How much fresh food for guinea pigs!

[curlytoes]

We are very excited to have welcomed two lovely piggies into our home yesterday. They have dry pellet food and lots of hay. I am getting muddled though about how much fresh fruit/ veg to give them and what kinds to avoid. Also what size pieces to give them so they don't choke. I have made an effort to read up about guinea pigs and asked for advice when we collected them but keep hearing different things and now they're actually with us I am feeling very protective for them.

[silver73]

You won't be sorry piggies are the best. Be careful about how much veg to give them they can get bloat very easily which is a killer. We give our piggies cucumber, carrots, corn on the cob, tomatoes (occasionally), apple (occasionally), parsley and curly kale.

I would recommend joining The Cambridge Cavy Trust as for £25 per year not per pig. For that you get brilliant health advice and can take your piggies for a check up three times a year. Vedra is an expert rodentologist and I never do anything without speaking to her as she knows more about piggies than the majority of vets. www.britishassociationofrodentologists.co.uk/CCT.html

Also, ask quesitons on guinea pig lynx...lovely people and piggie experts..www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html.

We have three piggies and they are treated like house goddesses we love them with abandon....

[fortifiedwithtea]

Piggies are wonderful vets. I feed mine burgess Excel pellets because they can't pick and choose what bits to eat so I know they are having a balancled supplement. Piggies must always have hay (not straw) for roughage because they have to eat their soft poops. Never give grass cuttings from the lawn mower as this forments causing bloat, often fatal unless treated quickly. Fresh hand cut grass given to them straight away is good though.Piggies eat alot of veg and need a variety. I recomment you visit website //www.rodentswithattitude.co.uk Enjoy your new piggies .

[ragged]

I never heard of choking as a risk, although some people say no uncut celery because the long large fibres are bad for their digestion.
Certain things are poisonous (long list). Rhubarb is the big toxic thing to avoid. Mildly toxic: Ragwort, dock, buttercup, conifers, any part of potato or tomato plant you wouldn't eat... They will nibble on these things given a chance, mind, which hasn't killed mine but not to be encouraged, of course.

In addition to daily hay, they must have a source of vitamin C daily, which most people provide via pellets; alternatively any part of Brassica family plants, tomatoes, bananas, potato that is good enough for you to eat, and even dandelions may be adequate vitamin C source.

[curlytoes]

Thanks for the advice. Fluff and PiggyWiggy do have pellets with vit C in and lots of hay. So far I have also left them corn on the cob and cabbage leaves which have disappeared. Not much sign of our guinea pigs who are mostly hiding. At least they are hiding with happy tummys.

[CountrylifeMummy]

If you feed a nugget food so they can't pick and choose with lots if fresh hay they won't need anything else. Fresh fruit and veg can go bad very quickly in the cage which won't be good for them to eat. They may also fill up on food which is not nutritionally balanced for them, rather than eating their vit c food.
Enjoy them, they are great pets!

[SquigglePigs]

Ours get fresh food twice a day. You'll quickly realise how much is or isn't enough. There's rarely anything left an hour after they've been fed, so as long as you keep an eye out for them hiding something that can go bad, you don't need to worry about it. They obviously don't have as much if they've been out on the grass all day!

Cucumber is an excellent food in the summer, straight from the fridge - cools them down and is full of water to help them stay hydrated!

[LordOfTheFlies]

I read on one of the websites ( Guinea-Pig forum) that fresh food is best given at night because that's when they digest it best.

Ours love a big handful of grass, dandylion leaves and rocket or cucumber for supper. When it's winter I might get the dried Excel grass for them.

For breakfast they have Excel pellets ,water (always) carrot,turnip, cauliflower and/or leaves.

Half of it ends up in their beds (typical boys)
Hay in their bed and hayrack.I think they're too lazy to walk to the rack.
Why walk when you can sit on your dinner,eat and pooh? [hgrin]

[Meglet]

I never chopped up their food, they were spoilt enough as it was. They had mineral water in their bottles until I had DC's and had to spend my money sensibly.

Fresh food for breakfast and tea.

Agree with the others about joining CCT, I went for a course on teeth-trimming IIRC and it was fab! And the Excel pellets are much better than the museli style food mix.

Watermelon on hot sunny days (when we get them).

Mine used to go in the garden every day and they would eat around the ragwort, they obviously knew it was poisonous, my dad had to tell me what it was .

Am piggy-less for the first time in 30 years (practical reasons) and I miss having them so much!

[LordOfTheFlies]

Awwww Meglet -you need to get more Guineas..

