Prices?

[mouse_chalk]

hartleybun wrote:

out of interest- ok im waiting for hubby to go out so i can dust his workstation -i googled oxbow for the UK. it gave me a price of £77.76 for a 50lbbag of oxbow western timothy hay. oxbow have only one distributor in the UK according to their website. the distributor carries other oxbow products which seem to be a tad expensive. are we talking high end gourmet bunny food here?

i feed my little gastronauts science selective pellets - £6.99 for 3kg bag plus a selection of hay and veggies.

I had to giggle at the 'gastronaut' comment! :biggrin2:



We recently changed our suppliers of Oxbow- we used to get it from here:

http://www.sphsupplies.co.uk/produc...d=437&osCsid=c0f08f1a648bc43dad9e06cbdac7062d


but we got 2 bags that were full of dust and not fresh, so we changed our suppliers to the actual UK distributors- where everyone else buys their stock from. It's cheaper, fresher and much faster delivery and we get it straight from the pallets that have been shipped in from the US:

http://www.petlifeonline.co.uk/Store/Small-Animals/Feed/Oxbow-Bunny-Basics$1T

They don't actually list the 22.5kg bag on their site but when we called them they were happy to sell it to us (they normally only get sales from rescues etc and were quite surprised at a little household wanting it for their 5 rabbits LOL!)

In my opinion, it's not the best of the best, be-all and end-all food, but I find that it's much better quality than food over here, fibre-wise. I've not managed to find anything in the UK that has higher than I think 18% fibre? This is 25-29%. And I know that fibre isn't the only important thing in their diets but it's proved to be the deciding factor between mushy poops and nice healthy ones. When Dotty came to us she was eating Excel pellets and her fur was all wiry and bristly all over her back, and same with Barney and Snowy. Now they are all as soft as clouds!

I guess different food works for different bunnies though. We might have tried the Science Selective, but we thought that we might as well just go for the best we could afford.




As for the Oxbow hay, I do really love it, but it is way expensive for us over here. I could buy a 4kg bag for £29 of the Western Timothy hay, or I could buy a 3kg bag of meadow mix from the local supplier down the road that lasts me a week for £2. Easy maths! My bunnies love the meadow mix too. What we do is buy the odd bag of Oxbow Timothy Hay and Orchard Grass and mix them into the local hay, to 'supplement' them. Bunnies get more variety and they love rooting around for the different bits.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

You know, Bo had real problems when I was feeding him cheaper stuff as a baby. I forget about the whole cecal thing too - I've heard that before.

gastronauts was cute LOL!

 

[hartleybun]

the gastronauts wont touch excel. i have tried them with it a couple of times but they hate it. i know it's sad but afteryet anotherday of the dish thrown out of the hutch i counted the pellets. not one was eaten:rollseyes i started them on science selective from the beginning as well as a selection of hay and their own lawn. both myself and their vet are very happy with whats coming out of each bunny their coats and skin are also in excellent condition. tbh im loath to try another brand as this diet suits these particular bunnies.

the shop i use is local and family run - they also have choc labs - and ive no problem with returning anything that isnt up to scratch.

i thought my family were fussy but the bunnies are gold medal standard:biggrin2:

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

We pay $15 for a 5 pound bag of Zupreem Nature's Promise timothy pellets My three go through 2-3 bags a month. You can't get Oxbow up here. For a while I was ordering it through Busy Bunny, but shipping prices went wayyyy up so I had to stop. I'm envious of a 50 pound bag for $60! I'm not trying to minimize how annoying the price increase is for anyone, it's just interesting how prices differ depending on where you are.

I could see how it would be hard to feed $3 per pound pellets if I had 50 rabbits. Because I only have the three bunnies, I couldn't in good conscience feed them a low quality food. They also get unlimited timothy hay ($42 for a 50 pound bale) and big daily salads.

Thats over priced for Zupreem there mark up is horrible. My friend that owns the shop sell his zupreem at 9.99 for a 5 pound and 11.99 for the bigger bag it must be ten pounds.

He only ordersa few at a time so he pay more then the companys that order pallets of them witch mean there marking that up something horrible. If I could do one thing for every person that shops at big name stores I would say find a mom and pop store the mark up is so much less.

I get the ten pound bag at 10 bucks that last storm forever well I bought a bag when he came home have not bought anotherone sense. So 5 months so far.

Which means kieths marks it up two buck which is about right. You have to take persentage and frieght and opening cost. And do some fancy numbers work to get about 2 buck mark up for bigger stores it should only be like 3.

 

[Luv-bunniz]

Baby Juliet wrote:

It's not the cost of pet food but the pet owners. People one or two rabbits relying on what others post on the web and then reposting.

