Foods Alfalfa

30Jan/10Off

Foods Alfalfa

Alfalfa Based Guinea Pig Food??? PLEASE HELP!!!!?

I am getting BABY guinea pigs, and I heard if they are under 7 months to get them alfalfa based (Things like: food, and hay.) and I found really nice timothy alfalfa based hay: at petsmart.
so I was wondering if you could tell me where on earth to find alfalfa based food?
I can't find it anywhere!

Thanks! (Please Help!)

Worry less about the base of the pellet and more about the protein content. Chow for young pigs (and adults too in my opinion) should be an 18% protein chow with stabilized vitamin C and without seeds, nuts, crunchy bits and colored garbage. These chows usually have both alfalfa meal and soybean meal. We feed Purina 5025 lab chow which is an example of the type of chow you want. Unfortunately, it only comes in 50 lb bags which is way too much for someone with only a couple of pigs. Mazuri makes a chow with very nearly the same formula which does come in consumer size packages. Oxbow Cavy Performance is also a good chow. You do not want their Cavy Cuisine which is only 14% protein. Both brands are commonly available in pet stores. As for hay, we feed grass hay to all our pigs including nursing sows and growing pups. Alfalfa hay is simply not necessary if you are feeding 18% chow. Our pups all are nice and healthy and usually meet their show weight targets (22 ounces by 4 months and 32 ounces by 6 months) WELL in advance of the required age.

EDIT

If you feed a 14% chow like Oxbow cavy Cuisine to either young pups or long hair breeds of any age, they will not get enough protein to grow body or coat properly with alfalfa hay. I see lots of underweight pigs when judging pet shows and the cause is almost overfeeding greens and/or underfeeding protein to them when young.