Responsible guinea pig owners know that quality grass hay is essential for a cavy's dental and digestive health. Although quality hay is available from multiple sources, you may find that not all guinea pigs favor the same hay. This can vary across brands, types, cuts, or even individual bales.
When Small Pet Select offered us the opportunity to sample their 2nd cut timothy hay we were interested in seeing how our pigs would react.
Out of curiosity, we quickly experimented to find each pig's favored hay. Comparable hays we had on hand to SPS's 2nd cut timothy hay were KMS Hayloft's 3rd cut timothy hay and KMS Hayloft's bluegrass hay. For a visual comparison, click to enlarge the image above or magnify it here.
Disclosure: This post contains a sample product sent for consideration by the company. This blog does not accept any financial compensation for product reviews. Editorial content is based on personal experience with the product and is not influenced by advertisers, public relations representatives, or other third parties.
I stumbled upon SPS hay the other day. Price was more than KMS, but shipping was considerably less, so the overall price would be about the same as KMS. I was curious how it would compare. I have avoided 2nd cut, because of eye pokes. How stiff is the SPS Timothy? From both your photos and what they have on their site, it looks like nice stuff. (And where do they ship from? I can't tell from their website.)
ReplyDeleteSPS timothy is stiffer than KMS 3rd cut timothy, mostly due to the hard fibrous stems. The KMS 3rd cut doesn't have many of those so it is softer by comparison.
DeleteThey ship from Washington state.
Thanks!
DeleteDo any of you have problems with mites following in with the hay deliveries? We bought SPS but had to get rid of our big box with over half left due to a mite problem.
ReplyDeleteI personally haven't. I usually buy hay from KMS Hayloft and haven't had any problems with their boxes.
DeleteI've been ordering SPS for a few months now and have not had any problems with mites, but I did some research on mites in hay beforehand (since my inlaws are farmers and they had some grass hay that would be good for piggies, but my piggies were not interested). The mites in hay are not the same that guinea pigs have. However, they can make you and I itch. You can microwave the hay if needed (that's what I read anyway - I'm no expert on hay mites). At the moment SPS is offering 3rd cut timothy hay. So far I've had no complaints about SPS. Shipping is a little slow, but that's due to where I live and where the hay originates. I have contacted them a few times with questions and they are very quick to respond and friendly. My piggies love the hay and especially love the SPS pellets, so I will continue to do business with them for as long as we can.
ReplyDelete