No one is going to convince me that spending $60 for designer pellets is better for the rabbits than spending $15 for Purina and the rest on horse hay and veges.

Seems a bit silly to me to feed expensive timothy based pellets when you can just feed cheap timothy hay that horses eat.

I always look forward to your replies. Blunt and straight to the point. Please never change.

 

[Luv-bunniz]

DazyDaizee wrote:

This suggests that a human could survive off of powdered cellulose, corn, and chicken scraps so long as they take their multivitamin daily. Surviving and thriving are two different things.

Ehh...humans could thrive on vitamin supplements alone if they had sufficient calories.

Oxbow is mostly vitamin supplements, aswell.


Timothy Grass Meal, -- [By-product] Fiber
Soybean Hulls, -- [By-Product] Protein
Wheat Middlings, -- [By-Product] Fiber
Soybean Meal, -- [By-Product] Protein
Cane Molasses, -- Binder, fiber, protein
Salt, --
Limestone, --
Yeast Culture (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), - Supplement, the reason for great coat condition
Vitamin A Acetate, - Vitamin Supplement
Vitamin D3 Supplement, - Vitamin Supplement
Vitamin E Supplement (tocopherol), - Vitamin Supplement
Vitamin C Supplement (Ascorbic Acid), - Vitamin Supplement
Colloidal Silica, - How many of you that feed Oxbow acually know what this is? .
Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Vitamin K), - Vitamin Supplement
Riboflavin, - E101/Vitamin b2 to some. Supplement
Niacin Supplement, - NA (Nicotinic Acid)/b3 supplement
Vitamin B12 Supplement, - Vitamin supplement
Pantothenic Acid, - b5 supplement
Biotin, - b7 (or Vitamin H) supplement
Thiamine, - b1 supplement
Choline Chloride, -
DLMethionine, -
Pyrodoxine Hydrochloride, - or Pyridoxine Hydrochloride b6 supplement
Folic Acid, - Supplement
Sodium Selenite, - Chemical/C salt substitute
Magnesium Sulfate, - aka Epsom Salt
Ferrous Sulfate, - Iron, tends to cause constipation
Cobalt Carbonate, - More salt substitute
Manganese Oxide, -
Zinc Oxide, - Self explanatory
Zinc Sulfate, - Self explanatory
Copper Sulfate, - Yet another coat conditioner
Mineral Oil, - To boost oils amd fats
Calcium Iodate, - Self explanatory
Potassium Chloride -

As for the Colloidal Silica, it is, straight from wiki because it can explain better then me (it took me an hour just to load wiki, a further half hour to load up this page, yet for the life of me I couldnt think of how to explain it :blushan: ) Colloidal silicas are suspensions of fine amorphous, nonporous, and typically spherical silica particles in a liquid phase.



Now, from the bag of Dodson&Horrell feed that I got for $13 (just under 45lbs)

Timothy Grass - Pure, no by products (50%)
Meadow Grass - Pure, no by products (30%)
Cane mollases - Pure, no by products, binder (10%)
Soybean - Again, pure, no by-products. Protein (<5%)
Rabbit vitamin supplement complete © (<4%)

Not packed full of coat conditioners, yet Casper's coat is very glossy, soft and fluffy (just how it should be!!)

 

[BethM]

Luv-bunniz wrote:

Ehh...humans could thrive on vitamin supplements alone if they had sufficient calories.


Now, from the bag of Dodson&Horrell feed that I got for $13 (just under 45lbs)

Timothy Grass - Pure, no by products (50%)
Meadow Grass - Pure, no by products (30%)
Cane mollases - Pure, no by products, binder (10%)
Soybean - Again, pure, no by-products. Protein (<5%)
Rabbit vitamin supplement complete © (<4%)

As far as "thriving" on supplements alone... It has recently been shown that isolated vitamins and minerals react very differently in the body than vitamins and minerals that occur in whole foods. The human body does not recognize one isolated vitamin the same way it recognizes a group of vitamins put together a certain way in a food. Which is why, for example, enriched flour is not asgood for you as a food that naturally contains the things that are put into flour to "enrich" it. It's also why drinking that "Coke Plus" stuff is NOT a good way to get b vitamins, or whatever it is they put in there. Taking a beta carotene supplement is not as good as eating a carrot.



As far as the difference between Oxbow and Dodson and Horrell feed.... You do not list the items that compose the last item on the list, "Rabbit Vitamin Supplement."Many of the things you list out on theOxbow ARE vitamin supplements,butthey're listed individually, instead of just lumped together. You can't really compare the those, unless you can say exactly what vitamins are included in the "Rabbit Vitamin Supplement."

