Feeding the guinea pigs at TEAS

SkyPipDotBernie said:
Its a good thing to do. But I avoid it to ease stress on Dot, she's such a high stress pig
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Aww. Mine aren't too bad. I bring them in through the back door and weigh them in a Quality Street base on my kitchen scales. Just have to make sure the washing machine isn't on, that's all.
 
Been a while since I posted here...

But yea, still feeding loads and loads of grass to the pigs, the grass I feed now probably makes up the 40% of the 80% hay diet. Will be less in winter, but then il up the leafy greens. They are both peeing like race horses now 🏁
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
They've all eaten loads of grass here, but it's now in rather short supply! I need it to get growing!
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The rain will help, and mixed loads of pig poos in water and feeding it to the lawn will help. Nitrogen will boost it, but not too much, it can kill it
 
Our grass has started to grow again after the rain thank goodness. I've been taking a bag on my evening walk and cutting it from the middle of a steep bank where the council have not been cutting it. You should see the look on certain faces when presented with it, apparently it's the wrong sort of grass! :hb: Honestly some guinea pigs, I do my best.
 
piggieminder said:
Our grass has started to grow again after the rain thank goodness. I've been taking a bag on my evening walk and cutting it from the middle of a steep bank where the council have not been cutting it. You should see the look on certain faces when presented with it, apparently it's the wrong sort of grass! :hb: Honestly some guinea pigs, I do my best.
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Dot will not eat any types of grass that have a wide stem , she will only eat fine grass. Weird pig
 
Mine are mostly Costco piggies eating veggies from Costco.
However during the summer months, I give them more grass and dandelions. I add a lot of varieties in their diet so that they are getting all the nutrients they need. I usually grow veggies for them in the summer also. Currently I am growing cilantro, basil, mint, grass, and lettuce for them.
In the winter months, I go back to giving them veggies from Costco, romaine lettuce being their main meal.
 
THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to this thread. I have a pig who has had bladder issues since June. I never once thought it could be related to stress but having read this thread, it makes perfect sense.

Barbara was spayed in June due to cystic ovaries. The magnificent Uncle Simon carried out the surgery so she was in safe hands. I made a small corner for her within her normal cage so she could spend a couple of days immediately after surgery recovering and then after 2 days, split the main enclosure in 2 and put her back in with her 2 calm and quiet companions, leaving Bossy and Boots the other side of the barrier for a full 2 weeks
 
Mackers said:
THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to this thread. I have a pig who has had bladder issues since June. I never once thought it could be related to stress but having read this thread, it makes perfect sense.

Barbara was spayed in June due to cystic ovaries. The magnificent Uncle Simon carried out the surgery so she was in safe hands. I made a small corner for her within her normal cage so she could spend a couple of days immediately after surgery recovering and then after 2 days, split the main enclosure in 2 and put her back in with her 2 calm and quiet companions, leaving Bossy and Boots the other side of the barrier for a full 2 weeks
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Hope Barbara makes a full recovery x
 
Continued from above - pressed send too quickly. So Simon recommended keeping the feisty girls separate from Barbara until she was fully healed. When I eventually removed the barrier, we had a few moments of teeth chattering and chasing again but they had settled within 24 hours.
A few days later, she had what I assumed was a UTI caused by inactivity after the spay. I'm now thinking it was probably the stress of the op and further stress rebonding the herd. A sterile C&S test showed no bacterial infection and an x-ray showed no stones. But we continue (in sept) with bladder flare ups and her being wet underneath. just about to start Cartrophen injections having spoken to Simon and Kim. She's currently on daily cystaid plus, metacam and tramadol.

My pigs have ALWAYS had a very wet diet, unlimited hay and as much fresh grass as they can eat. But stress is clearly the one thing that I've missed all along. So glad I saw this post.
 
Mackers said:
Continued from above - pressed send too quickly. So Simon recommended keeping the feisty girls separate from Barbara until she was fully healed. When I eventually removed the barrier, we had a few moments of teeth chattering and chasing again but they had settled within 24 hours.
A few days later, she had what I assumed was a UTI caused by inactivity after the spay. I'm now thinking it was probably the stress of the op and further stress rebonding the herd. A sterile C&S test showed no bacterial infection and an x-ray showed no stones. But we continue (in sept) with bladder flare ups and her being wet underneath. just about to start Cartrophen injections having spoken to Simon and Kim. She's currently on daily cystaid plus, metacam and tramadol.

