Anyone Ordered from KMS Lately?

[PinkRufus]

I heard back from KMS this morning. They were told that their pellets would be delivered by tonight; fingers crossed. Honestly, I don't know if Hugo would even eat different pellets! Good idea about checking with rescues and friends, Lynx! If their pellets are not delivered in time, I may do that.

[Lynx]

Oh, you could get your friends to order from KMS too so it would be more likely they might have spare pellets in a pinch ;-)

[PinkRufus]

I have actually done that, Lynx! haha! It was a long time ago though, so I should check to see if she is still using them. KMS just got their timothy pellets back in stock and I was able to order them for Hugo.

[Sef]

Great! I have been thinking of switching back to KMS after having my guys on Oxbow for the past year. Are the larger pellets a problem for Hugo? I bought a bag of KMS alfalfa pellets when we adopted a baby not too long ago, and he wouldn't touch them. The pellets were enormous.

[PinkRufus]

I haven't noticed them being larger, but they are not as crumbly as they were in the past.  Even so, Hugo has no trouble eating them with his "old man" teeth!

[Sef]

Have you ever fed Oxbow pellets? They are twice the size of those, or at least the alfalfa pellets were. I assume they're all cut the same. I'm still going to order a bag and see. If nothing else, I can hang onto it and send you some if you ever run out again. ;)

[PinkRufus]

Yes, I used Oxbow "Cavy Cuisine" for many years and then their organic pellets when they first came out with them.  My guys were getting lots of bladder stones, so I switched to KMS about a decade ago and have been using them since.  I use the timothy pellets, so maybe the alfalfa pellets are the large ones?  I haven't used alfalfa pellets for almost six years.  Good luck getting your guys to eat the KMS!

[Sef]

Thanks. Ordered a smaller bag, just to see. I was glad when Oxbow changed its formula a couple of years or so ago, but it's still fairly high in calcium. After a devastating issue with stones again after several years if everybody being stone-free, I want to reduce calcium as much as I possibly can.

[Sef]

Well, the KMS pellets finally arrived. The pellet size seems to vary, with large and small bits combined, but on average slightly smaller than their alfalfa pellets but quite a bit larger than Oxbow. For comparison purposes (and apologies for low lighting):

KMS alfalfa pellets on the left; KMS timothy pellets on the right -


KMS timothy on the left; Oxbow Essentials adult pellets on the right -


Oxbow Essentials adult pellets on the left and Oxbow Garden Select on the right:

[Kelsie]

@Sef. Thank you so much for posting those pictures. I've been feeding Oxbow Essentials for a while because my pigs just seemed to get tired of the KMS pellets. I was thinking of switching back because of the lower calcium in the KMS. I've been seeing posts from others who have stated that the KMS pellets have gotten larger than when Linda ran the business. After viewing your pictures I can see exactly what they are talking about.

I'm not sure that my pigs would even eat the larger pellets. I know I could break them in half but that is a lot of work. I'm still undecided but for now I'll stick to the Oxbow brand.

[Sef]

I was a little worried about the size, too, but I'm happy to report that all of our guys (including the youngster) ate their KMS pellets last night and are wolfing them down again this morning. The pellets aren't hard, and can be easily broken apart. I mixed roughly 50/50 with their Oxbow Essentials and think I'll continue to do this to help reduce overall calcium in their diets. Because it took so long to get the KMS, I'm a little reluctant to switch over to it completely.

[Lynx]

I hope they help!