Next year marks my 20 year anniversary since guinea pigs came into and took control of my life! Over this time I have taken in and acquired many guinea pigs (and now rabbits) and I've been faced with dozens of illnesses and conditions. I began an advice website in 2001 and I found one of the most common problems is dental disease and an obvious root of the cause has stemmed from poor diet; a lack of roughage of grasses and hay and a low quality dry feed. Since I have recognised this link I no longer feed my own animals a muesli mix which is something I feel strongly about and I launched a Facebook campaign page to highlight the problem. In an ideal world I would have muesli mix feeds banned but while this may seem far fetched to many, and while what is seen as top quality feed is expensive, I understand it's not a realistic dream (just yet). I do though intend to help with the re-education of proper feeding of our country's guinea pigs and rabbits and maybe then we'll need to deal with fewer cases of malocclusion.
In a bid to make the task of changing feed more understandable and less daunting for owners, I approached some of the leading names in pelleted form guinea pig and rabbit feed production to help me carry out a food review.
Stay tuned as over the course of the next few days I will be posting the results from my trials of Mr Johnsons Everyday Advance, Burgess Excel Tasty Nuggets and Supreme Science Selective rabbit and guinea pig food respectively.
Becky
