Pet Habitat South Africa

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02 Oct 2014

Why is Timothy Hay Important For Fibrevores?

Posted By : Guest

Timothy hay is an essential part of your rabbit, guinea pig or chinchilla’s diet. Hopefully, most owners will be aware of this as there are many factors which make Timothy hay extremely important to your pets.

Timothy hay is basically the dried, preserved form of Timothy Grass that grows throughout the UK. This type of grass is full of essential fibre which is exactly what your fibrevores need to live long and healthy lives.

It’s recommended that you feed your fibrevores the equivalent to their own body size in Timothy hay every single day. You’ll then need to give them extra to sleep in and to play with.

Our Burgess Excel Herbage is made using Timothy hay, with added dried herbs and flowers including dandelions, chamomile, marigold and birch bark to add extra variety, taste and nutritional benefits.

Here are a few reasons as to why your pets should be having Timothy hay in their diets…

Dental

Fibrevore’s teeth never stop growing, so it’s vital that they have Timothy Hay to chew on as that helps to grind their teeth down and keeps them at a healthy length. They do this by grinding the hay in their mouth from side to side. If your Rabbit/Guinea Pig/Chinchilla doesn’t have enough Timothy hay to chew on, their teeth will grow too much which can then lead to them developing dental diseases.

Fibre

Fibrevores need both digestible and indigestible fibre in their diet, together we call this ‘beneficial fibre’. Timothy hay provides all this fibre for your little furry friends.

Digestible fibre gives your pets the essential nutrients that they need and the indigestible fibre keeps their digestive system moving effectively.

Indigestible fibre passes through their digestive system and is excreted as separate, round, hard droppings. This process keeps the digestive system moving and stimulates their appetite.

Digestible fibre is moved up into an organ called the caecum which is like a giant appendix. Good bacteria in the caecum ferment the fibre, which then emerges in the form of clumps of sticky droppings called caecotrophs. Fibrevores then re-eat the caecotrophs directly from their bottoms and their systems extract essential nutrition as the digestible fibre passes through the stomach and intestines for the second time. (We know that probably doesn’t sound great but it’s a really important process!)

Not providing your pets with the right amount of fibre can lead to illness, in which some cases can also even be fatal so we can’t stress how important it is that you include Timothy hay into your pet’s diet.

Emotional Behaviour

As well as all the benefits Timothy hay has regarding your pets health, it also has benefits for your pet’s emotional needs. By gathering Timothy hay up into little bundles or putting some into cardboard tubes, this allows your pets to forage as they would in the wild. This will give them mental stimulation and help keep them entertained and happy, which we’re pretty sure all of you want your pets to be! It will also provide some exercise for them which is an important key part of their lives.

A few more reasons why Timothy hay is great…

Timothy hay has very little dust which makes it great for any of your fibrevores who have respiratory problems. It’s also good if any of your family members suffer from asthma. It can be tidier too when you’re cleaning out your rabbit. Dust from hay really can get everywhere if you’re not careful!

It’s also great to use as bedding material, it smells great, and we’re pretty sure your pets will think it tastes rather good as well!