My pigs have ALWAYS had a very wet diet, unlimited hay and as much fresh grass as they can eat. But stress is clearly the one thing that I've missed all along. So glad I saw this post.
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I’m so glad you found the thread helpful 😊
 
Thank you Debbie for all that info. I was feeling guilty as my two boars don’t like being handled and ( after owning him for 5 months Geoff has only just started taking food from me) - so I’ll keep everything stress free for me and Geoff and Bobby 😊
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
I feed very differently to how most people do! During the summer months the piggies spend all day, in runs, out in the garden eating grass. They then get a small amount of veg and nuggets and unlimited hay. During the winter, when they’re unable to eat grass all day, I feed a lot more veg! For example, today they’ve had kale, carrots, parsley, coriander, green pepper, babyleaf salad mix. It is all thrown into a washing up bowl and I mix it up with my hand and then each piggy gets two handfuls each! This is in addition to a few nuggets and unlimited hay.

I was talking to Simon today about bladder issues in guinea pigs and he feels very sure that the reason our guinea pigs don’t have bladder issues and stones is, in part, due to them being fed a very wet diet. It is also thought that stress plays a big part in bladder issues in guinea pigs. Keeping prey animals in busy parts of the house and handling them lots can contribute to very stressful life and bladder issues are very rarely seen in guinea pigs who spend a lot of time outdoors eating a very natural and wet diet.




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Thank you for interesting read. I also rarely handle my guinea pigs in order to limit stress but I have always felt deep down that it might be wrong as a lot of people handle everyday. I have found whenever mine have been ill it has almost always been due to stress. I have found that they have always had a fairly speedy recovery in combination with veterinary treatment and in combination with being left alone for a week or two to settle their nerves if this has been possible. I do plan on handling them more regularly but I want to make sure their confidence is at a basic level before this process can begin as I have just been following my instincts. I also used to bring them big bags of grass everyday up until around 3 weeks ago when it had got really cold, but I do plan to start this up again. Mine used to be kept outside all summer where they'd always have access to a built in run with lots of grass as I too believe grass plays an amazing role for the health more so than hay and any vegetables. Now they have their own bedroom so that do get their own space to reduce stress. I have cut back on vegetables and fruit quite considerably too, as I know I used to feed them too much as I would always have waste which never happens now. I do probably feed more than most people on the forum, but I am trying to limit this. But my excuse has been recently as there is 5 and they are newly bonded I don't want to cause any arguments over food as one is an incredibly fast eater so I always need to give that bit extra to ensure all 5 have a fairly decent portion each. I also limit carrots, parsley and Kale and judging by your portions I have not been overfeeding, possibly under feeding and that is what I am worried about. Do you limit Parsley and Kale and how many pigs is that portion for?:) and is that just one portion for the day? Many thanks,
I'm just curious to the different ways people feed their guinea pigs, I appreciate their is no right or wrong way. :)
 
Thank you for your respone and that looks like a nice generous portion. I don't think I am over feeding in relation to yours but it is harder to judge as there is 5, more competition over food and I feed veg three times a day but possibly do not feed that amount of leafy greens due to not wanting to overfeed kale, Parsley, Basil too much etc possibly unnecessarily. For breakfast religiously at 8, the Pigs have 1 large bell pepper cut into around 7 pieces to ensure each pig has a fairly good size chunk each and 2 remaining pieces left over to prevent arguments for pigs that finish first and try and steal the slower eaters foods! A handful of pellets are also scattered around the cage. For late lunch around 3.30, they have a large Romain lettuce religiously, so around 2-3 large leaves each (I hope). and then as a late evening meal, I generally give them 1-2 small pots of herbs. but sometimes/mostly it will be one small pot between 5 as I may want to limit for example Parsley or Basil, but if I think about it that's probably not enough herbs for 5 guinea pigs and generally lasts for seconds rather than minutes. I have brought enough this week for them to have 2 pots most days as the herbs looked really this week but have been a bit reluctant as brought more Basil and Parsley than usual as it looked so good! Would like to give them their daily coriander plant in the evening Plus one Basil or Parsley plant but do not want to overfeed calcium too much! But think I might be being a bit too cautious as there is 5 and one week wouldn't hurt!
 
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