Piggies Won’t Eat Veggies

winters.piggylover649

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Hi everyone! I have been attempting to feed my piggies vegetables for a couple weeks now, and they will not budge. I’ve tried Coriander, and Peppers and they will barely touch it. I’ve tried mincing the peppers in their pellets and limiting their pellet intake, but they still won’t eat any veggies. Does anyone have any tips or tricks that could help me to get them to start? I wanna make sure they get all the veggies they need since they’ve never had them before. Thanks so much!
 
I’m afraid it’s just a case of preserving. Keep offering them a new veggie at a time and hopefully they’ll start to eat it soon.

My piggies like cucumber, pepper, coriander, green beans and lettuce except iceberg as piggies shouldn’t have iceberg. You may find out diet guide helpful to give you some ideas
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
There is vitamin C in hay and also in grass. Fresh grass is everypigs favourite here - although we have to make sure it has not been sullied by dogs or traffic.

Mine love veggies but definitely have their preferences. My big fat Louise will eat anything but much prefers the sweet things like bell peppers and the odd slice of carrot. However she will also pounce on brassica bits like broccoli or cabbage (in small amounts only - and she is not prone to bloat whereas some pigs have to be careful). The other girl has less of a sweet tooth and prefers her bell peppers green or a little spinach - she is suspicious of brassicas even now. She was the one who was a bit reluctant with veg at first until she saw the others eating them. Everybody loves cucumber. Lettuce is a desperate race where all 3 try to finish first so they can snatch the last mouthful from a neighbour which leaves such a depressed-looking pig (Louise again) that I have to give the fastest eater the biggest leaf and the slowest the smallest leaf so they all finish roughly together!

None of them have ever taken to coriander and they are not crazy for green beans. I even put a pot of coriander in the enclosure for a few days to see if they would explore it but it was knocked over and pushed out of the way!

I wouldn't bother mincing veg to add to pellets as when mine get a bit of veg they will run off and hide with it. They will eventually realise they like it. It is their way to be cautious at first! You probably don't need us to mention that we make sure we give things a good wash first in case they've been sprayed with anything that might leave a taint and put them off. They'll figure it out in the end!
 
I've two females that I got about 3 weeks ago, one is absolutely in love with any veg or fruit I introduce (romaine, carrots, blueberries, tomatoes, mandarins, broccoli, spinach etc), but the other is not having any of it short of forcefeeding her, I'm not sure what else to do... I can tell sometimes she wants to partake but the other pig chases her off, she's still a little skiddish. I find her spending a lot of time in the pellet bowl or at the alfalfa hay. They are only about 4-5 months old and the vet recommended using alfalfa until they are at least a year old. I got them from petco, I understand now from reading that this isn't the best way, but I have PTSD and needed some company that I don't have to walk everyday. I got them both the mega size of all cages so no worries there and they will have the best of care as long as I'm their pig momma.
 
I've two females that I got about 3 weeks ago, one is absolutely in love with any veg or fruit I introduce (romaine, carrots, blueberries, tomatoes, mandarins, broccoli, spinach etc), but the other is not having any of it short of forcefeeding her, I'm not sure what else to do... I can tell sometimes she wants to partake but the other pig chases her off, she's still a little skiddish. I find her spending a lot of time in the pellet bowl or at the alfalfa hay. They are only about 4-5 months old and the vet recommended using alfalfa until they are at least a year old. I got them from petco, I understand now from reading that this isn't the best way, but I have PTSD and needed some company that I don't have to walk everyday. I got them both the mega size of all cages so no worries there and they will have the best of care as long as I'm their pig momma.

Please switch to a normal grass hay - timothy, meadow, orchard etc. Grass hay needs to be the main part of their food, so it’s essential they eat lots of it. It should be 80% of their daily food intake.
They should not be eating alfalfa hay at their age and certainly not until a year old - the vet has given you incorrect advice. Alfalfa is not a grass hay and is too high in calcium to be in their diet.
Alfalfa is only recommended to be given to pregnant sows and baby piggies before they are weaned at 3 weeks of age. After that, they don’t need alfalfa at all.

Veg is one cup per pig per day, around 15% of the daily food intake. Herbs and leafy veg is good but don’t feed high calcium veggies such as spinach more than once a week.
Carrot should only be given one tiny piece once per week as it is too high in sugar.
Fruit is the same and actually need to be in the diet at all. They can have one small piece once per week.
Tomato is too acidic so don’t feed that often either.

Pellets are the least important at 5% of the daily food intake. They should have just one tablespoon per pig per day and never allowed constant access to pellets. Too many pellets contribute too much calcium to the diet, they also can prevent them eating enough hay and can contribute to poor gut and dental health.
She may be filling up on too many pellets and alfalfa hay and therefore not wanting anything else so it’s important you change from alfalfa and make sure pellets are kept strictly limited to encourage her to have a normal grass based diet and some veggies.