I've just adopted 2 boys (for the DCs but secretly I'm their new mum). I've not had GPs for 25+ years so I'm learning lots of new things.

And I love the smell of their coats- all hay and fur and little rodent-ey. But in a good way!

[Meglet]

ah, yes, They smell kind of toasty and hay-y. I used to love sniffing them.

I've still got the hutch but I'm not getting any more until we move house (we need a little more space and a garage or porch to put them in), with a bit of luck we can move in 2/3 yrs. The first thing I will do is dash off to the nearest rescue charity and collect a couple of new piggies. I have it all planned out .

[bibbitybobbitybloodyaxe]

My guinea pigs absolutely love a green bean. Get the piggy on your lap, hold a green bean under his nose, and he will snaffle it up like eating a strand of spaghetti.

[Thzumbazombiewitch]

Piggies are all different in what they eat, I have discovered! Some of mine liked banana, the current pair won't touch it. In fact they're not fussed about any fruit, including apple, which was always a favourite with previous pigs.

Limit lettuce and spinach because of oxalates --> kidney stones; they LOVE it though so you can give it as an occasional treat, and only a little bit.

Parsley is an excellent source of vitamin C for them.

Tomatoes, apples and other acidic foods - cut up into relatively small pieces, not for choking but because it can cause sores on the edges of their mouths.

My 2 pigs get daily (for both of them): one large tomato, cut into 8; 2" of carrot, sliced lengthways (good for keeping their teeth down); one large stick of celery, including leaves, chopped into ~2" lengths; 2" cucumber, quartered in lengths; handful of flat-leaf parsley from the garden; plus they are outside so have grass to crop from the lawn and their pellet food. This pair don't like broccoli but they will eat cauliflower leaves when I have them.

Other pigs I have had have loved apple, strawberry, grapes, banana, broccoli, kale - but not this pair (and they're not even related, just Australian)!

[Bugsy2]

Oh, I miss our GPs. Cucumber, celery broccoli stalk & carrots were their favourites. They also loved dandelion leaves, although not too many or they'd get the squits. We also used to cut long grass for them too (obviously not mowings) but long grass was another firm favourite. On dry days in the summer they would go in a little pen in the garden & were great lawn mowers.
Enjoy - they are really lovelty pets.

[Summersoon]

Mine likes sugar snap peas and fresh basil leaves (as well as carrots, parsley, broccoli, lettuce (about half a leaf once a week - gives him terrible poos but he loves it), apple and dandelion).

[LordOfTheFlies]

My 2 boars ( 1 year old brothers) have a load of fresh hay daily- they can't be bothered to walk to the hay-rack, they just eat what's in their bed so they eat/wee/pooh and it has to be changed.

The lawn is getting a bit ratty now, so what can I give instead of grass?
Hay doesn't seem as lush.I bought a dried grass with dandelion pack but the stems were really sharp so I didn't want them bedding on it.

They love parsley,rocket,cauli leaves,cabbage and celery leaves not the stalks -fussy rodents -so plenty of greens (plus carrot,parsnip and a bit of apple)

[Summersoon]

He also likes baby sweetcorn, I have just discovered. And parsnip though not every day.

Did he mention that he is spoiled?

[bibbitybobbitybloodyaxe]

My girls love one or two grapes a couple of times a week.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

GuineaPigDiet

I am curious why you've bumped a thread over 8 years old to link a website that seems to be promoting apples ?

Firstly - Doctors might recommend apples but they treat humans , they are not vets treating rodents

Apples are not to be fed in quantity , those guinea pigs are eating whole apples ! (Probably because a piggie on an apple looks cute)

Here is a sample from the link :

What Happens If My Guinea Pig Eats Too Much Apple?
If it’s the flesh of the apple, you need not worry too much

Your pet may bloat a little and even suffer with a minor bout of diarrhea. But there shouldn’t be any real long-term medical issues from eating a lot of apple once or twice.

Bloat can kill a guinea-pig
Diarrhoea can kill a guinea-pig
These are not minor conditions.

Apples are high in sugar . Guinea-pigs are at high risk of diabetes

They can cause sores on the mouth. Apples should be cut small and certainly not Perhaps once a day or several times a week really once a week is more than enough.
Guinea pigs can’t exactly overdose on apple yes they bloody well can. .

Guinea pigs aren’t typically over-eaters,
Guinea-pigs are greedy little rodents and eat non stop . They cannot be sick so whatever goes in can only come out of their bottom.
And the photo of the 3rd guinea-pig? (Little black/ginger) Poor buggers claws are a disgrace