Science Select pellets - opinions, experience? need advice!

My friend took her rabbit to the vet where she met a Science Select Representative who strongly recommended this to her, so she and us just switched ours from Excel to SS. (doing the gradual replacement method as advised) Obviously the rep has personal motives for selling it to us but she gave sound arguments and my friend and I really thought they would be healthier with it.

The problem is they dont seem to like it as much. They arent eating as much of it and not polishing off their bowls as quickly. However I do want to stick with it because I have a huge 10 kilo bag I spent £13 on and also my friend and I really thought it would be better for them.

My rabbits are certainly healthy they have a lot of variety with fruit & veg, have always adored their excel and a lot of hay and Ready Grass.

Should I persevere with the SS? Do any of you use it, and do your rabs like it? Thanks! xxxx

I would persevere with the SS, they are very good for bunnies and most of mine are on them, apart from A&P pellets I think that SS are the best for bunnies, so please keep going they will get used to them

Thanks Snowy for the advice. While on the subject of pellets I always gave mine one (small) handful of Excel per rabbit. And this seemed to suit everyone very well. However it doesnt seem to apply to SS. I mean the pellets are so much bigger that one handful fills up the whole bowl. What is the thinking on how much they should have of them? Mine have always had pellets in the morning (slightly less) and then at night for dinner with their veg etc but of course hay/grass all day & all night long.

The weight of my rabbits varies, Celeste is a dinky little thing he hasnt grown since he was around 10 weeks old though he is 6 months old. He is Moony's brother and she is easily twice his size. My 2 lops are pretty average size for dwarfs lops. Thanks very much!

What are A&P pellets?

Allen and Page, they are very good and very. very cheap, they are the best but not a lot of bunnies will eat them, they are 20 kg for £7

Ah! Wow that is cheap!

I recently changed from Excel to SS pellets and all my rabbits seem to prefer the SS. The only problem is the price. first time I got them they were about £14 for 10 kilos, but now I am having to pay £22 . I wish I could find somewhere that sold them for £13, I would be stocking up big time.

My two are on SS - a 10 kg bag lasts about 10 months - can't remember what I paid for the last bag. When I need the next bag I'm going to do some hunting to find the cheapest place. I've had a quick look and it does seem to vary quite a bit, but as I think there's another a couple of months' worth left I'm not buying it yet.

what a shame mine is £13. I get mine from a local family run pet store. Do you have any of those around you who could order it for you maybe?

After doing a search on the internet there are two links
one at the kind of price you are paying and one at the kind of price I am paying
very odd
packaging slightly different but it is called the same thing

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=331&pf_id=6139

http://www.feedem.co.uk/small-animals-40/small-animal-foods-48/rabbit-foods-49/supreme-petfoods-279/supreme-science-selective-rabbit-6365.htm

Bertie has had SS for 18 months now, he doesn't love it, and leaves it til last, but does eat it eventually, and I know it's really goo for him

Both our local pet shops are charging £22. I have just got a new bag, but I may order it from the Feedem site next time, if it stays at that price. If you spend more than £45 they do not charge for postage, so I'll probably order 3 bags (a bag normally lasts about a month) plus some excel hebage which the buns love but is very dificult to get locally.
Thanks so much for the link, I did'nt see that one when I did a search.

All of mine love SS, Azrael didn't like it at first, I'm not sure what she was on before she came to me; but they all go crazy when they get it now.

I moved my rabbits from SS to A&P early last year and though the formulation is better in terms of fiber it's true they don't taste as good, it took ages to get them all emptying their bowls. Now though they all go nuts for them and I havn't had any issues moving my foster bunnies over to them either.

Personally I have never rated Excel pellets and only used them to aid weight gain in a few bunnies because I am wary of how some seem to react to the protein content....which is higher than in most other rabbit pellets.

Thanks very much for the input! I am glad the link was helpful as well. I will stick with SS for mine then as you all seem very confident it is the best - that is what I thought, that's why I switched them, but my confidence was shaken when they didnt seem to enjoy it so much.

I got so mad yesterday I was in Tesco and saw their Smart Price "COMPLETE RABBIT AND GUINEA PIG FOOD" - for about £1.50 for the bag. Made me so angry. Firstly it isnt complete. Secondly they shouldnt eat the same food. Oh I was just so mad.

Tesco just seem to do it to annoy HH and other sites. They were selling a rabbit cage last year that was only big enough for a hamster! They were bombarded with emails and I believe the cage was withdrawn. They obviously don't have anyone with animal knowledge on their buying team.

Mine were on SS but it is just too expensive, so much to their disgust they are on A an P now, which they don't like, nearly as much.

MIne are on SS but after reading this I might switch to A&P. Where do you get yours from Charlotte?

I get it from a farm shop that does horse feed, if you have one near by, they can normally order it in for you x

You can buy A&P online from www.gjwtitmuss.co.uk for a little over £7 a bag, however as the bag weighs 20kg the courier charges are another £7. It still works out cheaper than SS though due to the quantity (and SS have just increased their RRP).

The only thing with A&P is it generally only has a shelf-life of 10-12 weeks from delivery so if you only have a couple of bunnies yu might not use it all by then.

I was going to transfer Bell and T to A&P but considering a 10kg bag of Science Selective lasts them around ten months, a 20kg bag of A&P would last forever, so I decided in the end to keep them on SS.

Mine are all on SS and love it. I had only one pair of foster bunnies who preferred Excel, all others preferred SS. Excel makes bunny poo smell unpleasant, I think. And some bunnies produce too much soft poo. Those problems did not continue, once they had been changed over to SS.
I thought about changing to A&P, but I am not sure if my bunnies would be too impressed. Plus I spend a lot more money on hay and vegetables, so the pellets don't really make me poor.

Mine are on P@H pellets which they seem to really like and it is easy for me to buy them. Courier charges up here are extortionate! Even though we are not an island, we get charged as though we are Highlands & Islands because we have an IV postcode.

Mine were on Excel when i adopted them but i swapped over to SS after a few months

NickieM wrote:Mine are on P@H pellets which they seem to really like and it is easy for me to buy them. Courier charges up here are extortionate! Even though we are not an island, we get charged as though we are Highlands & Islands because we have an IV postcode.

What a PITA for you!