Cucumber?

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Hi all, wondered if anyone could help me out with this, we brought our 2 piggies from Pets at home and were told by the shop assistant that under no circumstances were the piggies allowed to have cucumber because it bloats their bellys? I used to have piggies years ago and always gave them cucumber, which they loved :{
 
I can assure you that cucumbers are perfectly fine for guinea pigs. The whole forum consists of cucumber-eating guinea pigs! :))
 
Just another example of how ill-informed they are.

Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower can cause bloat. I must confess I do still give these foods to my pigs and have never had any problems but they get small amounts and not all 3 at the same time.

Wilma would never forgive me if I didn't give her broccoli. :)).

We get cucumber daily(Slice) in my household. Cucumber is a diuretic.
 
I, too, give my piggies cucumber on a daily (sometimes twice a day) basis. It's their favourite food and they get in a strop when I run out of it and give them an alternative. I think it's fine and my piggies are perfectly healthy… Perhaps it's like chocolate is to women - we want it all the time but too much (of anything, in fact) doesn't do any good.
 
The best thing you can do is feed your piggies a mix of veg, including caulis, so that they never have anything in big quantities. Shop piggies probably have never had any fresh veg in their life before, so be careful in introducing only one fesh veg in little bits at any time until their guts can cope with the change in diet.

About 50g of veg per piggy per day is ideal; topped up pellet bowl until they are 6-9 months old and then reduced to 1 or 1/2 handful per piggy per day. LOTS of hay (up tp 80% of their daily food intake). Fresh water daily.

Here is a list of what veg they can eat:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42

Hang the people form p@h - most of them have no idea what they are on about! Any fresh veg in a big portion on an unprepared gut can cause diarrhea or bloating. mallethead
 
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hmm... okay the person was maybe a bit over cautious by telling you not to feed them it at all BUT theyve probly heard it from someone else trying to educate them and couldnt remember if it was a 'be careful' thing or a big 'no-no'.

ive heard alot on here to limit cucumber , and no more than a slice per pig...

At least they said something, id rather **** told me to avoid something if it was going to cause harm to my piggies bcos then at least uve been informed of a problem with it x
 
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All my girls love cucumber its one of their favourites, they tend to have more in hot weather just to 'up' their fluid intake but even during the colder weather they have it about 3x a week. If the poos get a bit soft I just withdraw it from their diet for a while.
 
My lot have pretty much every veg going except for anything oniony or potatoey. My rule is moderation in them all, so that any that 'may' have ill effects are not being given in such large quantities so as to cause any harm. This ensures that they have a wide variety too. xx
 
What a plonker! I dread to think how many piggies have been deprived of cucumber because of this silly shop assistant!
 
i feed mine green beans and they love them, especially fluff its the first thing she eats and if there arent any she gets the huff!
 
Reggie likes green beans too.
his favourites though are peppers, plums, carrots and apple x
 
MrsWilsoncroft said:
I give Reggie cucumber but usually only a small piece of it.

I have never heard anyone say you cant feed them this, I was told never to feed them iceberg lettuce though. x

http://jackiesguineapiggies.com/fruitandveg.html
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I didnt realise this until only recently, ive given mine it before, i looked into it further, its not harmful in any , its full of water. It wont hurt them but they wont get any goodness from it, so i suppose if thts all you fed them then there would be problems x
 
Green beans are good for encouraging shy piggies to come to the bars, as they don't have to come all the way at first if you have a nice long bean!
Iceberg is all water and not much in the way of nutrition, as others have said. They will eat it, but too much can cause the runs. xx
 
Cucumber is a favourite in this house too! I work on the basis of a little of everything, (except onion and potato) my gang have a selection of 5 or so veggies a night. Green beans are another favourite as are peppers of any colour!
 
muffin-master said:
I didnt realise this until only recently, ive given mine it before, i looked into it further, its not harmful in any , its full of water. It wont hurt them but they wont get any goodness from it, so i suppose if thts all you fed them then there would be problems x
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Yeah exactly, there is no harm in it but also as long as you are giving your babies a variety of fruit and veg then there is no harm in it at all :)
x
 
I cna't imagine not giving a piggy cucumber - every pig I've ever had has loved the stuff! My current boys can be a bit fussy and aren't over keen on carrots but they will eat pretty much anything green but they especially like brocolli, cucumber and spinach. They have recently discovered peppers and are going mad for them!
 
I would be inclined not to take too much notice of what the staff of Pets@home say. ;)

Plus, a lot of staff pass through the place and come and go, with not a great deal of animal welfare knowledge.

I did over hear a young girl at one of my local P@H talking to a prospective customer wishing to buy a piggie and to be fair to her, the advice and info that I heard her giving to the customer, was true, so that was good to know. :)

As for the cucumber, I give my two a slice each twice a day. They are very particular mind (hee hee) and like each slice cut in half. They love it!
 
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