My guineas ate iceberg lettuce, help?!

[Evanina]

Hey everyone
I recently took over my friends guinea pigs. Two women. When i went to pick them up my friend gave me a package of lettuce she said she fed them every day. It was ice berg lettuce! Appearently they have been eating that for half a year, I’m very worried! What can happen to them now?

 

[Hank288]

Nothing will happen to them. It is not good nutrition wise for them and has a lot of water so can cause loose poop. Don't worry yourself, just don't feed it to them in your care.

Just give them good quality nutrition from now on and they will be absolutely fine.

 

[Wiebke]

Hey everyone
I recently took over my friends guinea pigs. Two women. When i went to pick them up my friend gave me a package of lettuce she said she fed them every day. It was ice berg lettuce! Appearently they have been eating that for half a year, I’m very worried! What can happen to them now?

Take a deep breath! Nothing will happen. Iceberg lettuce is singularly devoid of any useful nutrients and so watery that too much of it can easily cause soft poos, but it is not highly poisonous or anything like that. Feeding soggy cardboard is about as nutritious as iceberg lettuce, but you do not die from it.

Just stick to a good hay based diet with not too much but balanced vet and only very moderate pellets, and your two girls will hopefully enjoy a good long happy life!
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