{"id":11048,"date":"2014-11-24T05:46:52","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T11:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lafeber.com\/staging\/vet\/?p=11048"},"modified":"2025-11-19T23:24:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T05:24:36","slug":"hay-feeding-small-herbivores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/vet\/hay-feeding-small-herbivores\/","title":{"rendered":"Hay: Feeding Small Herbivores"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why is hay important?<\/h2>\n

Hays are harvested, dried forages that are often fed to popular small mammals like the rabbit<\/a> (Oryctolagus cuniculus<\/em>), guinea pig<\/a> (Cavia porcellus<\/em>), and chinchilla<\/a> (Chinchilla lanigera<\/em>) (Fig 1). In these small herbivores, hay serves as a source of long-stem fiber. Indigestible fiber or lignin moves through the colon and is excreted as hard feces<\/a> or \u201cday feces\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Guinea<\/a>

Figure 1<\/strong>. Hay is commonly offered to exotic companion mammals like the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus<\/em>). Photo credit: Cat Wendt [CC-BY-2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0)] via Flickr Creative Commons. Click to enlarge<\/em><\/p><\/div>Fiber is needed to stimulate gut motility and maintain healthy gut flora. When small herbivores are fed a low fiber, high carbohydrate diet they are at greater risk for bacterial enteritis, particularly very young rabbits. Enterotoxemia is caused by overgrowth of Clostridium spiriforme, C. difficile<\/em>, or C. perfringens<\/em>. The gastroprotective effects of dietary fiber have been well documented. Small herbivores on high fiber (i.e. hay-based) diets are more resistant to stress-induced gastrointestinal stasis. Gastroprotection is especially important in rabbits because of their particularly complex and relatively fragile gastrointestinal tract.<\/p>\n

Grasses and other fibrous foods also contain abrasive phytoliths. Phytoliths are silica bodies produced by plants that may help to wear down the open-rooted teeth of rabbits and rodents. Small herbivores are adapted for rapid wear. Tooth wear is approximately 10 times faster in the rabbit when compared to the horse. A lack of adequate dietary attrition can lead to dental changes within days putting small herbivores at increased risk for dental overgrowth and malocclusion.<\/p>\n

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Practical feeding strategies<\/h2>\n

Offer hay free choice. Alfalfa hay (see Types of Hay below<\/em>) is a great dietary source of protein and calcium. Alfalfa is generally recommended for young, growing animals or individuals that need extra calories such as frail, geriatric animals or lactating does. The high protein, high calorie content of alfalfa-based diets may predispose adult animals to obesity. Therefore adults on a maintenance diet may be offered unlimited grass hay, oat hay and straw instead (see below<\/em>).<\/p>\n

There is another reason to replace alfalfa hay with grass hay in the rabbit. Rabbits are unique among mammals in that the kidneys excrete all dietary calcium<\/a>. Excess dietary calcium ingested with alfalfa hay may lead to hypercalcuria or excessive calcium in the urine. Hypercalcuria can manifest as calcium sand or sludge in the bladder or even urinary stones. This is another reason alfalfa hay is primarily recommended for the young, growing rabbit and not the adult maintenance diet.<\/p>\n

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Types of hays<\/h2>\n

There are many types of hay or forage. Alfalfa is an important forage crop throughout much of the world, and it serves as a great source of dietary protein and calcium. Grass hays include a group of plants such as timothy, wheat, rye, oat, orchard grass and tall fescue. Timothy hay is one of the most commonly available grass hays.<\/p>\n

Hay is not homogeneous forage. The nutrient composition of hay varies with the plant species, the stage of maturity or growth at cutting, and the method of handling and curing or drying (Table 1). Hay harvested at an advanced stage of growth (\u201clate cut\u201d) has a relatively high fiber content and low levels of protein and energy. Early cut hay is lower in fiber and higher in protein and energy.<\/p>\n

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Table 1. Concentrations of fiber, protein, and minerals in hay and straw<\/h2>\n

(Ullrey 1997)a<\/sup><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Hay<\/th>\nStage of maturity<\/th>\nNeutral detergent fiber (%)b<\/sup><\/th>\nAcid detergent fiber (%)c<\/sup><\/th>\nLignin (%)<\/th>\nCrude protein (%)<\/th>\nCa (%)<\/th>\nP (%)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Alfalfa<\/td>\nEarly vegetative<\/td>\n38<\/td>\n28<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n1.8<\/td>\n0.35<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Alfalfa<\/td>\nEarly bloom<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n32<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n19.9<\/td>\n1.63<\/td>\n0.21<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Alfalfa<\/td>\nMidbloom<\/td>\n47<\/td>\n37<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n18.7<\/td>\n1.37<\/td>\n0.22<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Alfalfa<\/td>\nFull bloom<\/td>\n49<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n17<\/td>\n1.19<\/td>\n0.24<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bromegrass<\/td>\nLate vegetative<\/td>\n65<\/td>\n35<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n16<\/td>\n0.32<\/td>\n0.37<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bromegrass<\/td>\nMidbloom<\/td>\n58<\/td>\n37<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\n14.4<\/td>\n0.29<\/td>\n0.28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bromegrass<\/td>\nLate bloom<\/td>\n68<\/td>\n43<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n0.3<\/td>\n0.35<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oat<\/td>\nBoot<\/td>\n58<\/td>\n35<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n17.5<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oat<\/td>\nhead emerging<\/td>\n62<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n14<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Orchard grass<\/td>\nEarly bloom<\/td>\n60<\/td>\n34<\/td>\n5c<\/td>\n12.8<\/td>\n0.27<\/td>\n0.34<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Orchard grass<\/td>\nLate bloom<\/td>\n65<\/td>\n38<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n8.4<\/td>\n0.26<\/td>\n0.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Straw (mean)d<\/sup><\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\n78<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\n4.6<\/td>\n0.28<\/td>\n0.17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Timothy<\/td>\nLate vegetative<\/td>\n55<\/td>\n29<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n17<\/td>\n0.66<\/td>\n0.34<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Timothy<\/td>\nEarly bloom<\/td>\n61<\/td>\n35<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n10.8<\/td>\n0.51<\/td>\n0.29<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Timothy<\/td>\nMidbloom<\/td>\n67<\/td>\n36<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n9.1<\/td>\n0.48<\/td>\n0.22<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Timothy<\/td>\nFull bloom<\/td>\n64<\/td>\n38<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n8.1<\/td>\n0.43<\/td>\n0.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Timothy<\/td>\nLate bloom<\/td>\n70<\/td>\n40<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n7.8<\/td>\n0.38<\/td>\n0.18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
n\/a: not available
\na: All parameters are reported as a percentage of dry matter composition.
\nb: Neutral Detergent Fiber or NDF is a popular common measure of fiber in feed analysis that represents a collection of compounds including lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose, but not pectin.
\nc: Acid detergent fiber or ADF is the percentage of highly indigestible plant material.
\nd: Mean values from selected straws (barley, oat, and wheat) commonly fed to dairy cattle (Anderson 2006)<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

How to evaluate hay<\/h2>\n

With the exception of zoo personnel, most veterinary staff obtain hay from the pet store in small, portable bags. When feeding larger numbers of small mammals it is more economical to buy square bales from local feed stores or hay brokers. The analysis of hay listed below is limited to a basic, visual inspection, but most packaged hay in pet stores contains a quality analysis on the bag.<\/p>\n

Visual evaluation of hay<\/strong><\/p>\n