Rabbits
Small Pet Select vs Oxbow hay
One of these two prints the cutting on the box. The other states on its own product page that it does not sell hay by cutting at all.
Small Pet Select, for the rabbit you feed every day. It names the cutting on the box, so the hay you liked in March is the hay that arrives in September. Oxbow, for availability — it is stocked nearly everywhere, comes in bags as small as 15 oz, and is the sensible thing to keep as a backup. The difference is not quality. It is whether you can repeat the order.
Hay as a share of an adult rabbit's diet · recommendation
hay should comprise 85% of an adult rabbit's diet, offered unlimited and fresh daily
At 85 percent of the diet, hay is not an accessory purchase. It is the thing the rabbit eats, and the property that matters most over a year is not how good one bag was — it is whether the next bag is the same. That is the axis these two brands genuinely differ on, and unusually for a product comparison, both of them state their position on it in public.
What each brand says about cuttings
Small Pet Select sells by cutting number. Its 2nd cutting is described on its own product page as leafy with a soft stem and a medium amount of flowery heads, with a softer texture and a higher leaf-to-stem ratio than 1st cutting, and positioned as the gold standard for healthy adult small animals. Its 1st cutting is the coarser, higher-fiber product.
Oxbow does not. Its Western Timothy product page states that Oxbow strives to harvest all hay early in its growth cycle rather than selling by cutting, and no cutting number appears on the bag. What it does publish that Small Pet Select does not is a guaranteed analysis, with crude fiber listed at 32.00 percent maximum.
Neither position is dishonest. They are two different promises: Small Pet Select promises a cut, Oxbow promises a consistent harvesting philosophy and prints the analysis. What they mean for you is different, though, and that is the next section.
The comparison, on the things that differ
| Small Pet Select 2nd Cutting | Oxbow Western Timothy | |
|---|---|---|
| Cutting stated | Yes, on the box | No, and the brand says it does not sell by cutting |
| Texture repeats between orders | Yes, that is what the cutting number buys | Varies by bag and season |
| Guaranteed analysis published | Not on the product page | Yes, crude fiber 32.00% max |
| Smallest size | 2 lb | 15 oz |
| Largest size | 40 lb | 50 lb |
| Where you buy it | Direct and online | Almost any pet shop, plus online |
| Sourcing stated | Pacific Northwest, USA; hand-packed | Oxbow's family of farms; hand-sorted and hand-packed |
Every cell is taken from each brand's own product page, read 29 September 2026. Sizes are those listed at that date and are the clearest published difference between the two ranges.
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  IllustrativeSmall Pet Select 2nd Cutting Timothy HayNot applicable | Everyday hay for a healthy adult rabbit or guinea pig | 9.0out of 10 | Check price on Amazon We do not print prices. #ad Disclosure |
| 2 | Illustrative Oxbow Western Timothy HayNot applicable | Availability, small bags, and topping up between deliveries | 7.6out of 10 | Check price on Amazon We do not print prices. #ad Disclosure |
| 3 | Illustrative Small Pet Select 1st Cutting Timothy HayNot applicable | Dental wear and animals that need a higher-fiber, less rich hay | 8.2out of 10 | Check price on Amazon We do not print prices. #ad Disclosure |
Scores are our own assessment of published specifications against the thresholds set out in how we assess products. They are not test results and not customer ratings. Tap a row to read the full assessment.
Why the cutting matters to the animal, not just to you
A cutting number is shorthand for texture, and texture is the mechanism by which hay does its two jobs. Long-strand fiber keeps the gut moving; abrasive stem wears the teeth, which grow continuously. A leafier hay is more palatable and does less dental work. A stemmier hay does more dental work and is more likely to be refused.
- A healthy adult wants the middle: 2nd cutting, or its equivalent. This is the everyday hay and it is what most rabbits should be on.
- A rabbit gaining weight, or one whose teeth need more wear, wants 1st cutting — higher fiber, coarser, less rich.
- A senior, a picky eater, or a rabbit with poor dental condition wants something softer. Small Pet Select's range goes softer than 2nd cutting, and so does Rabbit Hole Hay's graded soft cut.
- A rabbit that refuses hay entirely is a veterinary question before it is a shopping question. A rabbit that stops eating hay stops passing gut contents, and that becomes an emergency quickly.
Where Oxbow genuinely wins
Availability is not a minor advantage when the product is 85 percent of a diet. A delivery that slips by two days is a real problem for a rabbit, and Oxbow is the hay you can buy this evening in almost any pet shop in the country. Keeping a 15 oz or 40 oz bag in the cupboard as a backup is a genuinely good idea whatever you feed normally.
The small bag sizes are also the cheapest way to find out whether a new or recovering rabbit will eat timothy at all, before committing to a 40 lb box of anything.
The assessments
Our pick · Everyday hay for a healthy adult rabbit or guinea pig
Small Pet Select 2nd Cutting Timothy Hay
The one hay here that tells you which cutting is in the box before you open it, which is the only way to buy the same texture twice.
- Dimensions
- Sold in 2, 5, 10, 20, 25 and 40 lb boxes (manufacturer-listed)
- Continuous floor
- Not applicable
- Bar spacing
- Not applicable
- Material
- Timothy grass hay, second cutting, grown in the Pacific Northwest, USA
- Cut sold
- 2nd cutting, named on the box. The seller describes it as leafy with a soft stem and a medium amount of flowery heads
What it gets right
- The cutting is stated on the product, so a repeat order is the same hay
- Softer texture and a higher leaf-to-stem ratio than 1st cutting, per the seller
- Sold up to 40 lb, which is the sensible way to buy something that is 85 percent of a diet
- The seller positions it as the everyday hay for a healthy adult rather than a specialist cut
What it gets wrong
- Costs more per pound than a farm-store bale
- Box sizes are large enough that a single rabbit needs somewhere dry to keep the rest
- The 2 lb size was listed as backordered when we read the page
Who should buy something else
Not the right buy for a rabbit that needs maximum dental wear or is gaining weight on a rich hay. That animal wants 1st cutting, which is the coarser product from the same seller.