In terms of the chasing, make sure a normal grass hay is available in multiple places around the cage so both piggies can have free access to it. The same with veg, make sure it is in two places and ideally scatter fed so both piggies can forage for it (which is great enrichment) and the dominant piggy cannot food hog.
Their one tablespoon of pellets can also be scatter fed.
After this, all you can do is offer veg and she will learn what is safe to eat over time. It may be that she had not been exposed to much before now and simply doesn’t know what to eat. Pet shops simply don’t tend to feed the variety that we do as owners so the piggies never learn before being brought home.

The dominant will have her pick of the best food and some chasing and dominance behaviours is entirely normal but if chasing becomes excessive and if the more skittish piggy loses weight through constantly being chased away from food not being allowed to eat enough hay, then it’s important you ensure there isn’t a problem with their bond.
Please do ensure you weigh your piggies every week as part of routine care as you cannot tell they are eating enough grass hay to gain weight simply by watching them.

The green links I’ve added in below will help you further

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

Owners' Comprehensive Helpful and Supportive Information Collection

Its good you’ve got a big cage - two sows need 150x60cm.
Make sure you have multiple hides and that all hides have two exits so no piggy can get trapped inside one.

Also, have you checked they are both indeed female?
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/illustrated-sexing-guide-for-all-ages.156297/
 
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Please switch to a normal grass hay - timothy, meadow, orchard etc. Grass hay needs to be the main part of their food, so it’s essential they eat lots of it. It should be 80% of their daily food intake.
They should not be eating alfalfa hay at their age and certainly not until a year old - the vet has given you incorrect advice. Alfalfa is not a grass hay and is too high in calcium to be in their diet.
Alfalfa is only recommended to be given to pregnant sows and baby piggies before they are weaned at 3 weeks of age. After that, they don’t need alfalfa at all.

Veg is one cup per pig per day, around 15% of the daily food intake. Herbs and leafy veg is good but don’t feed high calcium veggies such as spinach more than once a week.
Carrot should only be given one tiny piece once per week as it is too high in sugar.
Fruit is the same and actually need to be in the diet at all. They can have one small piece once per week.
Tomato is too acidic so don’t feed that often either.

Pellets are the least important at 5% of the daily food intake. They should have just one tablespoon per pig per day and never allowed constant access to pellets. Too many pellets contribute too much calcium to the diet, they also can prevent them eating enough hay and can contribute to poor gut and dental health.
She may be filling up on too many pellets and alfalfa hay and therefore not wanting anything else so it’s important you change from alfalfa and make sure pellets are kept strictly limited to encourage her to have a normal grass based diet and some veggies.

In terms of the chasing, make sure a normal grass hay is available in multiple places around the cage so both piggies can have free access to it. The same with veg, make sure it is in two places and ideally scatter fed so both piggies can forage for it (which is great enrichment) and the dominant piggy cannot food hog.
Their one tablespoon of pellets can also be scatter fed.
After this, all you can do is offer veg and she will learn what is safe to eat over time. It may be that she had not been exposed to much before now and simply doesn’t know what to eat. Pet shops simply don’t tend to feed the variety that we do as owners so the piggies never learn before being brought home.

The dominant will have her pick of the best food and some chasing and dominance behaviours is entirely normal but if chasing becomes excessive and if the more skittish piggy loses weight through constantly being chased away from food not being allowed to eat enough hay, then it’s important you ensure there isn’t a problem with their bond.
Please do ensure you weigh your piggies every week as part of routine care as you cannot tell they are eating enough grass hay to gain weight simply by watching them.

The green links I’ve added in below will help you further

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

Owners' Comprehensive Helpful and Supportive Information Collection

Its good you’ve got a big cage - two sows need 150x60cm.
Make sure you have multiple hides and that all hides have two exits so no piggy can get trapped inside one.

Also, have you checked they are both indeed female?
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/illustrated-sexing-guide-for-all-ages.156297/
The vet sex checked them for me...they both went through full piggy physicals... as I was worried about the UTI with the one! Other than that I will maybe try a blend of hay for now to transition them both to full Timothy hay again. I have two full bails of it and 4 of the alfalfa..so I'll be happy to use both... I do attempt to rotate their fresh fruit and veg very often as I only feed it once per day... but I rarely include the fruit options, it was just a failed attempt to get the one to eat it...lol!
 




The vet sex checked them for me...they both went through full piggy physicals... as I was worried about the UTI with the one! Other than that I will maybe try a blend of hay for now to transition them both to full Timothy hay again. I have two full bails of it and 4 of the alfalfa..so I'll be happy to use both... I do attempt to rotate their fresh fruit and veg very often as I only feed it once per day... but I rarely include the fruit options, it was just a failed attempt to get the one to eat it...lol!

Alfalfa should not be any more than one very small handful once per day and only until they are four months old at the latest. It should not be in the diet once they are over four months of age. I appreciate you would feel it a waste but it really isn’t recommended for them to have it as it isn’t a grass hay. Is there a rescue centre nearby you could donate it to?

If you are going to use it, then you are going to need to keep it to very small amounts - it must never form their main food intake, as well as all the other measures to ensure their calcium intake is kept in check (ie that pellets are kept limited, drinking water is filtered and high calcium veggies are only fed in small amounts and only given once per week) to ensure they aren’t getting too much and risking knocking the balance off and causing bladder stones to form.
 
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