Burgess Pet Care

Small animals make great pets. In the UK alone there are around 3 million small animals kept as pets, ranging from rabbits and guinea pigs to rats and ferrets. Rabbits make up around half of this figure and they are in fact the 3^rd most popular pet behind cats and dogs.

Despite their popularity rabbits and rabbit food are still very much misunderstood. The PDSA recently declared a “Diet Disaster for UK Bunnies” as many owners continue to feed a diet lacking in fibre and packed with sugary, unhealthy muesli and muesli style mixes.

Rabbits need to eat lots of fibre in their diet and they can get this by eating fresh greens and leafy green plants. Luguminous plants such as alfalfa would form a staple part of their diet in the wild. Hay should be offered to your pet rabbits on a daily basis and they would typically consume as much as their own body size in hay every day. Yet, in truth around 42% of owners either do not feed this or do not even understand that hay should be offered as food.

Keep Chewing

Each small furry has different dietary requirements, but rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats and chinchillas all have one thing in common and this is the fact that their teeth are open rooted and grow continuously throughout their life. To help keep their teeth in good shape these animals need to be provided with food to gnaw on; Excel Gnaw Sticks are perfect for this!

Leafy Greens

In addition to hay and nuggets you should offer your fibrevore a variety of leafy fresh vegetables; leafy fresh greens in particular are great. Good options include parsley, kale, spinach and romaine lettuce. Veg high in starch, such as potatoes should be avoided.

Vitamin C

A guinea pig should not be fed nuggets intended for rabbits. Guinea Pigs cannot make their own vitamin C and this can lead to conditions such as scurvy. You should therefore feed specialist guinea pig food in addition to hay/grass and vitamin C rich vegetables.

Guinea Pigs, also known as Cavies, make wonderful pets. They are small, gentle creatures who typically have a good nature, rarely biting when handled correctly. Many people do not know that when cared for in the correct manner a guinea pig can live as long as eight years or more.

Feeding your guinea pig a good diet of quality food is important and there are a number of things you should consider about your guinea pig’s diet:

Complete Food?

We believe that no single guinea pig food can be labelled as “complete”. Your pet’s dietary requirements are complex so you need to feed a combination of foods to satisfy his needs.  You should instead look for guinea pig food which is labelled as “Complementary”. Complementary guinea pig food will be a mix of several core elements. These elements should include hay and grass, which deliver fibre, nuggets, fresh greens and water.

The problems with feeding muesli

Guinea Pig Muesli is not the ideal diet for your pet, certainly if that is all you are feeding to him. Muesli might look attractive, with a mix of ingredients and colours, but an attractive appearance will not meet your pet’s needs. Because of the mixture of ingredients within the muesli your pet could quickly become a fussy, “selective” eater. The sweet elements within the muesli will appeal to his taste buds, so it is likely he will eat these first, ignoring the elements which are more healthy.  Selective feeding can lead to an unbalanced diet lacking in calcium, phosphorous and vitamin D.

Muesli can also lead to dental health problems. Your guinea pig needs to forage on fibre and needs to gnaw. Hay is naturally abrasive and helps to wear down the teeth. Foraging is a natural behaviour for your guinea pig and in addition to keeping teeth in good shape it helps to prevent boredom, improving mental and emotional health. For this reason, hay should make up the bulk of your pets diet.

Complementary Food

Burgess Excel is the UK’s number on Vet approved food for guinea pigs and to ensure good overall health you should seek to offer your guinea pig all elements of the Excel Feeding Plan. When you feed the plan as a whole you will be offering your pet the vital fibre, nutrients, vitamins and minerals that your fibrevore needs to live a happy, healthy life.

Did you know that similar to a cow your fibrevore (rabbit, guinea pig or chinchilla) ferments fibre to get its required daily nutrients? But of course your tiny little friend does not have the stomach capacity of a cow and so needs to operate a different system. This system is based on eating LITTLE and OFTEN, consuming sufficient quantities of fibre for good, healthy nutrition. But as with all living creatures, what goes in must come out…

Keeping your fibrevore’s digestive system moving is VITAL!

Fibrevores require 2 different types of fibre, which we call digestible and indigestible. Digestive fibre offers essential nutrients and the indigestible fibre keeps the digestive system moving. However, fibrevores cannot get all the nutrition they need from the fibre they eat as it passes through their gut. They therefore need to consume it again.

