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All about feeding guinea pigs ( amounts of fibre and vitamins from each food and what to feed )

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dm120719
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Dm120719

A guinea pigs diet consists of : 80 % hay , 5 % pellets and treats / fruit , 15 % veggies and unlimited water in a bottle or bowl .


Hay must contain at least 16 - 20 percent crude fibre and 8 - 14 percent crude protein , there's lots of different types of hay , with alfalfa being the most fibrous it contains 20 - 28 percent fibre and between 14 - 22 percent crude protein .. large quantities of alfalfa hay is only recommended for guinea pigs under 6 months of age or pregnant , nursing guinea pigs , but is okay as a small treat once in a while . There is a lot of types of hay to choose from Including : orchard grass .. timothy hay.. meadow hay .. oat hay ..
I recommend feeding timothy or meadow hay , but i feed orchard grass as i'm allergic to other types of hay .



What veggies to feed?
Cucumber , a piece per pig a day , provides small amounts of : vitamin K, vitamin C vitamin A
Lettuce , vitamins : vitamin C 14 % , iron 3% , calcium 3 % , iron 4 %
Cabbage Vitamin K: 85% , Vitamin C: 54% , Folate: 10% , Vitamin B6: 6%
spinach , not everyday as it contains oxalic acid .. i feed a few leaves a week per pig
Kale , vitamin C 100% , vitamin A 99 % , calcium 15 % ,
Pepper , red , yellow and green .. you can feed orange but not many like it . Protein: 0.9 % , vitamin c Amount: 253% . vitamin b6 17% , folate 17 % ,
Carrot , just as a treat .. very high in sugar .. protein 930 Mg per 6 carrots .
tomato , not really a veggie , protein 900 mg .. kinda high in protein
Broccoli , vitamin c 148 % , vitamin A 14% , calcium 4% , vitamin b6 10%
Parsley , vitamin c 221% , calcium 14 % , iron 34% , vitamin a 140%
dandylion ( it can make them go to the toilet more often , good fora constipated piggie )

These are not all the veggies you can feed , but these are the ones i feed the most ..

What fruits to feed ? ( fruits to only be fed as a treat, too much fruit can make your pig sick cause of the high sugar content,or make them gain weight )
From most favourite to least favourite :
Banana , a piece of banana one to two times a week per piggie
Blueberries , a blueberry a week per piggie
Apple , a few pieces a week per piggie
Melon
Pear
Raspberry
Strawberry
Oranges
cantelope
seedless grapes ( seeded grapes can lead to kidney disease )
plums

Commercial pellets .. Some feed pellets and others don't , personally i feed 1/4 cup pellets per two guinea pigs .. I feed exel nuggets one to two times a day .
Which contain mint and rosemary and are suitable for all ages . Must contain a minimum of 16% fibre ..


You can make homemade treats too , here's some recipes i use quite often :


Guinea pig cupcakes! :

One banana
One apple
1/2 cups of oats
1/2 cups of pellets
1/4 - 1/2 cups of water or milk ( i normally use water , but milk is good for guinea pigs , choose whatever suits you and your guinea pigs best!)

1: Cut up the fruit and add it to a blender , blend to well combined
2: Add the water and the oats , blend till well combined
3: Add the pellets and mix in by hand until combined
4: Put a generous amount of the mix in cupcake cases
5:Leave in the oven for 10 - 20 minutes
6:Leave to cool fully and peel off rappers , feed one a week to each guinea pig



fruits.png
 
Sorry milk is not good for guinea pigs at all. They shouldn’t have dairy. I’m also not sure about that chart either as they shouldn’t have stone fruits?

Might have to tag @sport_billy and @Wiebke to have a wee look and see if it’s okay.
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
Sorry milk is not good for guinea pigs at all. They shouldn’t have dairy. I’m also not sure about that chart either as they shouldn’t have stone fruits?

Might have to tag @sport_billy and @Wiebke to have a wee look and see if it’s okay.
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Oh sorry , my dad bought me this book that told me you can feed a sick piggy milk , and someone on here told me they can eat cherries and stone fruits ( It's called mini encyclopedia of guinea pigs , breeds and care by myra mahoney)
 
No to the milk I am afraid piggies can’t digest it, very bad for them
 
Guineas don’t need cooked food at all.

You are obviously a very caring owner to go to that much trouble of research, but unfortunately many books are out of date

You can feed poorly piggies a small amount of oats if they are underweight but other than that ordinary vegetables as you are doing and lots of hay is the most important thing
 
Avoid stone fruits also. Cherries are fine as an occasional treat as is all fruit but remove stone first
 
sport_billy said:
Guineas don’t need cooked food at all.

You are obviously a very caring owner to go to that much trouble of research, but unfortunately many books are out of date

You can feed poorly piggies a small amount of oats if they are underweight but other than that ordinary vegetables as you are doing and lots of hay is the most important thing
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One of my guinea pigs got a broken tooth once and wouldn't eat , so i put oats in water in a syringe as that's what someone told me to do
 
Peppertheguineapiggie said:
One of my guinea pigs got a broken tooth once and wouldn't eat , so i put oats in water in a syringe as that's what someone told me to do
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Oats are fine in situations where piggies need to put in weight etc or in that situation so well done! But not as part of normal diet :)
 
Do be aware also, that the excel nuggets you're feeding contain alfalfa, it's sometimes labelled as lucerne :) so if you're giving small amounts of alfalfa hay as a treat it's just something to keep in mind they're also getting some in pellet form. It's nice to see someone put so much effort into looking into diets though, even if some sources of information can be a bit hit and miss!
 
Eriathwen said:
Do be aware also, that the excel nuggets you're feeding contain alfalfa, it's sometimes labelled as lucerne :) so if you're giving small amounts of alfalfa hay as a treat it's just something to keep in mind they're also getting some in pellet form. It's nice to see someone put so much effort into looking into diets though, even if some sources of information can be a bit hit and miss!
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No i don't feed alfalfa hay .
 
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