Otter Co-op Pellets

[Barley N. Hopps]

Yesterday I was in a local pet supplies store and bought a large bag of rabbit pellets for $5. The proprietor gets the pellets in huge sacks and re-bags them into smaller bags to sell. Unfortunately, the nutritional values are not written on the smaller bags, so I Googled Otter Co-op, where they're milled, to find out what's in the pellets. Here's the info:

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Guaranteed Analysis:
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial] Protein (min.) 14.00 %
Fat (min.) 3.00 %
Fiber (max.) 20.00 %
Calcium (actual) 1.00 %
Phosphorus (actual) 0.50 %
[/FONT][/FONT] Sodium (actual) 0.30 %
Vitamin A (min) 12000 iu/kg
Vitamin D (min) 2500 iu/kg
Vitamin E (min) 75 iu/kg
Selenium (added) 0.30 mg/kg
Ingredients: [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]alfalfa, barley, peas, wheat mill run, wheat, vegetable oil, molasses, sodium bentonite, biofos, yeast culture, organic selenium, limestone, vitamin A premix, vitamin D premix, vitamin E premix, copper sulphate, manganese oxide, zinc oxide, ferrous sulphate, calcium iodate, sodium selenate. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]It's lacking a lot of ingredients listed on the Kaytee pellets I'm currently buying, but I'm wondering if these might be fresher and as good for Barley anyway. They are milled in Langley, near Vancouver, which is just across the Strait from me here. The price is considerably less than the Kaytee or Oxbow brands too. Any thoughts?[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Thanks![/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Liz[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]
[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[ChocoClover]

Seems fine.

 

[majorv]

You might ask the guy how often he has it delivered, but it sounds like it's freshly milled, which is a plus.

 

[Barley N. Hopps]

Thanks for your replies! I imagine it's pretty fresh too, Majorv. Barley likes it - I gave him a spoonful. He ignored it at first, but when he ran out of his Kaytee supply for the day, he ate the new stuff. Maybe I'll mix it half and half with the Kaytee pellets so he's getting the best of both worlds.

 

[JBun]

I'm not sure if you know about slowly transitioning rabbits onto a new food, but it's always best to gradually transition rabbits onto a different kind of pellet, to minimize chances of digestive upset. I like to start with a small amount of the new pellets added to the old pellets, then gradually increase the amount of new pellets while decreasing the same amount with the old pellets. I do this over at least two weeks time, so that at the end of two weeks they are completely onto the new pellet. This gives your buns gut microflora, time to adjust to the food change. If you start seeing any mushy poop or signs of digestive upset, you may be transitioning too quickly and need to take it slower, or the new food may not be settling well with your bun.

 

[Barley N. Hopps]

I do, JBun, but thanks for bringing it up! I had to change Barley's pellets to Oxbow brand at one time when I was unable to get the Kaytee that he was used to. Going about it gradually works well and he had no ill effects. PetSmart is so annoying though - they then began stocking Kaytee and not Oxbow so I had to wean him back again. I tried mixing the two pellets, thinking it would be a good thing if he was used to both, but he started picking out the Kaytee (his preference) and ignoring the Oxbow. The Oxbow pellets are slightly smaller, that's how I could tell.