Specifications read from Small Pet Select product page on 29 September 2026. Floor-area arithmetic is ours and is shown above so you can redo it.
Illustrative- Consistency between orders9
- Texture for an adult9
- Size range9
- Dust and leaf loss8
- Value per pound7
We do not print prices. #ad Disclosure
Number 2 · Availability, small bags, and topping up between deliveries
Oxbow Western Timothy Hay
The hay you can buy at eight on a Sunday evening in almost any pet shop in the country, which is a real advantage bought at the price of knowing what texture is in the bag.
- Dimensions
- Sold in 15 oz, 40 oz, 90 oz, 9 lb, 25 lb and 50 lb (manufacturer-listed)
- Continuous floor
- Not applicable
- Bar spacing
- Not applicable
- Material
- Timothy grass hay. Guaranteed analysis lists crude fiber at 32.00% maximum
- Cut sold
- None stated. Oxbow does not sell hay by cutting number and prints no cutting on the bag
What it gets right
- Stocked almost everywhere, in the smallest bag sizes here
- Publishes a guaranteed analysis, which neither cut-specific seller prints
- 15 oz and 40 oz bags make it cheap to trial on a new or fussy animal
- Oxbow states the hay is hand-sorted and hand-packed and grown specifically for small pets
What it gets wrong
- No cutting on the bag, so texture varies between bags and between seasons
- Among the more expensive per pound once you are past the small bags
- An animal that liked one bag may refuse the next, and you have no way to see why
Who should buy something else
Not the right buy if your animal is fussy about texture, because a repeatable texture is the one thing this product does not offer. Buy a stated cutting instead.
Specifications read from Oxbow product page on 29 September 2026. Floor-area arithmetic is ours and is shown above so you can redo it.
Illustrative- Consistency between orders5
- Texture for an adult8
- Availability10
- Dust and leaf loss7
- Value per pound6
We do not print prices. #ad Disclosure
Number 3 · Dental wear and animals that need a higher-fiber, less rich hay
Small Pet Select 1st Cutting Timothy Hay
The coarse end of the same seller's range, and the one to buy when the problem is a rabbit that is overweight or not wearing its teeth down.
- Dimensions
- Sold in the same box ladder as the 2nd cutting (manufacturer-listed)
- Continuous floor
- Not applicable
- Bar spacing
- Not applicable
- Material
- Timothy grass hay, first cutting, grown in the Pacific Northwest, USA
- Cut sold
- 1st cutting, named on the box. Higher fiber and coarser than the 2nd, with more of the flowery heads
What it gets right
- High fiber and less fattening than the later cuts, per the seller
- More stem and seed head, which is the part that does the dental work
- Same stated-cutting consistency as the 2nd cutting
What it gets wrong
- Coarse enough that a fussy animal may refuse it outright
- Not the everyday choice the seller itself recommends for a healthy adult
Who should buy something else
Not for a senior rabbit, an animal with poor dental condition, or a known picky eater. Those animals want a softer cut, and a hay that gets refused does nothing at all.
Specifications read from Small Pet Select product page on 29 September 2026. Floor-area arithmetic is ours and is shown above so you can redo it.
Illustrative- Consistency between orders9
- Texture for an adult6
- Dental wear10
- Dust and leaf loss8
- Value per pound7
We do not print prices. #ad Disclosure
The verdict
Buy Small Pet Select 2nd Cutting as the everyday hay. Naming the cutting is the one thing that makes a year of feeding repeatable, and for a product that is 85 percent of the diet, repeatable beats almost everything else. Buy it in the largest size you have somewhere dry to store.
Keep a bag of Oxbow Western Timothy in the cupboard. Not as a compromise — as a deliberate backup for the week a delivery slips, and as the cheap way to trial timothy on a new rabbit. It is a good hay with a published analysis, and its weakness is precisely the thing a backup does not need to be good at.
Buy Small Pet Select 1st Cutting instead if your rabbit is overweight or its teeth need more wear. That is a real clinical distinction rather than a preference, and it is the situation where the coarser cut is the correct product rather than the harsher one.
Whichever you buy, the enclosure has to hold a day of it off the floor. Rabbit hutch size covers the space, and best bedding for rabbits covers what goes underneath it.
Questions people ask
Is Small Pet Select better than Oxbow?
Does Oxbow sell first or second cutting hay?
What cutting of timothy hay is best for rabbits?
How much hay does a rabbit need?
Can I switch hay brands?
Is alfalfa hay a substitute for timothy?
Sources
- Small Pet Select — 2nd Cutting Timothy Hay — Cutting description, leaf-to-stem claim, sizes and sourcing. Read 29 September 2026.
- Small Pet Select — 1st Cutting Timothy Hay — The coarser, higher-fiber product in the same range.
- Oxbow Animal Health — Western Timothy Hay — Guaranteed analysis, size range, and the statement that Oxbow does not sell hay by cutting.
- House Rabbit Society — Rabbit diet and nutrition — The 85 percent figure and the restriction of alfalfa to babies, nursing mothers and elderly or injured rabbits.