Hay Options for your Small Animal
Hay is an essential part of rabbit, guinea pig, and chinchilla diets. However, with the wide variety of hay options available, you may be stuck wondering which is the best for your small pet. Kaytee offers a variety of fun and healthy ways to introduce natural hays and grasses to your small animal’s diet. We offer three different types of hay as well as a variety of formats including mini bales, hay with fruits, vegetables or botanicals and wafer cut hay which peels off in layers to make hay feeding easier and less messy.
Why is Variety Important?
Offering your small pet a variety of different hays is a great way to introduce new flavors and textures! Similar to introducing new foods to a child, the more tastes your pet tries, the more comfortable they get. Getting your pet more comfortable with different tastes and flavors helps to prevent selective feeding. A variety of hay textures is also beneficial to digestive and dental health. Some hays are soft and sweet, and some are crunchy and hearty. Feeding a variety of tastes and textures helps digestive flow and encourages natural chewing motion to support dental health. Lastly, offering a variety of hay adds enrichment and mimics the variety a rabbit, guinea pig, or chinchilla would find in the wild. This is great for your pet as it provides them with mental and physical stimulation as they graze their hay.
Timothy Hay
Timothy hay is an essential part of any rabbit, guinea pig, or chinchilla diet. It is recommended to feed an endless amount of fresh timothy hay daily to maintain a healthy pet. Timothy hay an ideal fiber source and is lower in protein and calcium than alfalfa. It also supports digestive health and adds nutritional variety. Additionally, the chewing activity from the hay helps to wear down your pets continually growing teeth.
Kaytee Wafer Cut Timothy Hay is baled and cut to allow layers that peel off for easy feeding and less mess. It is the same fresh, tasty, and all-natural Timothy Hay found in the traditional bag format but packed for convenient feeding.
Timothy Hay Plus adds flavor and texture variety to your pet’s timothy hay. The added variety is great for enrichment and the opportunity to forage similar to how he or she would in the wild. Kaytee offers an array of different inclusion options: carrot, marigold, spearmint, mango, cranberry, and rose & thyme.
Kaytee also offers Timothy hay in specific 1st and 2nd cut varieties. While both cuts are a form of Timothy hay, each are unique. 1st cut hay is a hearty, crisp, and nutritious crop. 1st cut timothy hay has long fibrous stems with fewer leaves and offers a hearty taste and a crunchy texture. Nourished by long sunny days and cool restorative nights, 2nd cut hay is a leafy, slightly sweet, and abundant crop. 2nd cut timothy hay has a balanced leaf-to-stem ratio with a slightly sweet taste and softer, flexible texture. 1st and 2nd cut hay can be fed separately to meet unique nutritional needs, or mixed together to provide your pet the ultimate variety.
Alfalfa Hay
Alfalfa hay is high in protein, calcium and calories making it great for growing, breeding, or elderly small animals. The high protein and calcium support growth and development while the high calories support growth for young pets and maintaining a healthy weight in older pets. Similar to Timothy Hay, Alfalfa hay is great for digestive and dental health while also providing variety and enrichment.
Orchard Grass
Orchard grass is an added fiber source great for adding flavor variety and enrichment to you pets diet. It has a natural sweet flavor making it an exciting hay offering to your small animal. Its natural, high fiber helps to support digestive health and the hay chewing activity helps provide dental support.
Kaytee®—America’s #1 Hay Brand!*
Kaytee is America’s #1 Hay Brand!* Kaytee feeds more hay to small pets than anyone else. We pride ourselves on providing fresh, tasty, all-natural hay. Kaytee hay is hand selected to ensure long fiber strands and a proper leaf to stem ratio to support your small pet’s digestive health. At Kaytee, we understand that taste matters. Naturally grown without pesticides or GMO, our farmers only grow supreme grade hay. This mean high quality hay for your small pet.
*based on Nielsen data 8/8/2020
