April 25, 2022
What’s not to love about enriching your pet’s daily life? Providing enrichment is an essential step in supporting your little loved one’s instincts to run, play, hide and chew every day. Supporting these instincts is fun for you and your pets alike and is a great way to strengthen your loving bond. To help, we’re excited to introduce our newest enrichment innovations.
Physical activity is great for mind and body alike. To help the furry athletes in your household be the healthiest, happiest versions of themselves, we’re introducing our new Quiet Runners and Run & Hides.
Who's ready to run? Our 2 in 1 Quiet Runners come in three super silent sizes (8”, 10”, and 12”) are designed to support the play instincts of small pets inside or outside of the habitat. Featuring a super silent design and feet friendly track, the 2 in 1 Quiet Runners are designed with both quiet and safety in mind.
When it's time to stretch those little legs, small pets are sure to enjoy our Run & Hides. With a super silent and feet friendly design, pet parents can feel confident that the Run & Hide (available in 8”, 10”, and 12” sizes) will quietly and safely support the physical activity their pets need to be happy and healthy. The built in hide makes the perfect place to rest and relax after a strenuous workout!
Offering items that challenge and engage your pets comes with many health benefits, including regular mental stimulation and increased daily physical activity. Our new engagement items are custom designed to provide entertainment and prevent boredom. By adding visual and tactile enrichment to your pet’s daily routine, you can help them live their best, most enriched life.
In addition to being adorable, our Honeycomb Hide & Play supports your pet’s exploring, playing, and chewing behaviors. By hiding food and treats throughout the nooks and crannies of the Hide and Play, you’ll promote your pets natural foraging behaviors in healthy, meaningful ways. Great job, you responsible pet parent, you!
Natural Activity Mobile
Let’s get those pets looking up! Our Natural Activity Mobile easily attaches to your pet’s habitat and is designed to encourage pets to explore vertical spaces as they engage their chewing and playing instincts.
Garden Dig Box
The Garden Dig Box is one of our favorite new additions to our ever-growing enrichment lineup. This garden-themed item is great for foraging. Simply sprinkle a few of your pet’s pellets or favorite healthy treat pieces in amongst the paper and enjoy watching them forage for them. Can you dig it? Of course you can.
Wooden Puzzler
The Wooden Puzzler is custom made for interactive play between you and your pet. Hide pellets or healthy treats under the cups and enjoy watching your pet user their super sniffer to hunt them down. Stack the cups and watch your mini-Godzilla knock them down. Hide the cups individually throughout your pet’s habitat. Need even more Wooden Puzzler inspiration? Get it here!
Triangle Tilt ‘n Treat
The Triangle Tilt ‘n Treat will entice your little loved one to get vertical to hunt for their favorite treats. Like our other hanging chews, the TNT conveniently attaches to the side of the habitat or exercise pen to help accessorize your pet’s habitat while making the most of the space.
How frequently should your pet be chewing? All day, every day! Chewing promotes dental health through regular, natural wear. That’s why it’s so essential to offer multiple chew options for your pet at all times. Having access to a variety of chews will keep their interest, providing mental stimulation in the process. To keep your natural chew rotation fresh and exciting, we’ve designed some fun and exciting new additions to our lineup.
Ox Blocks
Hangable? Check. Stackable? Check. Cute animal designs? Double check. If your pet enjoys interactive play, we’re pretty sure our adorable new Ox Blocks check all the boxes. Whether you choose to hang the entire strand of blocks from a habitat or exercise pen wall or disassemble the strand for stacking fun, your pet will undoubtedly have a ball playing with these natural wood blocks.
Celebration Party Pack
Every day is a celebration when you have adorable pets in your life. That’s why we designed our new Celebration Party Pack to include five adorable natural chews in one. Whether you’re celebrating a special occasion like a birthday or gotcha day, or just celebrating another amazing day with your furry loved one, we’ve got you covered. With our exclusive new taco and pineapple included, the Celebration Party Pack is a must have for all pet parents. Is a party in a box.
Timothy Party Pack
Now that parties are on your mind, let’s talk Timothy. Like our Celebration Party Pack, our new Timothy Party Pack contains a variety of enriching chews, including two exciting exclusive items – the Rosy Timothy Heart and Timothy Swirl. With a total of six natural, Timothy-based chews in the box, your pet is sure to give you extra snuggles when this party pack shows up in their habitat!
