Advice on feeding

[sokel]

I have never been faced with this problem before.
I have had a guinea pig brought in today she is supposed to be 18 months old and they have had her since she was 7 weeks old.
Problem is she has never had any fruit or veggies in her diet.
The owner has fed her on a basic guinea pig mix only and the occasional she gets hay
She seems to be in good condition but am i right in thinking i am going to have to introduce everything gradually?

 

[Jane]

Well, when I got my piggies they had just had pets at home nuggets, no hay or veggies..

I gave them hay straight away, I didn't introduce it slowly, but I'm not sure if I should have. However, with the veggies I did introduce them slowly to ensure they didn't get diarrhea. I fed a couple of veggies one day but not a lot of them, another couple the next day, but again not a lot, and just carried on like that until they were eating them straight away then I started giving them more and more of a variety. Now they're greedy fat things who probably get a bit too much

 

[starshine]

Exactly right

Just a tiny bit of veg to start with then increase the quantity very gradually.

When I have pigs in that have never had veg (which is quite often sadly) I start them off on plain stuff like carrot and cucumber and leave the darker leafier stuff til they are more adapted to fresh food to avoid tummy upsets.

 

[sokel]

Thanks jane and starshine thats what i thought i would have to do.

 

[Jane]

Good luck, I'm sure she will be munching away on them pretty soon to make up for all of the ones she hasn't had :smitten: