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How to prevent Vitamin C deficiency in guinea pigs

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RosieHardy

RosieHardy

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I'm just wanting to know how to prevent Vitamin C deficiency in guinea pigs.
None of my guinea pigs have it, but its just useful to know how to prevent it so they don't get it =]
Thanks
 
By feeding them a good dry food mix that is packed with vitamin C and lots of hay and veggies. This is all you should need. When my Connie was poorly, she had a vitamin C deficiency (due to her illness) and my vet suggested that I either added half a dissolvable Vitamin C tablet to water and syringe it her or give her a chewable vitamin C children's tablet. However, if your guinea pigs are not ill and have a good varied diet, this shouldn't be necessary. x
 
A normal diet with good quality pellets and a selection of veg has enough vitamin C in it. A healthy guinea pig will eat most of its vitamin C containing droppings (that's the lighter ones), anyway.

Deficiency only becomes a problem when they are ill. You can syringe cranberry juice if needed or dissolved vitamin C tablets. Or pound a chewable tablet down and give a pinch in a bit of cucumber, if syringing is a problem.
 
Hi Rosie, welcome to the forum. :)

It is very easy to make sure a guinea pig gets their daily requirement of Vitamin C when you do give a varied diet. A healthy piggie generally needs only 10-30mg Vitamin C per day - some fresh veggies you only have to give a small piece of, such as red pepper or parsley, and you've already met that target. The safest way to ensure a rounded intake of vitamins and minerals is to feed a rounded diet, so - as the others have said - you should be preventing a deficiency just by sticking to a diet of hay, a high quality dry feed and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Poorly piggies do require more Vitamin C, up to 50mg a day. The best way to achieve this, given that a poorly guinea pig may not be inclined to eat well, is to give a supplement directly to the piggie, either liquid by syringe, or tablet by placing on the molars.
 
I have recently bought some Guinea Vit C tablets from SPH supplies. Specially made for our little ones. Although my guineas get lots a Vit C from a good diet Vit c is un-stable and you can never be certain how much vit c your piggy is getting. Vit c does not last long in water and i think it looses half of its potential once mixed with water. In tablet form it is stable and you can guarantee they are getting the required amount. Its an idividual choice. My piggies are actually eating the tablets with no hassel which was a nice suprise!
 
you could always try the carrot vitamin drink supplement, available from P@H
i used to use it for Baxter when he was a baby and wouldn't eat most veg and he loved it until he started enjoying more foodstuffs, when i stopped using it
 
Andrew, I'm glad your piggies are enjoying the tablets, they are said to be very popular with piggies. Is it the Oxbow GTN-50C? They are my choice as well. Unfortunately only one out of my 10 piggies will actually eat them!

I did hear something on a US piggie forum a while back that Oxbow would be discontinuing the GTN-50C though. Will have to wait and see.
 
Along with their food and veggies, all of my pigs get 1/2 tsp of liquid vitamin c in their water and for those who will eat them, they get a vitamin c treat called Daily C from Oxbow.

I have one pig that needs A LOT of vitamin c. She has been sick twice becuase of it. The first time the vet gave her a shot of it and the second time we knew what was wrong so we made sure she had plenty.
 
If your pig likes peppers then an 8th of a green pepper contains all the vitamin c per day per pig. :)

I don't use supplements as I have not needed to yet. I would be cautious about adding to the water as you don't know how much pig will drink or if the water bottle is leaking. Use a good quality pellet or museli along with veg and that should be enough for any healthy pig. No need to supplement at all. :)
 
Oh No! Yeah mine is the oxbox GTN - 50C! I hope they dont stop making them . Although i think i found that the oxbow site no longer stocks them, i also tried some others sites. Someome mentioned SPH Supplies on here, and they stock them.
 
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