Sherwood Guinea Pig Pro

kailaeve1271

Post   » Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:15 am


Sherwood Pet Health has just informed me that they will be making a Professional version of their Guinea Pig pellets if they get enough people interested. If you are you can contact them via their website or wait and watch.

For those wondering what is the difference between Professional and the regular formula: Professional formula offers more nutrients per pellet, meaning less pellets per pig. This is recommended for big hay eaters. I think more people would be interested in this because that would mean anyone with a hay loving pig (I'm assuming that's most of us) can try these pellets for the health benefits Sherwood has with less of the alfalfa that worries everyone.

I'm super excited and I hope people take some interest. I just wanted to let others know about this potential product, especially since I've noticed the wonderful health benefits of the original formula. I know the main reasons people won't use it is 1) their piggy doesn't like it and 2) the alfalfa content and I figured the Professional line may help these piggies and piggy parents.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Sep 17, 2018 12:43 pm


It would be helpful to know what they would plan to put in it. If you are essentially looking primarily at a multivitamin pellet, that might not be as good. Vitamins, minerals, etc. etc. are all best from foods.

kailaeve1271

Post   » Mon Sep 17, 2018 12:45 pm


I'll make sure to ask them. I think it's essentially the same thing as their original type, but in different concentrations.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Mon Sep 17, 2018 11:40 pm


I have tried their pellets several times, but my guys wouldn't touch them.

SSLee

Post   » Wed Sep 19, 2018 1:26 pm


My two girls switched over to Sherwood from Oxbow with no problems and I'm interested in the Professional version, as the alfalfa still concerns me.

kailaeve1271

Post   » Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:25 pm


They just let me know that a formula is complete. They never had interest before so it never became a true product. They are working on a full analysis list to send me along with the ingredient list! I'll post it here when I get it

kailaeve1271

Post   » Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:25 am


I have trouble uploading pictures so this will be typed directly from the analysis/Ingredients on the bag:

Analysis
Crude Protein, Minimum................. 14%
Crude Fat, Minimum...................... 7.5%
Crude Fiber, Minimum (Maximum)..... 17% (22%)
Calcium, Minimum (Maximum)......... 1.7% (2.2%)
Phosphorus, Minimum.................... 0.6%
Salt, Minimum (Maximum).............. 0.85% (1.35%)


Ingredients:
Alfalfa Hay, Whole Safflower, Whole Flax, Monodicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Choline Chloride, Essential Amino Acids, Chelated Minerals, B-Vitimans, Cobalt Carbonate.

Directions:
This hay-based grain/soy free food is nutritionally balanced and fortified. It is designed to be fe in limited amounts as a supplement to a diet composed of loose grass hay and select greens. Start by providing no more than 1/4 ounce of pellets (a touch more than 1/2 a tablespoon) per pound of body weight and adjust as recommended by your veterinarian. For best result, encourage your guinea pig to eat grass hay (more than 50% of its diet by weight) and limit treats especially those containing grain or soy that will unbalance the nutritional value of the overall diet and increase risk of metabolic acidosis. Balanced nutrition and regular veterinary checkups are the best preventative medicine.

kailaeve1271

Post   » Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:31 am


The point of these is to feed less, so your piggy will get the same nutrition as before and also be encouraged to eat more hay and greens

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:43 pm


Since I aim for less than .4% calcium, those are a BIG no-no in my book. I just hope you don't run into stone issues after a long period of feeding them.

kailaeve1271

Post   » Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:57 am


I completely understand your concern and for some people, yes it will not work, but for my guinea pigs the pellets are merely supplemental and they really want be ingesting any more calcium than they would on a regular diet. I only give about 1 tsp between my two pigs so it's more of a snack than an actual meal for them. So if you're feeding your pigs the regular 1/4 cup then I completely understand a concern. It wouldn't work for everyone, but I decided to throw the information out there for others who feed a low pellet diet.

As I understand your still skeptical over the science behind it, which again I understand and only time will tell if I've made a good decision so far so good for me, but others have a mixed opinion. I think it depends on the diet and your pigs

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:40 am


I think what many of us are objecting to (and I know it's true for me) is that as far as anyone knows, their "science" is just advertising. We haven't seen any studies, we don't know what tests were run or how, we don't have any longevity information on how well pigs do on the diet.

All we've got at this point are Sherwood's unproven claims and a bunch of anecdotal statements by people who jumped on his bandwagon. They may be true, they may not. Until we know, backed up by something that is more credibly scientific than just his word for things, color me skeptical. His statement about metabolic acidosis makes me think he doesn't know what he's talking about.

kailaeve1271

Post   » Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:48 am


And I completely understand that. I didn't even hear about the "Science" until after I had started them. I heard about the health benefits pigs were showing, especially when it comes to deposits. I was sick of seeing my pigs suffer at such a young change so I switched because it helped others. So far it's done great for me. What will it do in the long run? I have no idea, but for now they are happier. Not everyone is stuck in the situation of having 8 month old pigs on a low calcium diet, leaving deposits everywhere and having chronic UTI's so it doesn't necessarily work for everyone and it may not be the best long-run feed, but I will eventually find out with time.

The science I explain is literally just me saying what they tell me. I'm not saying they're right nor am I pointing the finger to anyone. I guess my piggy family can be the ones to test how well these work long term because it's not harmful to try on my piggies and I don't plan on changing it if they stay healthy on it. Over there life I plan to express both the positive and negative things they experience on it. If it harms them, I will obviously switch and spread the word to other owners.

I get the concern and after several months on it the long-term result still concerns me, but I'm happy my piggies can just live their lives NOW and do so happily

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