As a prey animal, your small pet possesses a natural instinct to avoid perceived stresses and dangers by hiding away throughout the day. To help with his, we excited to unveil our newest additions – our Timothy Huts!
Timothy Huts
It’s natural to be jealous of your pet’s ability to nap any time or place they choose. And while you may not have the same liberties when it comes to catching some Zzzs, you should always take comfort in supporting your pet’s rest and relaxation needs. An ideal habitat should feature multiple resting places, and our new Timothy Huts made an adorable addition to every pet’s habitat. Made with North American Timothy Hay, the huts come in three sizes to support the R&R needs of small pets of all shapes and sizes.
When it comes to enriching your pet’s world, don’t forget about care essentials! Equipping your pet’s habitat with these items s crucial to their health and happiness.
Washable Floor Mats
There’s nothing better than having a soft place to lounge. That’s why our new washable floor mats are made of super soft fleece with a cushy, multi-layer design. The mats come in two sizes and are great for use inside or outside the habitat. One touch and you’ll wish your bedding was this soft and comfy!
Ready to take your enrichment game to the next level? Check out these additional enrichment resources:
April 12, 2022
By Dr. Cayla Iske
Many human food and nutrition trends continue to make their way into today’s pet space. This comes as little surprise when considering that most pet parents want to feed their loved ones similarly to the way they feed themselves. With juice cleanses becoming more popular in human nutrition, many pet parents naturally ask themselves if juice is something they can and should share with their pet. It is a logical question, but one without a black and white answer.
There is a great deal of conflicting information regarding juices. Fruit and vegetable juices are typically associated with a healthy diet or lifestyle, but it’s essential to remember your small mammal’s unique dietary and digestive needs when considering whether juices are appropriate for your pet.
In this article, we’ll address a few prevalent myths about juice as they pertain to your exotic companion mammal.
Fruits and vegetables are known to supply important nutrients (such as antioxidants) in large part due to their phytonutrient content. These foods can also be a great source of vitamins and minerals in the diet.
A nutrient less commonly associated with fruits and vegetables (though just as important) is fiber. Your hindgut fermenting small mammal, specifically rabbits, guinea pigs, and chinchillas, requires significant amounts of fiber in their diet to support healthy gastrointestinal (GI) function and maintain a healthy microbiome. In fact, without proper amounts and type of fiber, these animals cannot properly utilize many other important nutrients.
The standard process of making juice means the removal of the pulp or the solid portions of fruits and vegetables. This means juicing removes most of the vital fiber that these foods offer.
Another prevalent nutrient in vegetables and especially fruit is natural sugar. By removing the pulp, you are also concentrating the sugar contained in produce. While concentrating sugar does make for a tastier treat, the combination of removing fiber and concentrating sugar can be a recipe for disaster for small herbivores, potentially leading to dysbiosis (imbalance of bacteria and the microbiome) and even GI stasis.
So, if you choose to make vegetables and fruit a part of your pet’s diet, it’s always best to offer whole produce (mainly dark leafy greens) rather than juices.
“Easier to digest” is one of those claims that sounds good in theory but isn’t necessarily something to strive for in relation to healthy herbivores. Foods that are easy to digest are often characterized by being high in sugar and simple carbohydrates and low in fiber. This is essentially the opposite of what your little one’s digestive tract needs to operate efficiently and effectively.
Above all, you want to ensure you provide a high fiber diet that keeps your small pet’s digestive tract moving (peristalsis) and provides substrate (fiber) for the microbiome to ferment and provide energy to the animal. Rabbits and, even more so, guinea pigs and chinchillas are incredibly efficient at utilizing fiber and need it in the diet to maintain a healthy digestive tract and overall health.
While whole fruits and vegetables are certainly better, and dark leafy green the best, to offer your pet in most circumstances, there are ways that juices can be helpful.
If you do choose to incorporate small amounts of juice into your pet’s diet, there are a few factors to consider:
Some fruits do contain compounds beneficial for mitigating certain health issues. For example, enzymes in pineapple (bromelain) and papaya (papain) may help break down the mucous coating of hairballs (trichobezoars) to facilitate hair passing naturally. However, offering fruit juice is not an effective way to treat hairballs. This is because the amount of juice needed to provide a beneficial level of these enzymes is not realistic and can potentially cause GI upset or worse.
