guinea pig wont eat vitamin C

[Julia_]

soo i got new guinea pigs and one is starting to trust me and is eating vitamin C supplements when i give it to her ,i tried giving it to my other one but she wont eat it.Could it be because she is scared and doesnt trust me or if she just doesnt like it, should i be worried

 

[Wiebke]

soo i got new guinea pigs and one is starting to trust me and is eating vitamin C supplements when i give it to her ,i tried giving it to my other one but she wont eat it.Could it be because she is scared and doesnt trust me or if she just doesnt like it, should i be worried

Hi and welcome

Your piggy probably doesn't like them. Please don't overdo the vitamin C.

The only cases of scurvy we see on here are usually from piggies on too much vitamin C, especially if the levels are very high from very early on. Your piggies' bodies will accustom to those high levels and will ironically react with scurvy symptoms whenever the level suddenly drops for some reason even though the actual vitamin C level is still above normal.

None of our forum regulars' piggies are on supplements, yet none of us has ever had scurvy issues with their piggies or ever had their vets picking up on scurvy. A good normal hay based diet with with a modicum of green veg and only a minimum of pellets is perfectly adequate. Keep in mind that vitamin C is in pretty much everything your piggies eat. They have turned off the vitamin C producing gene because their main food, grass, is actually very high in vitamin C when it is green and growing.

I have now had over 80 piggies over the course of 50 years and so far none had a vitamin C supplement and not a single one of them ever had scurvy while in my care. It is actually extremely rare in well cared for piggies on a good hay/grass based diet. We have had quite literally tens of thousands of piggies passing through this forum in the nearly 16 years we have been running but we don't usually see more than two or three scurvy cases in a year, and those are generally caused by over-supplementation and not underfeeding. It is a very different story in guinea pigs on a bad diet (malnutrition) or from a neglect background.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

One of my adoptees started out as a true malnutritional scurvy piggy. My Teggy was just 400g (the weight of a 6 weeks old baby) at one year old when she and her even smaller companion were surrendered to rescue, suffering from advanced malnutrition, rsulting dental overgrowth and bad scurvy due to only being fed vitamin C-free rabbit pellets (rabbit do make their own vitamin C) but no hay. The companion sadly died from an internal scurvy bleed while in rescue but Teggy made a full recovery and had 5 perfectly healthy years with me on a normal, additive free diet, reaching a normal size and weight (or rather actually becoming a bit overweight in the prime of her life because nobody got between her and any food - at least, not a second time!) She passed away aged 6 1/2 years in June - that is in the upper half of the average healthy life span. But hers was a pretty extreme case and she has had a lucky escape.

 

[Julia_]

Hi and welcome

Your piggy probably doesn't like them. Please don't overdo the vitamin C.

The only cases of scurvy we see on here are usually from piggies on too much vitamin C, especially if the levels are very high from very early on. Your piggies' bodies will accustom to those high levels and will ironically react with scurvy symptoms whenever the level suddenly drops for some reason even though the actual vitamin C level is still above normal.

None of our forum regulars' piggies are on supplements, yet none of us has ever had scurvy issues with their piggies or ever had their vets picking up on scurvy. A good normal have based diet with with a modicum of green veg and only a minimum of pellets is perfectly adequate. Keep in mind that vitamin C is in pretty much everything your piggies eat. They have turned off the vitamin C producing gene because their main food, grass, is actually very high in vitamin C when it is green and growing.

I have now had well over 80 piggies over the course of 50 years and so far none had a vitamin C supplement and not a single one of them ever had scurvy while in my care. It is actually extremely rare in well cared for piggies on a good hay/grass based diet. We have had quite literally tens of thousands piggies passing through this forum in the nearly 16 years we have been running but we don't usually see more than two or three scurvy cases in a year, and those are generally caused by over supplementation and not underfeeding. It is a very different story in guinea pigs on a bad diet (malnutrition) or from a neglect background.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

One of my adoptees started out as a true malnutritional scurvy piggy, though. My Teggy was just 400g at one year old when she and her even smaller companion were handed into rescue, suffering from malnutrition and bad scurvy due to only being fed vitamin C free rabbit pellets (rabbit do make their own vitamin C) but no hay. The companion sadly died from an internal scurvy bleed while in rescue but Teggy made a full recovery and had 5 perfectly healthy years with me on a normal, additive free diet, having reached a normal size and weight (or rather a little overweight because nobody got between her and any food - at least, not a second time!) She passed away aged 6 1/2 years in June - that is in the upper half of the average healthy life span.

thanks