 

[mouse_chalk]

hartleybun wrote:

the gastronauts wont touch excel. i have tried them with it a couple of times but they hate it. i know it's sad but afteryet anotherday of the dish thrown out of the hutch i counted the pellets. not one was eaten:rollseyes i started them on science selective from the beginning as well as a selection of hay and their own lawn. both myself and their vet are very happy with whats coming out of each bunny their coats and skin are also in excellent condition. tbh im loath to try another brand as this diet suits these particular bunnies.

the shop i use is local and family run - they also have choc labs - and ive no problem with returning anything that isnt up to scratch.

i thought my family were fussy but the bunnies are gold medal standard:biggrin2:

Lol! I have thought about counting pellets many a time when somebunny has been sick and I want to monitor how much they're eatig. You're not alone! :biggrin2:


I have looked at Science Selective and it's a good food! We were considering trying that before we tried the Oxbow but given they were so bad on the Excel, we didn't want to try it, find that it wasn't a high enough fibre content and have to switch yet again.



Generally speaking now;

I think that a lot of foods are a case of, if it's working for you, then great. Really, if people want to spend 10, 20, hey, even 50% of their income on food for their pets, why not? Our bunnies probably consume about half of our total food budget each week, in fresh veggies as well as the less-costly pellets and hay, and yes it's a lot, and of course not everyone can afford to do it. But we wouldn't change a thing. Could they survive on less veg? Yes, of course. Would they be healthy? Possibly. Would they be happy? No! They love their twice-daily salads and we love watching them eating so happily each mealtime.

 

[hartleybun]

:yeahthat:totally agree with you. my bunnies are healthy and happy which is as it should be. they do cost us slightly less than the kids to keep......slightly less:biggrin2:

i also cant believe i admitted that i count food pellets to make sure the little gastronauts are eating:rollseyes......hope no one is reading thish34r2

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Mrs. PBJ wrote:

SnowyShiloh wrote:

We pay $15 for a 5 pound bag of Zupreem Nature's Promise timothy pellets My three go through 2-3 bags a month. You can't get Oxbow up here. For a while I was ordering it through Busy Bunny, but shipping prices went wayyyy up so I had to stop. I'm envious of a 50 pound bag for $60! I'm not trying to minimize how annoying the price increase is for anyone, it's just interesting how prices differ depending on where you are.

I could see how it would be hard to feed $3 per pound pellets if I had 50 rabbits. Because I only have the three bunnies, I couldn't in good conscience feed them a low quality food. They also get unlimited timothy hay ($42 for a 50 pound bale) and big daily salads.

Thats over priced for Zupreem there mark up is horrible. My friend that owns the shop sell his zupreem at 9.99 for a 5 pound and 11.99 for the bigger bag it must be ten pounds.

He only ordersa few at a time so he pay more then the companys that order pallets of them witch mean there marking that up something horrible. If I could do one thing for every person that shops at big name stores I would say find a mom and pop store the mark up is so much less.

I get the ten pound bag at 10 bucks that last storm forever well I bought a bag when he came home have not bought anotherone sense. So 5 months so far.

Which means kieths marks it up two buck which is about right. You have to take persentage and frieght and opening cost. And do some fancy numbers work to get about 2 buck mark up for bigger stores it should only be like 3.

I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and unfortunately, Petco is the ONLY pet store in this town. There are no mom and pop pet stores. Well, there was one, but it went under around the time Petco opened (they were dishonest and also cruel to the animals so my sympathy is limited). There are feed stores, but they don't sell Oxbow or Zupreem or anything. Closest pet store that sells my bunnies' food other than the Petco here in town is, oh, 330 miles away in Anchorage. Shipping food up here is crazy expensive, way worse than just sucking it up and buying pellets at Petco.

 

[slavetoabunny]

I also believe that you should feed the best you can afford. People with large numbers of rabbits may not be able to feed what someone with one rabbit can, but their rabbits are still well-fed and cared for.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Yep. That's the thing.... right now it's tight so..... anyone have a good substitute for Oxbow Basic/T?

 

[Evey]

I received a reply from Oxbow today. The representative said that there was, in fact, a price increase that started in March. However, he continued to state that if I was only paying around $35-$39 then I was getting a steal. He claims that the price increase was not really that significant.

Not the most straight forward answer :/ I will suck it up and continue to buy Oxbow though.

Kathy

 

[mouse_chalk]

Evey wrote:

I received a reply from Oxbow today. The representative said that there was, in fact, a price increase that started in March. However, he continued to state that if I was only paying around $35-$39 then I was getting a steal. He claims that the price increase was not really that significant.

Not the most straight forward answer :/ I will suck it up and continue to buy Oxbow though.

Kathy

It seems so crazy that you guys are now paying the same price that we're paying over here to have it shipped over! We only placed our order a couple of weeks ago as well...

I wonder if it will soon affect us... Which will be a big increase!

