Daily veggies

[skully]

Hi all, I recently rehomed 4 lovely piggies who are settling in well. They are of varying ages 3 months - 5 months. They are starting to show their personalities now and are very funny! They have unlimited hay (two different types) and about 100g of pellets between them once a day, which are never quite finished by the next day. They live in a C&C cage with a loft. I've been reading up a lot on fruit/veggies, calcium, sugar, vitamin C, bloating etc and I think the more I read, the more unsure I am

Am I right in thinking this would be an acceptable daily diet for each pig? With variety throughout the week but sticking to the same basic plan? They are fed morning and evening. I'm concerned about portion size as some sites recommend to feed very little veg to avoid them becoming overweight, but then others say to feed at least 5 types of veg each day!
- 1 leaf romaine lettuce or small handful of rocket
- 1 inch cucumber slice / piece of celery / cress
- 1 large slice bell pepper
- 1 strip spring greens / couple pieces of kale / few leaves of spinach
- 1 sprig of herb e.g. coriander, parsley, mint, basil
- 1 treat e.g. small piece of carrot, apple, parsnip, broccoli
Plus a handful of grass a couple of times a week or sometimes readigrass from the horses' bag!

The second part of my question is that one piggy is a bit smaller than the others. She is happy and very active but much less greedy and so far will only eat pepper, apple and carrot! She won't touch anything leafy! Would it be best to separate her into the upstairs part of the cage for veggie time? She is still quite shy so I'm worried she isn't getting enough.

THANK YOU if you got this far! Really looking forward to getting to know everyone here

 

[Piggies&buns]

Pellets is one tablespoon per piggy per day. I don’t know If that equates to 100g but if some is being left, then my guess is you are overfeeding pellets. I give my piggies their one tablespoon and then remove their bowls after half an hour and they don’t get any more pellets until the next day whether they finished the bowl or not. Don’t leave them with constant access to pellets. Pellets can cause unhealthy weight gain and other health issues so should be kept strictly limited.

Hay needs to be the biggest portion of their daily diet.

Don’t give spinach, kale and parsley every day - it is too high in calcium and shouldn’t be fed more than once a week Ie if I feed some parsley once in a week, they won’t get any other high calcium veg in the same week. The same goes for fruit, carrot and all root veg. They are too high in sugar and should be kept as very occasional treats. Once a month maybe but certainly no more than once per week. Keep any member of the brassica family limited (broccoli/cabbage etc) as it can cause bloating

In terms of portion, you are aiming for about 50g of veg per piggy per day. A little more or less is absolutely fine (I’ve certainly don’t weigh veg as a matter of routine) but again, they need to be filling up on hay more than anything else.

In terms of importance and their daily portion split - 80% hay, 10-15% veg and 5% pellets per day

This link should help you. There is a sample plate which is what I more or less base my daily portions on. They only thing they get daily is coriander, cucumber, pepper and some leaves. I may add in something else if I’ve got it in the fridge
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Regarding your smaller piggy, don’t separate her for meal times. Simply spread out the veg across the cage so she can get some. If she has a diet comprising mostly of hay, then she will gain weight in her own time.

Weigh them all regularly so you can ensure they are getting enough hay. You can’t gauge hay intake by eye so weighing them is the only way. Ensure you have multiple hay piles/sources so they can eat. I can’t stress enough, that they need hay, hay and more hay! Veg and pellets come much further down the priority list!

 

[skully]

Thank you so much for the speedy reply! Great, so I will cut spinach, kale and parsley out mostly and stop the extra sweet treats. I didn't know that coriander could be fed every day so that's really useful. I will definitely try to copy the sample plate from now on and see what they think.

They have some of the horses' hay in their four hideys as extra bedding which they will happily munch on, plus plenty of the science selective timothy hay in their two racks. I make sure to replace it with fresh every day and they never run out. I started weighing them yesterday so will make sure to do it again next week and hopefully the little one will have gained a bit more weight.

I had been reading this thread:
Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading
It mentions feeding about 30g of pellets each for young guinea pigs so I had rounded it down to 100g, but they have never even gotten close to the bottom of the bowl so I will definitely cut it down a bit more.

Thanks again for your help

 

[PigglePuggle]

I have often wondered what a daily serving of pellets actually weighs, I always estimate I feed about 5g per piggy every day based on how long a bag lasts, so I have actually just weighed a tablespoonful of pellets out of interest- it is 30 pellets and weighs 6g. So I think perhaps pellets need cutting back in favour of extra hay!
Here is a tablespoonful of pellets on my scales to show you:

 

[PigglePuggle]

Bear in mind you need to make any dietary changes gradually, but you could easily cut the pellets to 40g per day for 4 piggies. You might try giving them mixed leaf salads you can buy ready mixed as a bag too, like with red chard and lambs lettuce and butterhead lettuce and babyleaf lettuce, sometimes with a few spinach leaves in- rather than sticking to buying several different greens separately, I find it saves time and money and keeps the piggies interested in their leafy veg- you can just throw a handful or two of that in the cage for them rather than serving it in a bowl

 

[Piggies&buns]

yes it does mention feeding youngsters more pellets, but at their age, I would still feed much less. My boys were 4 months when they came to me, and their pellets were immediately rationed to the amount @PigglePuggle shows above in favour of them eating more hay.

 

[skully]

Thanks so much to you both
I've been out and bought another hay rack just to make sure everyone is getting good access and will be keeping a close eye on the little one to make sure she's eating plenty. I will cut down the pellets by about 10g per day over the next week. The bagged salads is also a great idea. I'll go shopping for them tonight and see what I can find. They certainly eat better than I do!

 

[Darcey15]

Hi there, welcome!

There is a useful thread you might like to read (hoping this works as I've not posted links before!).

Personally, I wouldn't get too hung up on weighing & measuring (everyone has a different way though!) . As long as your pigs have a varied diet, unlimited hay, piggie pellets and ideally some grass time (or fresh grass) you'll not go far wrong. I dont weigh anything. I feed my 6 pigs once each evening but they are outdoor pigs who have access to grass (albeit very short grass at the moment!). They have 2 bowls of pellets which I top up each evening & chuck any that hasnt been eaten. Usually it has been eaten. Hay is always eaten & the collander full of veg I give is demolished (very rarely any left).

I think variation is key (and an awareness of the recommended /prohibited foods). Some pigs are more bullish than others & I have one that hangs back so I make sure I spread the food out so there is plenty of space for each one to eat comfortably. I also have a very greedy piggie who will happilly kick her back legs to boot anyone out the way from the food

Feeding the guinea pigs at TEAS