Hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils and rabbits do have some things in common in terms of care, but they do not all eat the same food. Depending on the animal species, varying proportions of greens, cereals as well as animal components make up their diet. Food mixes for hamsters are not suitable as rabbit feed, mice need different food from rats, some animal species only need small amounts of feed mixes as supplementary food. Some small animal feed, on the other hand, can be given across species. Read here what you should know about small animal feed.

While dry and wet food is available for dogs and cats as complete feed, ready-made dry feed mixtures for small animals are usually feed supplements. For rabbits and guinea pigs, you should prepare the main part of the daily diet from fresh ingredients; for mice and hamsters, the dry feed is again the basic feed, which needs to be supplemented with fresh ingredients. Pellets consist of dried and compressed food. If the animal eats too much of it, the calorie intake may be too high, or digestion may be irritated due to the food swelling in the stomach. Also, pellets aren’t enough to provide the correct tooth abrasion small animals need. Many owners prefer small animal food without pellets or food with a low pellet content. For other animals such as chinchillas, however, a high quality pellet feed is very important for a balanced diet. For this reason, it is not possible to give a general answer as to which food is suitable for your small animal, but only for the respective animal species.

Some small animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs are unable to tolerate cereals in their food because they do not metabolise starch properly. Their natural diet does not include cereal products. They do eat ears of grasses and cereals, so long as the cereal grains have not yet ripened. When choosing a feed mix for rabbits and guinea pigs, make sure that the grain content is low; grain-free rabbit feed is ideal. Provide grass and leaf eaters with dry feed, but only as supplementary feed and in small amounts. These animals primarily depend on green leaves, herbs and vegetables that they can easily digest.

Grain-eating animals such as mice, hamsters and lemmings depend on a high cereal content in their daily feed ration. Maxi Zoo has products for all needs and preferences. You can find high-quality small animal feed in our online shop from well-known manufacturers such as JR Farm, MulitFit, Versele-Laga and Vitakraft.