Oat grass

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jruland

Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Messages
12
Location
Wisconsin
I know that oats are a safe treat for chins, but what about fresh oat grass? Or what about wheat or barley grass?
 
You don't want to give fresh grass, it needs to be dried into hay first, otherwise it has too much moisture and can cause diarrhea and can get moldy. Oat, wheat, and barley hay is more used for straw, not as much nutritional value (the nutritional part is the seeds not the stem) so you still need to give normal hay too like timothy. They can be a good addition, but not the primary hay.
 
I have fed wheat grass for 15 years to all chins during play, they enjoy it and I have had no adverse effects. I do not know about other fresh grass, just wheat.
 
I have fed wheat grass for 15 years to all chins during play, they enjoy it and I have had no adverse effects. I do not know about other fresh grass, just wheat.

I think it depends, are you feeding like a tray of growing grass, like what is sold for a cat? or are you giving them a whole pile of fresh cut grass? The tray of growing grass in dirt the chins just nibble on, and is ok as a treat. Unless wheat grass is somehow different/drier a whole pile in the cage can get moldy more easily then hay, and can cause gut issues if too much is eaten. That is what I was trying to say, you shouldn't give them fresh grass instead of dried hay.
 
I buy the little pots of growing grass at Safeway in the produce department, its organic and meant for humans.
 
Is oat grass the same as dried green oat? I've just bought a bag of this mixed with dried dandelion and my chin loves it! I put a pinch in with her pellets, she's obvs got her timothy and meadow hay as well.
 
Oh, right, yeah. I didn't mean as a replacement for timothy hay, just as a treat to nibble on. And not cut, but growing in a pot.
 
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