 

[slavetoabunny]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

Yep. That's the thing.... right now it's tight so..... anyone have a good substitute for Oxbow Basic/T?

Sorry I can't make a suggestion. My pellet cost with APD is around $2 a pound with shipping.

 

[anneq]

I've been feeding all my buns SweetMeadow Farms Timothy/Alfalfa blend and my rabbits seem to really enjoy it.
I also supplement with a conditioner & Timothy hay I get locally.
I think $20+ for 50lbs.of pellet is pretty reasonable (yes, shipping prices are horrible).

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

Mrs. PBJ wrote:

SnowyShiloh wrote:

We pay $15 for a 5 pound bag of Zupreem Nature's Promise timothy pellets My three go through 2-3 bags a month. You can't get Oxbow up here. For a while I was ordering it through Busy Bunny, but shipping prices went wayyyy up so I had to stop. I'm envious of a 50 pound bag for $60! I'm not trying to minimize how annoying the price increase is for anyone, it's just interesting how prices differ depending on where you are.

I could see how it would be hard to feed $3 per pound pellets if I had 50 rabbits. Because I only have the three bunnies, I couldn't in good conscience feed them a low quality food. They also get unlimited timothy hay ($42 for a 50 pound bale) and big daily salads.

Thats over priced for Zupreem there mark up is horrible. My friend that owns the shop sell his zupreem at 9.99 for a 5 pound and 11.99 for the bigger bag it must be ten pounds.

He only ordersa few at a time so he pay more then the companys that order pallets of them witch mean there marking that up something horrible. If I could do one thing for every person that shops at big name stores I would say find a mom and pop store the mark up is so much less.

I get the ten pound bag at 10 bucks that last storm forever well I bought a bag when he came home have not bought anotherone sense. So 5 months so far.

Which means kieths marks it up two buck which is about right. You have to take persentage and frieght and opening cost. And do some fancy numbers work to get about 2 buck mark up for bigger stores it should only be like 3.

I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and unfortunately, Petco is the ONLY pet store in this town. There are no mom and pop pet stores. Well, there was one, but it went under around the time Petco opened (they were dishonest and also cruel to the animals so my sympathy is limited). There are feed stores, but they don't sell Oxbow or Zupreem or anything. Closest pet store that sells my bunnies' food other than the Petco here in town is, oh, 330 miles away in Anchorage. Shipping food up here is crazy expensive, way worse than just sucking it up and buying pellets at Petco.

Yeah kieth does not sell pets in his store he does not believe in it he does sell fish but kieth spends many hours a week over there to make sure there all healthy.

He asked me if I thought rabbit where a good idea I gave him the 411 and told him I would not shop there anymore. He put the lid on that idea real quick instead he donates to shelters and upports there pets by aloowing a flyer board for only rescues and and such.

He has a breeder board also.

 

[TinysMom]

Wow - you guys make me so happy I don't get Oxbow...I go through 150-200 pounds per week - and I'm already broke as it is.

I'm currently using a mix of Dumor Rabbit Pellets, Manna Pro Select Series, and two types of Purina (green bag and blue bag). I may add in another brand in a couple of weeks just to have a better mix.

I know it sounds crazy but after the feed problems I've had - I am finding that the "several brand mixture" is doing really well with the rabbits and if one bag goes bad - I can catch it in time.

I pay between $12 and $15 per 50 pound bag....

 

[BethM]

mouse_chalk wrote:

Generally speaking now;

I think that a lot of foods are a case of, if it's working for you, then great. Really, if people want to spend 10, 20, hey, even 50% of their income on food for their pets, why not? Our bunnies probably consume about half of our total food budget each week, in fresh veggies as well as the less-costly pellets and hay, and yes it's a lot, and of course not everyone can afford to do it. But we wouldn't change a thing. Could they survive on less veg? Yes, of course. Would they be healthy? Possibly. Would they be happy? No! They love their twice-daily salads and we love watching them eating so happily each mealtime.

I Completely Agree!!!!!


The pellet I stopped using, Kaytee Timothy Complete, is not a terrible food. I have heard it recommended as a lower-cost feed that is acceptable, and is generally carried in the petstores, so it's easy to get.
However, it didn't work for my bunnies, so I switched to something that works better for my bunnies.
However, if someone's using that pellet, and their bunnies are healthy on it, that's fine.

My bunnies also love their veggies!

 

[BethM]

slavetoabunny wrote:

Sorry I can't make a suggestion. My pellet cost with APD is around $2 a pound with shipping.

Patti, how is the quality on the APD pellets?
I have been considering switching to APD for awhile. I haven't had room to store larger amounts, so it wasn't cost effective for me. I'm still considering switching, I'll soon be able to store a larger bag. And if the Oxbow price is going up anyway, it might be time for me to make the jump.