Global Pet Expo’s Guinea Pig Highlights
Global Pet Expo didn’t disappoint guinea pig enthusiasts. Products in development to be released in the next few months will shape the way we care for our beloved pets. These are Guinea Pig Today’s top three highlights of interest to guinea pig owners.
Oxbow’s “Natural Science” Line of Products
Watch for this striking red package with the lightning guinea pig to begin showing up with pet food products later this year. These premium pellets are all-natural and contain beneficial amounts of long-strand fiber, antioxidants, Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, and beneficial prebiotics. Transitioning from junk food pellets to healthy options might have just gotten easier with Natural Science’s flavor variety cavies can enjoy.
| “NATURAL SCIENCE ADULT GUINEA PIG FOOD is specially formulated with stabilized vitamin C and other high quality ingredients selected to enhance the overall wellness of your adult guinea pig. When fed as a maintenance food along with unlimited grass hay and water, Natural Science Adult Guinea Pig Food provides all of the necessary nutrients to help a guinea pig thrive. As part of the Natural Science Individualized Nutrition Program, this food provides the backbone of nutritive care.” |
The Natural Science line will also include a series of Vitamins to support overall guinea pig health. Oxbow will offer a multi-vitamin, and supplements for urinary, joint, digestive, and immune support.
- Multi-Vitamin is hay based and contains essential vitamins to support all of your pet’s body systems and provides a source of essential Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.
- Urinary Support contains fiber rich ingredients with herbs to support renal function.
- Joint Support assists the prevention of cartilage degeneration with anti-inflammatory properties.
- Digestive Support assists the growth of beneficial bacteria in the GI tract, gastric motility, and overall digestive function.
- Immune Support assists the overall wellness of your pet and the treatment of infections.
Ask your veterinarian about these options in the future. We’re looking forward to a sample of this new line from the award winning team at Oxbow.
Central Garden & Pet’s KAYTEE “Rabbit Home”
New rabbit and guinea pig habitats were showcased in the KAYTEE line of products. While the new “Guinea Pig Home” didn’t show much difference in size over previous cages, the matching “Rabbit Home” would be of interest to cavy enthusiasts. At 24×48 inches, the total cage size was 8 square feet, meeting the minimal requirement of 7.5 square feet for a pair of guinea pigs. It will be one of the largest habitats of its kind on the market. It was unclear if the measurements are the size of the wire top or the living space at the bottom of the basin, but the basin did have an inward taper.
While the name of the product was clearly “Rabbit Home” and it’s unknown if this model will be sold with rabbit ready products inside, the dimensions are a huge improvement over guinea pig habitats currently for sale in most pet stores. The designers at KAYTEE reached this size with a unique two piece base which joins together in the middle. This means the cage in its box takes up less space on store shelves making shipping easier and home storage more accommodating.
While lacking expansion abilities available in do-it-yourself C&C style cages, this could be an alternative for guinea pig rescue volunteers that need to keep a quick set-up cage on hand, veterinarians that require flexibility for sick pets, or cavy owners that travel between homes. This habitat gives guinea pig owners with other animals, like dogs, a safer and secure option for their small pets.
The new Kaytee Rabbit Home is 2x4 feet and has a two piece base that makes it easy to store and ship.
Will Central Garden & Pet extend this design to guinea pig cages making a larger home packaged with supplies and targeted to cavy owners? Officials at Central Garden & Pet don’t know, but the answer to that might be in the positive response to this model. The Rabbit Home box recommended the habitat be used for other small pets and did include a photo of a guinea pig.
The KAYTEE Rabbit Home is expected to be available in stores beginning June 2012. We look forward to fully exploring it’s dimensions, capabilities, and options.
Absorption Corp’s CareFRESH facelift
CareFRESH already has a wonderful line of products but at Global Pet Expo they had a huge new booth, a beautiful showcase of products with updated packaging, and a new website.
The new site focuses on products with a few consumer activities like the photo contest and product survey. Old links to things like the Critter College and various care pages still exist but are not connected to the new site.
The refreshed package designs now include a consistent brand across all related products. While we enjoyed the new packaging and large viewing areas to see the products inside, we were a bit disappointed they decided to used GPOW, the most common of stock guinea pig photography. The new design features a QR code which leads consumers to more product information on the CareFRESH website. All sell sheets and materials are available online promoting earth-friendly practices by using less paper and more technology.
Absorption Corps partnerships will be expanding the growth of products over the next year. For more details about what’s going on with CareFresh, check out the press release.
Those of us here at Guinea Pig Today would like to thank the organizers of Global Pet Expo, The American Pet Product Association, for giving us this wonderful opportunity to meet so many in the pet industry. Speaking on behalf of guinea pigs everywhere was a real honor and we hope you, our readers, will stay with us as we continue to cover the information that is important for our beloved pets.
If you have a great idea for an article about guinea pigs, please let us know. Guinea Pig Today is a network of guinea pig lovers and we’re always looking for the next great story. View our submissions page for more information on how to submit your idea.
Excellent stuff! Can’t wait to see the ingredients on the Oxbow supplements. I hope the rabbit cage isn’t too expensive, but it would be nice to have a store-bought option for guinea pig cages, for those people who don’t trust or can’t get materials for C&C cages.
I’m really interested in the Natural Science guinea pig food. I’ll be curious to see how it compares to the standard Cavy Cuisine. Thanks for the review!
Will the supplements be available at pet stores or is it just through your veterinarian?
Good question and one I don’t know the answer to. You could try asking Oxbow on their Facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/oxbowpet) I’m sure they’d be happy to answer your questions.
I’m so excited to see the new product’s. Thank you so much.
Me, too! And yes, thank you.
Oxbow’s Natural Science line sounds very interesting, I’m particularly intrigued by the line of vitamins. I wonder how they are to be administered (pellet form, sprinkled over vegetables, via syringe…), guess we’ll see sometime this year!
I’m glad Oxbow has a new line coming out. I sure wish pet stores would stop selling the crap food though!
I am encouraged that Kaytee is finally realizing the need for larger housing but I don’t think I would stick two young boars in a 24×48 cage…still too small! But it’s progress. Good for them.