Similarly, cranberry juice is often associated with treating bladder issues. Here again, the concentration of beneficial flavonoids in cranberry juice is far too low to offer real treatment without providing far too much sugar. If your animal is suffering from hairballs or bladder issues, you should always consult your veterinarian and consider a targeted supplement with concentrated amounts of beneficial compounds.
Whole fruits and vegetables are always a better option than juices in your small mammal’s diet. Juices remove the valuable fiber that produce offers and concentrates the natural sugars which can wreak havoc on your small pet’s digestive system if offered in large quantities. Because of the relatively high sugar content, juices are also not an effective way to treat health issues. No sugar added juices can be used in very small quantities to increase palatability of homemade treats or to encourage your pet to eat a high fiber recovery food if needed but should be used sparingly and should be organic, 100% juice products.
April 12, 2022
Your chinchilla is the center of your world, and we know you want to provide your chin (or chins) with everything they need to be happy and healthy every day. That's why we've put together this collection of essential chinchilla care tips to help you along your journey together.
In this article, we'll cover the following important topics:
It’s important for your chinchilla to have unlimited access to a variety of quality grass hays. Among many benefits, hay helps prevent obesity, boredom, and dental and gastrointestinal disease in chinchillas. Replacing the hay in your chinchilla’s habitat can encourage picky eating, so you should only change it only when soiled. Offer a variety of types of grass hay to further discourage unhealthy picky eating habits.
Young (less than 1 year old), pregnant, nursing or ill animals can benefit from eating alfalfa hay in addition to grass hay because of the higher nutritional content (including higher levels of protein and calcium). Otherwise, alfalfa should only be given to your chinchilla occasionally as a treat.
Grass hay should make up the majority of your chinchilla’s daily diet. Offer a variety of grass hays to your chinchilla to promote optimum health. Use the Taste & Texture Guide located on every Oxbow hay package to determine your pet’s taste and texture preferences.
We have many all-natural, farm-fresh hays to choose from including Western Timothy, Orchard Grass, Oat Hay, Botanical Hay, Organic Meadow Hay, and Hay Blends - Western Timothy & Orchard. Also, check out our Harvest Stacks line of compressed hays for extra enrichment.
Providing a daily recommended amount of high-fiber, age-appropriate fortified food will help ensure that your chinchilla receives vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients not found in hay.
It’s important to choose a uniform food formulated specifically for chinchillas. Oxbow offers multiple quality options to meet the unique preferences of all chinchillas. Not sure which to choose? Don’t worry! We’ve outlined the unique characteristics of each of our food lines to make the decision easier!
Fresh greens are an important part of your chinchilla’s daily diet. Greens help keep your pet hydrated and offer important vitamins and minerals, as well as enrichment. Romaine, bib, and red leaf lettuce are good greens to offer, but avoid foods in the onion family such as leeks, chives, and onions.
Treats (including fruits and veggies) are great for encouraging interaction between you and your pet, but they should never take the place of essential daily foods. Eating too many treats can lead your chinchilla to refuse his healthy, essential foods. It’s also important to remember that not all treats are created equal, either! All Oxbow Simple Rewards treat varieties are designed to be as wholesome as they are delicious.
Chinchillas are active, playful animals that bond quickly with their owners. As highly social animals, chinchillas require meaningful companionship to be at their happiest and healthiest. Even with a commitment to spend as much time as possible with our furry friends, there’s no substitute for the companionship provided by a same-species friend. For this reason, it’s always recommended to share your home with a bonded pair of chinchillas. This will ensure your chinchillas experience companionship at all times, increasing their feelings of security and lowering stress.
Chinchillas are highly active and athletic, able to jump great heights. For this reason, it’s essential to provide a spacious, multi-level habitat that provides ample space for their natural acrobatic exploration.
Some chinchilla behaviors can seem strange at first. For example, you may see your chinchilla eat its own poop. This is a normal, healthy behavior that provides essential vitamins and nutrients. Also, chinchillas can release tufts of hair as a defense mechanism. This can be very alarming (especially for a new chinchilla pet parent), but try not to panic if this happens. Rest assured that your chinchilla’s fur will grow back over time following a “slip.”
