You wouldn't know till you've tried it.
How true 'tis.
Choosing pellets for Toppy (my rabbit) has always been an easy job since the time he'd first arrived with his sister. However, he has been off his current pellets recently. Let's just call them Brand O Kibbles. For the past 6 years or so, at the recommendation of the organisation from which I'd adopted Toppy and Eveie, he's been fine with O Kibbles. Lately, after my mother had brought home a more up-scale, premium brand of pellets containing cranberry and ginseng (yes, ginseng, your eyes aren't failing you) and had B Kibbles mixed in with O Kibbles, he started being picky with his food, choosing B (the pricier type ><) over O. And for a while, after finishing the entire pack of B Kibbles, Toppy decided that O Kibbles aren't fit to be eaten as is. *face palms*
We've tried adding herb treats to his food, but once he's finished the herbs, he'd leave the kibbles behind although My mum swears that she's seen him sneakily nibbling on the kibbles when he thinks that we aren't looking. Smart boy, huh. So it's got to be B kibbles or nothing? Meh. I've gone down to the pet store to ask the staff there and was told that bunnies may not like O Kibbles so much 'cause it's apparently saltier than normal pellets. (How do they know, was what I'd wanted to ask)
We ended up getting a new pack of B Kibbles today. I had to pound B with a hammer and mix them with the O Kibbles and he's finally enthusiastic about his food again. Huzzah, Topaz-kun!
I was still curious to know what the person had meant earlier about O Kibbles being saltier. You probably won't have to guess what I did to ascertain whether this was true if you've read the heading to this entry... Yep. For the first time in her life, Steffi decided that it's finally time to try the stuff that her rabbits have been eating. And no, it doesn't taste like chicken. I'd tried both B and O. B, with the cranberries and ginseng, didn't taste like either at all. It's more like wheat crackers with a stronger plant-sy taste. The staff wasn't wrong about O being saltier. Compared to B, it's almost as though it's got entire salt grains baked into it. Eurgh. Honestly, I can't blame Toppy for choosing B over O if I've got to eat stuff like this every day. What if his kidneys were to fail just 'cause we've never realised that he's been taking a high salt-content diet all this while?!
I think that it's pretty safe to conclude that pet store folks actually taste their animals' foods, too. I'm pretty sure that just by reading the nutrition facts, you aren't going to really nderstand what you're feeding your pets. Nyaa. Not that I'm adjuring all of you to start eating pet food now, although if you think that there's a need to do so and are pretty sure that there aren't any chemicals within the food that toxic to humans... there's nothing stopping you from trying it. XD
In other news, I'll be sending out debbiechan's and Laurie-twin's packages next week. My apologies for holding onto them for so long! >__<
I've been rushing around meeting people these couple of weeks. All of a sudden, everyone's throwing invitations for gatherings and doll meets, plus my cousins who're currently residing in Taiwan had come back for a short visit (they left yesterday) and I went to spend time with them. My 'rents are doing some end-of-year house cleaning, too, hence I've been busy unpacking things too. Now that I'm down to my last week of school break, it seems like I'll be even busier. Let's see... A doll shoot with raining_on and bryangohey , a class chalet for three days, followed with dog/house-sitting for my cousins in the weekend... I wonder if I'll be able to find time to edit and upload some photos I'd taken over these few days.
... There're some really pretty ones of D'myon and at least one of Sana-chan with Tsukushi's Florynda - they look incredibly fluffly together - as well of photos from the Christmas dinner. Gotta do my best, then.