Have you ever noticed that your fibrevore has 2 types of dropping? The sticky droppings, often found in sticky clumps, are called caecotrophs. Your pet will actually eat these caecotrophs, from which they extract essential nutrition as the digestible fibre passes through their body for the second time. You have perhaps noticed that this happens mostly at night?

This behaviour evolved in the wild, where fibrevores eat little and often throughout the day, re-processing their caecotrophs when hidden away at night in their burrow.

The Burgess Excel range of rabbit food, guinea pig food and chinchilla food ensures that your fibrevore maintains good digestive health as it contains the optimum balance of vitamins, minerals, nutrients and added prebiotics whilst being high in beneficial fibre.

Did you know that Burgess Excel is the UK’s Number One Vet Approved Food for Fibrevores?

To help you feed your guinea pig a diet that is both tasty and nutritious we developed the Excel Five Step Feeding Plan. Has your cavy tried it yet?

The feeding plan delivers all the essential fibre, nutrients, vitamins and minerals that guinea pigs need  – we like to think of it as health and happiness in 5 simple steps.

A closer look at the Excel Five Step Feeding Plan for Guinea Pigs:

Step 1 – Herbage and Forage

Premium quality hay and grass foods should provide the bulk of your guinea pig’s daily diet. Hay and grass are especially good for dental health because they contain high levels of beneficial fibre that help wear down teeth. Your guinea pig’s teeth are always growing and if you allow them to become overgrown you can cause significant pain and even potentially fatal problems.

Step 2 – Excel Guinea Pig Nuggets

Burgess Excel nuggets contain 100% natural, wholesome ingredients packed full of beneficial fibre to aid digestive health. In addition, the nuggets deliver vitamins, minerals and prebiotics. It is important to note that Excel Guinea Pig nuggets are not a muesli mix – each nugget is identical which helps to prevent selective feeding.

Step 3 – Excel Nature Snacks

Our Excel Nature Snacks are ideal for guinea pigs, both nutritionally and for their emotional well-being. When fed by hand they encourage bonding between animal and owner as they encourage interaction. They can be hidden within the daily amount of hay to promote foraging and they can be offered on a daily basis because they contain nothing other than natural ingredients.

Step 4 – Fresh Greens

Your guinea pig will enjoy fresh greens each day, but there are certain foods you should avoid. There are several plants which are poisonous to guinea pigs including bindweed, bryony, buttercup, bluebell, crocus, daffodil, dock, foxglove, hyacinth, laburnum, poppy, ragwort, sorrel, antirrhinum (snapdragon), tulip and yew. Never feed these to your guinea pig.

You can offer: apples, asparagus, basil, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cantaloupe melon, carrots and carrot tops, cauliflower leaves and stalks, celery, chicory, Chinese parsley, coriander, cucumber, dill, garden cress, grapefruit, mangoes, oranges, parsley, parsnips, peas, red cabbage, red chard, romaine lettuce, Savoy cabbage, spinach, strawberries, tangerines, tomatoes, turnips and water cress.

Step 5 – Fresh Water

You should offer a plentiful supply of fresh water on a daily basis.

If your guinea pig has not yet tried the Excel Five Step Feeding plan then why not give it a try today? Excel Guinea Pig is available through our own dedicated web shop or from all good pet food retailers.

In the wild, rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas have a naturally fibrous diet consisting mainly of grass, with occasional herbs, twigs and bark. However, none of these natural foods are particularly rich in nutrients, which is why these animals have evolved specifically to be able to digest fibrous foods and extract all the nutrients they need.  It is therefore essential that as pets these animals are provided with the right diet.

That is why we have called these pets “Fibrevores”, as this name reflects their nutritional needs. The wrong diet will lead to health problems for these pets and can be fatal.

Rabbit, grazing in the wild

What is often not understood is that Fibrevores need two types of fibre in their diets – digestible and indigestible fibre. Burgess Excel call the correct ratio of these two types of fibre “Beneficial Fibre”.

The Burgess Excel Feeding Plan has been designed to offer your Fibrevore the perfect daily balance of fibre and nutrition. To find out more about the Excel Feeding plan please click here.

I just wanted to let you know how much my rabbit, Fudge, and my piggies, Jack, Jack junior & George enjoy the Excel food.  They have recently tried the new blackcurrant guinea pig food and seem to enjoy this just as much.  I wanted to attach a photo for you!  We only live in Hull so might come and have a look at the show in Harrogate next year.