my pens and litter pans smell better. Every one is eating more hay, and drinking more water. They used to throw themselves at the dishes for the Oxbow. Now they seem much more measured in grazing on the pellets through out the day than just inhaling them. I was really on the fence switching, but after the past few months something needed to change. So far I'm happy with what I'm seeing. My vet is on board with trying them out and was interested in looking into the food. We also talked about some of the studies being done about the risk vs benefit of low calicum diets and whether you're trading one issue for another by restricting too much calcium. If you don't get the right balance, the body pulls it from the bones and then you end up with other issues. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

Pinkbookworm

Post   » Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:16 pm


I just switched my girls to it after a high sugar scare in one of my piggies urine. when I was looking at what it in oxbow I was appalled. every one knows you cant give piggies lots of fruit because of the sugar but they were using molasses in their pellets. so after I did research I was on the fence to switch after losing a piggy to stones my self. but after watching the videos and watching skinny pigs reviews I decided to switch. just like our food all the additives are not good for them* in our food the additives are not good for us either* . my girls are still in the process of switching but I have found they are not eating as much their Urine does not smell hardly at all. mine did not have issues with the poops as much but one of my girls does have issues with her weight and I am hoping that this switch will help since I am cutting out sugars. ( and because I forgot to put it in My girls hardly ever get fruit. and I do watch the amount of calcium veggies they get as well )

jgalhenage

Post   » Thu Mar 01, 2018 3:41 pm


My experience has been similar to skinnypigs1 (Abby) - I first learned about Sherwood pellets from the rescue (Rabbit Meadows) where I volunteer at every Sunday and then also during the same time - my vet started to recommend them and even start selling them off her shelf! She is a well respected exotic animal vet in Western WA and I see her regularly since I have 10 pigs. So I switched all 10 of my pigs (both male and female, various ages, breeds and sizes) over to the Sherwood pellets gradually and then after a week or so - completely. The results were all positive - they eat about half less than the previous KMS pellets I had them on (Oxbow before that), and they graze through them consistently throughout the day. Their urine all smells better and their poos are much better formed and consistent and not mangled or smashed or soft looking. I have a pig that has pretty bad arthritis and her energy to move has increased since being on the Sherwood pellets. Also, the white gritty calcium deposits have decreased in all of my cages. The pigs are also more motivated to eat more hay versus just pellets or veggies or treats - which is never a bad thing. And - their fur is so much more shiny and soft and fluffy! All three of my rainbow pigs have passed away in the last couple of years from some type of digestive issue so I was pretty desperate to find something that would work consistently and I think I have found that in the Sherwood pellets. I know they are made from alfalfa and have calcium content, but the previous pellets I was using wasn't seeming to help with all the fillers added and I like that Sherwood pellets have a very short and mostly natural ingredient list. They are so high quality and you can just physically tell by their color and smell. I hope more guinea pig lovers and caretakers take this thread/discussion and Sherwood pellets seriously as we all know our piggies are so sensitive - so we need to stay on top of supplying the best food out there for them!

User avatar
skinnypigs1
Supporter in '12

Post   » Sun Apr 22, 2018 11:08 am


Just wanted to update anyone who was interested or following about the pellets.

We have been using them for just over 2 months now:

1. All the pigs have softer and shiner fur.
2. The pigs who were able to be off medications are still medication free (no more daily bloat scares for Pecan & Bullseye is pooping without help).
3. The cages that previously were having tons of calcium deposits all the time on the other pellets, now have just a very normal amount, some here or there and they are powdery white, not gritty or very washed out.
4. Everyone has maintained their weight, even though they are satisfied with less pellets.
5. Everyone still takes 12-24 hours to finish their portions, which makes me happy, as that seems healthier to spread it out.
6. Everyone eats more hay, drinks more water and seems very content.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:05 pm


skinnypigs1, verrrry interesting that your nekkid pigs have "softer and shiner fur" ;-) [just kidding, I imagine you have some haired guinea pigs too]

Has anyone on these pellets had a whole body xray in this time? I wonder because it is possible to have not enough calcium which could show up as bone loss on an xray. I would imagine this could be especially true for satins.

User avatar
skinnypigs1
Supporter in '12

Post   » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:34 pm


Haha I actually thought about that after I wrote it. I only have 3 skinny pigs right now and 6 furry piggies.

No one has had an x-ray while on the new pellets. Pecan had one before we switched pellets because of serious bloat.

C Cole-Chakotay

Post   » Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:07 pm


I'm mixing KMS and Sherwood pellets. Kellie doesn't seem to care for the Sherwood pellets, so they are being mixed about 1/2 with Sherwood pellets.

Cuy

Post   » Thu May 24, 2018 1:24 am


I just started my Nala on Sherwood last Saturday (she has her own medical thread ‘Gassy/GI young female’ or something similar) as we think she is probably sensitive to grain- she had a horrible GI flare-up last week so I decided to stop KMS and try Sherwood. She has been losing a little weight daily since last week but is mowing down hay every day and poops are finally looking good. She is picking at the pellets, I can’t say she loves them so I started supplementing with SARx tonight hoping to get some extra in her. I would guess she is eating 1 tbsp max of pellets a day so I’m hoping that’s enough but she is eating a lot more hay than she used to when she was on KMS. I appreciate hearing everyone’s experience with this food, it’s very encouraging! If anyone has any suggestions about how they got their pigs to come around, I would love to hear them.

TheCageCleaner

Post   » Thu May 24, 2018 12:58 pm


Definitely remaining quite skeptical of the magical results....wish there were more citations behind the claimed benefits by the manufacturer. I have a hunch that if the long-term effecfs were to be studied there would be too many confounding factors (pellet intake before/after, overall diet changes at the same time of pellet switch, etc.) muddying the data.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Thu May 24, 2018 3:04 pm


Exactly, TheCageCleaner.

We're seeing all these anecdotal reports from untrained observers based on a manufacturer's claims that he does not substantiate with scientific data. Color me VERY skeptical of these results.

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