Guinea Pig Food
Beginner’s Guide to Guinea Pig Food
Guinea pigs are not fussy eaters but you need to make sure that the guinea pig food you feed them has all of the vitamins and nutrients they need to live a healthy life. Young guinea pigs--those under six months, should have grass hay, pellet food and water available at all times.
Adult guinea pigs should have water and a grass hay like timothy always available. Other grass hays can be used but a legume hay, such as alfalfa, should only be used sparingly as it has too much calcium content. If a guinea pig eats too much calcium, they can develop stones in their bladders. An average guinea pig should have around one-fourth cup of guinea pig food pellets each day. Any more than that, and the guinea pig can start to gain too much weight and become obese. Don’t feed guinea pig pellets that have nuts or dried fruit in them.
Along with the pellets each day, guinea pigs should fed two to three servings of fresh vegetables and fruit. A guinea pig needs more vitamin C than he can get from pellets, so try and serve vegetables high in this vitamin. A guinea pig needs at least 10 mg of vitamin C each day, and twice that if you have a pregnant mom. The best food is green, leafy vegetables. Do not feed iceberg lettuce as it is not considered a green, leafy vegetable and it has no nutritional value at all.
Greens that make nutritious guinea pig food include mustard, turnip, dandelion, collard and beet greens. Other good sources of vitamin C and good vegetables for guinea pigs are cabbage, spinach, rutabagas, broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale, cauliflower, and parsley. They can also eat small amounts of carrots, celery, chard, green peppers, cucumbers or edible pea pods.
Guinea pigs can eat very small amounts of fruit one or two times a week, but should not have anything overly sweet. A one-inch square of fruit is a good size. Excellent fruit choices for guinea pig food are oranges, apples, strawberries, pears, plums, raspberries, peaches and pineapples. Fruits should never equal more than two tablespoons per two pounds of body weight. Add fruits and vegetables one at a time and stop feeding it if your guinea pig should start to have loose stools or diarrhea.
No other kind of human food should be given to a guinea pig other than vegetables and fruits. Chocolate can be poisonous to guinea pigs. Other foods can cause a bad type of bacteria to grow in their intestinal tract. Among these are bread, cereal, pasta, cookies and crackers.
If you take care to feed guinea pigs a good variety of foods that contain the vitamins they need, they will have bright eyes, soft shiny coats, and be eager to play and get petted every day. Appropriate exercise combined with diet will make for a healthy guinea pig just like it makes for a healthy human being.