Daily food

JaimeGraceUK

JaimeGraceUK

Junior Guinea Pig
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I am finding it hard to find information on what guinea pigs need daily like peppers, cucumber. someone says something and someone else says another. My boys are 6 months old and i am worried I'm giving them too much or too less. They really like apples and carrots also peppers (they will only eat red lol)
 
Hi
They can have cos/romaine lettuce, cucumber, celery, capsicum/pepper and coriander daily.
I personally feed cos lettuce, capsicum and coriander daily, and alternate between cucumber and celery.
Apples and carrots are very high in sugar and should only be fed once a week at most. Mine rarely ever get fruit (maybe once every couple of months), and even then only a tiny amount each.
Hope this helps 😊
 
These are our feeding guides.

Piggies need unlimited amounts of hay. It is 80% of their daily food intake.

They can have 50g each of a variety of veg each day. Leafy veg and herbs are good.
Keeping high calcium veg such as spinach, kale and parsley limited to one small amount once per week only.
Carrots and all fruit should not be fed regularly due to the sugars but are fine for a very occasional treat.

Personally my boys get bell pepper, lettuce, cucumber and coriander daily. Other things are added in in rotation for variety but are more limited.

One tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day. Ideally aiming for timothy hay based, low calcium, grain free pellets is good. Pellets are the least important part of the diet. Pellets and drinking water contribute most calcium to the diet and a diet high in calcium can lead to bladder problems. Ensuring pellets are kept limited and filtering their drinking water is a good move to make for their long term health.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading
 
My Piggies said:
Hi
They can have cos/romaine lettuce, cucumber, celery, capsicum/pepper and coriander daily.
I personally feed cos lettuce, capsicum and coriander daily, and alternate between cucumber and celery.
Apples and carrots are very high in sugar and should only be fed once a week at most. Mine rarely ever get fruit (maybe once every couple of months), and even then only a tiny amount each.
Hope this helps 😊
Click to expand...
what about parsley/mint?
 
Piggies&buns said:
Ive just looked up the ingredients and personally I would not feed this.

Its wheat feed based rather than Timothy hay based so isn’t ideal.
Its next major ingredient is alfalfa which shouldn’t really be in their diet. It’s too high in calcium.
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the old owners fed them this. ive only had them a week. what pellets do u recommend? ive been told burgess excel blackcurrent and oregano is good
 
A few favourites on the forum are Oxbow, Science Selective Grain Free and Burgess. I'm sure there's more, but these are the ones I know of that are timothy based 🙂
 
JaimeGraceUK said:
the old owners fed them this. ive only had them a week. what pellets do u recommend? ive been told burgess excel blackcurrent and oregano is good
Click to expand...

Ideally a grain free, low calcium pellet such as science selective natural grain free.
Burgess is a good pellet also, it is grass based which is good but it does contain alfalfa (in the ingredients as Lucerne) and isn’t grain free. i do use burgess for my rabbits though and have used them for my piggies previously

whatever pellets you feed, it’s important to keep them limited to just one tablespoon per piggy per day. They should not have pellets constantly

the comparison chart I linked in above may help you
 
JaimeGraceUK said:
my rabbit has burgess excel mint would the guinea pig version of the mint be ok for them?
Click to expand...

Yes burgess guinea pig is ok for them - as I said above, it does contain alfalfa and isnt grain free so do ensure they are kept limited, along with filtering drinking water to keep calcium intake in check.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yes burgess guinea pig is ok for them - as I said above, it does contain alfalfa and isnt grain free so do ensure they are kept limited, along with filtering drinking water to keep calcium intake in check.
Click to expand...
filtered water? ive never heard of that for guinea pigs
 
JaimeGraceUK said:
filtered water? ive never heard of that for guinea pigs
Click to expand...

The guides I linked in above explain further

Too much calcium comes from pellets (hence the recommendation to feed low calcium (ie pellets which do not contain alfalfa, and are grain free) and drinking water, and too much calcium can contribute to the formation of bladder stones in guinea pigs ( painful for piggies and can be expensive surgery to fix, particularly in boars) . There is also a genetic element and predisposition to piggies having stones and equally a diet too low in calcium can have its problems but by keeping pellets limited and filtering their drinking water is all we can do as owners to help reduce their risk
 
My Piggies said:
It is recommended that you filter water if you live in a hard water area to remove excess calcium and other minerals. This reduces the risk of some health issues such as stones I believe
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I'm not sure if i live in hard water area
 
but this is on the back which says 40-50g
 

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JaimeGraceUK said:
but this is on the back which says 40-50g
Click to expand...

You don’t go by the packaging - they can put whatever they like on there. The diet guides I linked in explain why pellets should not be a major part of their diet.
The more hay piggies eat the healthier they will be. If you overfeed pellets, then they are at risk of health problems including dental issues through reduced hay intake because they are instead filling up on pellets which do not wear the molars.
Pellets are the least healthy and least important part and shoud only make 5% of the daily food intake
 
Piggies&buns said:
You don’t go by the packaging - they can put whatever they like on there. The diet guides I linked in explain why pellets should not be a major part of their diet.
The more hay piggies eat the healthier they will be. If you overfeed pellets, then they are at risk of health problems including dental issues through reduced hay intake because they are instead filling up on pellets which do not wear the molars.
Pellets are the least healthy and least important part and shoud only make 5% of the daily food intake
Click to expand...
so why give pellets at all and just stick to hay and fruit/veg?
 
JaimeGraceUK said:
so why give pellets at all and just stick to hay and fruit/veg?
Click to expand...

As long as piggies are fed plenty of hay, some fresh grass and a variety of fresh and dried forages and a variety of veg so they get a balance of nutrition, then it is actually acceptable to not feed pellets at all. However, they are given as a way to ensure all nutrition is met in case the diet is lacking in variety etc.
I only give pellets three times a week in summer (I give them five times a week in winter when they aren’t on grass daily) and instead give fresh and dried leaf forages in the place of pellets

You wouldn’t want to make fruit a major part of the diet in any event
 
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