Your chinchilla’s method of keeping himself clean is unique from many other small animals. Because of the density of chinchilla fur and their naturally oily skin, chinchillas will instinctively “bathe” themselves in dust to maintain a lush, healthy coat of fur. Oxbow’s Poof! Chinchilla Dust Bath is the ideal material for keeping your chinchilla’s fur healthy and soft.
Learn more about how to support your chinchilla’s need for dust baths.
Every chinchilla is wired to engage in a set of healthy instinctual behaviors each day. These behaviors include chewing, playing, hiding, and exploring. Intentionally encouraging these behaviors in healthy ways is called enrichment. Support all four behaviors in a variety of ways each day to support your chinchilla’s mental and physical health.
Looking for some chin-spiration? Check out our top 10 toys and accessories for chinchillas!
It’s easy to make chinchillas feel at home inside your house. As prey animals by nature, all chins need a safe home environment free of environmental stressors. Choose a spacious, multi-level habitat with a solid floor and set it up near household activities, but away from drafts.
Chinchillas are especially sensitive to temperature and require a constant temp between 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid overheating. With this in mind, be sure your chinchilla’s habitat is set up in a temperature-controlled area of the house with low humidity and no direct sunlight.
Your chinchilla’s habitat should be outfitted with environmental essentials such as a hay habitat and/or woven hideout, a litter box lined with litter and bedding, multiple chews, grass hay, a food bowl, a dust bath, and two sources of fresh, clean water.
Every chinchilla should have daily access to some basic supplies for health and happiness. Make sure you’re stocked up on the following:
You should visit a qualified exotics veterinarian at least once a year for check-ups on your chinchilla’s diet, behavior, and health.
Be prepared for your chinchilla’s visits by making a list of any questions or concerns you may have ahead of time. Ask your veterinarian about the potential of spaying or neutering your chinchilla. Many chinchilla health problems are preventable with proper diet and care. To locate a qualified exotics veterinarian near you, visit aemv.org.
Learn more about common chinchilla health issues.
Still have questions about how to provide the best care for your chinchilla? Our experts are here for you!
...Read MoreApril 12, 2022
Choosing the right forage for your hay-loving herbivore can be confusing, but it doesn’t need to be! Regardless of your level of experience caring for rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, or other herbivores in the family, you’ve likely encountered a variety of different types of hay while stocking up on essentials for your little loved one. In this article, we’ll take a look at two popular but uniquely different types of hay: alfalfa and Timothy hay.
When doing a side-by-side comparison between alfalfa and Timothy hay, it’s important to note that there is room for both of these hay varieties in your pet’s diet. Your pet’s age and health status will largely determine if their diet should focus more heavily on alfalfa or Timothy (or another grass hay).
Check out our deep dive on alfalfa to learn more about this important and enticing hay variety!
If our pets could do the shopping, many of them would load the cart up with alfalfa every time. That’s because alfalfa is sweet, rich, and altogether delectable to small pets. Along with its appealing flavor profile, alfalfa contains more protein and calcium than grass hays like Timothy, Orchard, Oat, and others.
Alfalfa’s higher nutritional value makes it the ideal forage choice for young, ill, or nursing herbivores with elevated energy requirements. Pets meeting one these criteria can eat unlimited amounts of alfalfa.
One common mistake pet parents make is to neglect offering grass hay alongside alfalfa to the young, nursing, or ill pets. Grass hay is beneficial to all pets, young and old and should always be available. Munching on a variety of different types of hay provides an entire host of benefits, so don’t forget to offer Western Timothy or another variety of grass hay anytime you provide alfalfa!
As mentioned, Timothy hay (or your pet’s grass hay variety of choice) should be offered anytime you’re feeding them alfalfa, regardless of your pet’s age or health status. But, when should grass hay be the primary forage of choice for your herbivore?
Grass hay should be the primary forage choice for adult animals that are not pregnant, nursing, ill, or recovering from surgery. That’s because healthy adult animals generally have lower energy requirements. That doesn’t mean that your grown-up rabbit or guinea pig can’t ever enjoy alfalfa. Just be sure to offer alfalfa in small quantities (just a pinch as a treat).
