h.h.lovecraft
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi everyone!
So my mother has one guinea pig named Ms. Pearl. I know she loves Pearl a lot, but she could improve her care. I try to help her and tell her to do certain things for Pearl, and while she disregards my advice most of the time, she has tried to introduce more veggies over the last few months. The problem is that Pearl has no taste for veggies. Pearl is 3 or 4 years old and has apparently never even liked veggies as a snack offered throughout the years. I think she may not be used to them either because she was never offered them as a baby or in bulk until recently. My mom started leaving out plates of veggies for her and she ends up eating the paper plate rather than the veggies. I have stressed that she needs to introduce them multiple times and let Pearl sit with the veggies for a while and my mom ensures me she has done that. She apparently will eat tomato and some iceberg lettuce ( I know, I tried to tell her iceberg is bad), but that's it. My mom thinks giving grass is not an option either as a lot of wildlife eat and presumably use the bathroom in my parents backyard. She gets handfuls of different hays everyday and I have stressed that hay needs to be given daily, so I think my mom is giving her that. She always has a bowl of cheap pellets with vitamin c fortified bits, but of course that's not a great way to get vitamin c.
I am concerned about Pearls vitamin c intake. I was going to send my mom the same vitamin C tablets my vet gave me. My piggies had them as an extra immune system boost when they were very sick as babies and they seemed to like them. I don't know if Pearl will eat them because they are orange/parsley flavored, but I figured she could give it a try. I know excess vitamin c is bad, but Peal is getting very little besides the rare piece of tomato and whatever she may be getting from her hay and cheap pellets. I assume a half of a tablet once in a while couldn't hurt. Is this a good idea? What are your thoughts? How much would you give? Thanks for the advice in advance and a happy new years eve to everyone!
So my mother has one guinea pig named Ms. Pearl. I know she loves Pearl a lot, but she could improve her care. I try to help her and tell her to do certain things for Pearl, and while she disregards my advice most of the time, she has tried to introduce more veggies over the last few months. The problem is that Pearl has no taste for veggies. Pearl is 3 or 4 years old and has apparently never even liked veggies as a snack offered throughout the years. I think she may not be used to them either because she was never offered them as a baby or in bulk until recently. My mom started leaving out plates of veggies for her and she ends up eating the paper plate rather than the veggies. I have stressed that she needs to introduce them multiple times and let Pearl sit with the veggies for a while and my mom ensures me she has done that. She apparently will eat tomato and some iceberg lettuce ( I know, I tried to tell her iceberg is bad), but that's it. My mom thinks giving grass is not an option either as a lot of wildlife eat and presumably use the bathroom in my parents backyard. She gets handfuls of different hays everyday and I have stressed that hay needs to be given daily, so I think my mom is giving her that. She always has a bowl of cheap pellets with vitamin c fortified bits, but of course that's not a great way to get vitamin c.
I am concerned about Pearls vitamin c intake. I was going to send my mom the same vitamin C tablets my vet gave me. My piggies had them as an extra immune system boost when they were very sick as babies and they seemed to like them. I don't know if Pearl will eat them because they are orange/parsley flavored, but I figured she could give it a try. I know excess vitamin c is bad, but Peal is getting very little besides the rare piece of tomato and whatever she may be getting from her hay and cheap pellets. I assume a half of a tablet once in a while couldn't hurt. Is this a good idea? What are your thoughts? How much would you give? Thanks for the advice in advance and a happy new years eve to everyone!
