Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Product Review: Oxbow Harvest Stacks Western Timothy Hay with Chamomile

We previously reviewed Oxbow Harvest Stacks Western Timothy Hay with Carrots, and today, we're going to a similar product: Oxbow Harvest Stacks Western Timothy Hay with Chamomile.
Oxbow! We like Oxbow!
Nom nom NOM!
This is tasty stuff! It turns out that the points we brought up in our previous Oxbow Harvest Stacks review also apply here (good for traveling, more expensive than just buying timothy hay, etc.). We should also point out that we've found mixed information on whether you should feed chamomile to guinea pigs. The diet expert at guineapigcages.com said: "I'd probably not feed chamomile as it's has properties to make one very relaxed and sleepy." On the other hand, chamomile appears on the Happy Cavy Safe Flower List. We know that Oxbow has an advisory board "of leading exotic veterinarians, research scientists, animal nutritionists and veterinary technicians," so we tend to trust their products unless there's good reason to think otherwise. (If anyone has any further information on chamomile for guinea pigs, we'd welcome your comments!) In any case, the ingredients say this thing is 97% hay and only 3% chamomile, so it's probably not enough to make us too sleepy anyway.

We'll give Oxbow Harvest Stacks Western Timothy Hay with Chamomile 5/5 stars!

14 comments:

  1. We looked at the customer review on Amazon, and apparently it gets a little dusty. We also have a question. What type of chewing materials/products are best for guinea pigs?
    XOXO
    Ashley & Wendy

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    1. We haven't had too much of a problem with dustiness. Perhaps theirs got shaken up in the mail when they ordered it from Amazon, while the humans got ours from the pet store, so it wasn't as shaken.

      The best chewing material for guinea pigs is actually hay, which is part of the reason why it's important to give them unlimited hay. Chew toys are just a supplement to that. Some of the chew toys we especially liked were Ecotrition Snak Shak Activity Log and Oxbow Timothy Mat. Between the two, we'd probably recommend the Timothy Mat since the Activity Log has a few ingredients that probably aren't the best thing for us to eat, while the Timothy Mat is just timothy hay in a fun shape.

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  2. Another question. Is there a way to determine your guinea pig's age?

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    1. It's difficult to determine a guinea pig's age, although your veterinarian might be able to figure out an approximate age by looking at nails, teeth, and other physical characteristics. You should ask him or her next time you're there.

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  3. Hi. im nicole and my mom will buy a 2 guinea pigs for me as my rewards. i just wanna ask how many times a day does guinea pig eat?

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    1. Once or twice a day, depending on the portion.

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    2. Guinea pigs should have unlimited hay and water throughout the day. We should also get about a cup of fresh vegetables per day, and small amounts of fruits a couple times a week. We'd imagine you could break this up however you want (one 1-cup meal, two 1/2-cup meals, etc.), although the diet expert at guineapigcages.com has mentioned having an "am meal" and a "pm meal," so that's probably best. (It's also probably best for humans who go to work or school since they can give us a meal before and after.)

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  4. question. What toys will be good for guinea pigs? Ashley and wendy don't play with anything except for a little rattle toy. What things have been your favorites?
    thanks!
    owner

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    1. We recommend checking our posts tagged with the "toys" tag. In general, we tend to give high ratings to foods and low ratings to toys (especially most of the store-bought toys). We did like oatmeal containers and watermelon houses, though.

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  5. Mine love tunnels. The one we have doesn't quite fit in their cage, but they get it during floor time, and it gets them running around like crazy. :3 They also get wooden blocks, which they occasionally throw around.

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    1. It's a crinkle tunnel. They tend to treat the edible ones exclusively as chew toys, which is okay. They have a much shorter one in their cage for that.
      The crinkle tunnel is the one that really gets them going, though. My older boar runs around like he used to when he was just a little guy when that thing is out. :)

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  6. The humans bought this for me, it was delicious!

    Also, you should do a review on bird mirrors. The humans became adventurous and got me one. It's fun and I love it!

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    1. I think we've seen bird mirrors on a list of possible guinea pig toys online somewhere. We'll have to keep that in mind. Thanks for the suggestion!

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