The same general guidelines around alfalfa and grass hay apply when it comes to your pet’s food. For example, you should choose an adult rabbit or guinea pig food with grass hay-based ingredients (e.g. Timothy) at the top of the ingredient list. A grass hay-based pellet provides appropriate levels of protein and fat, meeting maintenance needs while preventing obesity.
Young, growing, pregnant, or lactating herbivores have higher energy requirements and need food that is specifically designed to meet these needs. An alfalfa-based uniform pellet provides a nutrient-dense diet to support animals during these stages of life.
If you’re unsure whether your pet’s food is appropriate for his stage of life, we encourage you to consult with your trusted veterinarian.
Ready to learn more about hay? Check out these great resources:
April 06, 2022
by Dianne Cook, LVT
From routine procedures like spays, neuters, and dental exams, to more intense operations like tumor removals and cystotomies (the surgical procedure performed to remove bladder stones), there are numerous reasons our beloved small pets may have to undergo surgery. Regardless of why your furry companion has had surgery, proper at-home post-operative care is an important part of the healing process. Though the thought of caring for your little one in such a delicate state can be stressful, the following tips and suggestions will provide an idea of what to watch for and will help ensure your beloved companion recovers as smoothly and quickly as possible.
As prey species, your small mammal is hardwired to hide signs of illness or discomfort. While this mentality prevented your pet’s wild ancestors from succumbing to predation, it can also mean many things can go wrong for a post-operative small mammal before they start showing any blatant signs or symptoms. Luckily, if they are observed closely, it is easier to pick up on the subtle indications that something isn’t going to plan. A properly supervised at-home recovery also ensures your pet can heal in a familiar environment, thereby limiting stress and lowering the risk of secondary health concerns (like gastrointestinal stasis).
When you pick your little one up after surgery, it is important to speak with your veterinarian or their vet tech before you leave the building. Though your veterinarian should have answered most of your questions before the procedure, it’s never a bad idea to verify instructions and make sure the following questions are answered to your satisfaction.
Healing from surgery is hard work! During the post-operative phase, the body goes into overdrive repairing muscles and ligaments, forming new neuropathways, and evading infection. Though different surgical procedures require slightly different aftercare, every post-op patient requires special focus in six key areas during the first couple of weeks of recovery: mentation, appetite, output, medications, surgical site, and husbandry.
If you are worried that keeping your pet in the same space as their companions will put them at risk of breaking open their incision or otherwise impacting their health and safety, it may be best to separate your furry friends until your post-op babe is fully healed – or until a veterinarian indicates it is safe to keep them together again. If separation is necessary, try to do so in a way they can still see, smell, hear, and interact with each other by using separate play yards or a temporary enclosure divider.
Worried that you may not remember all of your questions at your pet's vet appointment? Download and print our checklist!
April 04, 2022
Every year around Easter, parents and significant others often ask themselves: “Wouldn’t a rabbit be such a cool gift?” We get it—it’s Easter. You’re seeing images of cute animals everywhere! After being bombarded with pictures of baby bunnies for weeks on end, it’s only natural that you’d be tempted to bring home a cute, fluffy bunny of your own.
The idea of surprising a loved one with a pet was once a common practice for birthdays or significant holidays, and in some regions is still common. Gifting pets isn’t unique to small animals, either; it’s frequently a plot point in movies and other pop culture to gift a dog or cat, normalizing this gift-giving behavior.
Today, more people are rightfully applying a critical lens to this practice. Exotic animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs require specialized care—an extent of care that some people who are gifted these animals are not fully aware of, and sometimes not prepared to give.
In this blog post, we’ll cover some important considerations for your family to make before bringing a rabbit or other small animal into your home during this Easter season. Questions we’ll encourage you to answer include:
We hope that by the end of this blog, you’ll have a clearer idea of the commitment to care that small animals require—and the rewards that come with this commitment, too!
The first question you should be asking is whether or not the person who is receiving this animal knows what to feed this pet. Do they know whether this animal is an herbivore, omnivore, or something else—and do they know what these important designations mean? Do they understand why pets need access to high-quality food daily? If they don’t know the answers to these questions, are they willing to learn and make necessary improvements to their pet’s diet?
