Top 7 Maintenance Pelleted Diets for Small Pets in Canada (2025) — Vet-Backed Choices to Maintain Adult Health and Find the Right Fit for Rabbits, Guinea Pigs & Chinchillas

Living World Green Gourmet Rabbit Food is a complete pelleted maintenance diet formulated to add variety and palatability with mixed fiber sources and vegetable inclusions that appeal to picky eaters. Its technical advantage is higher palatability and a more diverse ingredient mix, often offered at a mid-range price point, though that can mean slightly lower pure timothy content than strict timothy pellets like Sherwood or Oxbow. For owners whose rabbits are selective or need flavor variety, Living World can reduce refuse and improve intake compared with single-ingredient timothy pellets.

Recognized by many keepers as best-in-class for maintenance, Oxbow Essentials delivers a timothy-hay–based pellet with a research-backed nutrient profile and stabilized vitamin C that supports dental and digestive health. It generally commands a premium price compared with mixed or economy pellets, but its consistent fiber content and single-format delivery reduce selective feeding and make it cost-effective long term for guinea pigs needing steady maintenance nutrition.

Oxbow Essentials Chinchilla Food earns a best-in-class spot for maintenance because it uses 100% timothy-hay-based pellets with a focused, low-protein, high-fiber profile that helps prevent obesity and dental issues in adult chinchillas. Compared with Mazuri's lab-grade, nutrient-dense formulas and Science Selective’s European offerings, Oxbow strikes a practical balance of predictable nutrition and strong ingredient transparency, making it a reliable premium choice for everyday feeding despite a slightly higher retail price. Its single-source forage approach is a technical advantage for long-term gut health over more highly fortified or multi-species blends like Versele-Laga and some budget timothy options such as Martin Little Friends.

Oxbow Essentials is best-in-class for hamster maintenance because its timothy-hay–based pelleted formula emphasizes high fiber and limited seeds, helping reduce selective feeding and support dental and digestive health. Compared with the other products on this list it is typically pricier but offers veterinary-formulated transparency and a conservative protein/fat profile tailored for long-term maintenance.

Living World’s extruded hamster food is notable for its cost-effective, uniform pellets produced by extrusion, which reduce dust and waste and provide an economical maintenance diet for gerbils. Compared with premium options such as Oxbow or Supreme, Living World typically offers a lower price point and wide retail availability, though it may prioritize convenience and palatability over the higher fiber or research-driven nutrient balances found in some competitors.

Oxbow's Essentials pellet ranks highly for degu maintenance because its timothy-hay–based formula delivers very high fiber and steady, low-fat nutrition that suits degus' digestive needs while remaining more affordable and widely available than specialist degu blends. Compared with the other products on this list it offers a conservative nutrient profile (lower protein and fat than some lab-grade diets) and consistent pellet quality, making it a cost-effective, low-risk choice for long-term maintenance feeding.