While it used to be common for rabbits and guinea pigs to live outdoors in unsupervised hutches, this practice is becoming less and less common as people realize what wonderful house pets these unique species make.
Exotic animals haven’t been domesticated for thousands of years like cats and dogs, so they will tend to behave more in line with their hard-wired instincts. That being said, small animals like rabbits and guinea pigs (which have been domesticated for at least a few hundred years) will generally still want to socialize with their human family. They can’t do this when they’re outdoors all the time!
Just like a cat or dog, small animals need to have a central place in the home where they can regularly observe and interact with their family members.
Caring for small pets is not as simple as it once was perceived to be. We’ve learned that small enclosures offering only about a square foot or two of space is simply not enough room for a rabbit or guinea pig. Consider that an enclosure is not only just a living space for an animal: it is their living space, sleeping space, exercise space, and even bathroom. Because an enclosure acts as all of these things, guinea pigs and rabbits need enough room for all of these activities while still living in a clean hygienic space. Enclosures that can be placed on a desk or dresser can’t provide enough room for a guinea pig or rabbit to thrive.
In addition to providing enough room within an enclosure, small animals also need time outside of the habitat! Oxbow recommends that small animals have at least one hour of time outside of their habitats daily to explore a pet-proofed space.
Can the person who’s being gifted this animal afford the food, shelter, and veterinary bills that are necessary to keep this animal happy and healthy? Anyone who’s impulsively purchased an animal can attest: exotic animals may be small, but that doesn’t mean the long-term costs of keeping them will be!
Rabbit and guinea pig owners tend to find that between food, enrichment, and vet care, they spend more money per month than the average dog or cat owner. If the person you’re considering giving a new pet to doesn’t have enough disposable income to care for an animal, that’s a big sign they should be gifted chocolate, flowers, or a plushie instead.
If a decade seems like a surprising amount of time to factor in, know that this is the average lifespan for a rabbit. While some rabbits may not live ten years, others can live well beyond ten. If you’re considering getting your 16-year-old a rabbit, are they going to take the rabbit with them when they go to college in two years (this answer may be “no” regardless of if your child wants to—many campuses do not allow pets in dorms!)?
We understand that the future can be hard to predict, but an animal may not factor in what someone may have planned for the next decade of their life. Some paths cannot feasibly fit pet care in. Thinking about this ahead of time can prevent your family from needing to surrender an animal in the near future.
Yes, there are some cats or dogs out there that do perfectly fine with multiple species in the house. This should be considered out of the ordinary, however, and not be considered normal. Much like how prey species are wired to run and hide at even the hint of predators, predatory species like cats and dogs are wired to investigate and chase objects that act like the animals they would hunt in the wild. If you already have animals in the house, you’ll need to carefully consider how all pets are going to be kept safe and happy when living under the same roof. For tips on becoming a multi-species household, check out our blog here.
Rabbits and other prey species are masters at hiding illness. In the wild, their ancestors evolved the behavior of masking any illness or injury. This behavior helped prevent predators from easily picking them off from the group and targeting them for a meal. Since this behavior benefitted these prey species and kept them alive long enough to reproduce, this behavior was passed on for many generations and became a hard-wired instinct.
While masking illness served rabbits and guinea pigs in the wild, in domesticated situations they will still mask illness even when the threat of predation has been removed. This means that these animals will mask illness until they’re so sick they can no longer hide it. As a result, pet parents may not reach out to veterinarians until the illness is visible and their pet is very sick. Whoever is caring for a pet needs to be well-attuned to the species’ particular behaviors and needs to always be watching for subtle changes in habits such as eating, mood, or activity levels.
You’d be surprised at how much the desire for a pet is a foregone conclusion! Before getting serious about bringing an animal home as a surprise, it’s incredibly important to make sure that all parties involved want a pet, and that all agree to sharing in the responsibilities of feeding, cleaning and interacting with this new pet.
A handful of readers may find that they’ve answered all of these questions mindfully, and the person to who they’re gifting an animal seems ready for the commitment of a pet. That’s wonderful! Other readers might find that they do not yet have clear answers to all of these questions. That’s perfectly okay, but it is a sign that it may be best to delay getting a small pet as a gift or to plan on giving an alternative gift. Wherever you landed, we hope this article has provided you with the insight needed before adding a new animal to your family.
