(fairly) New Owner In Need Of Diet Help

[Data's Piggies]

Currently, the way I feed my two pigs is I give them a small cup of pellet mix we buy at the pet store at 11 PM and 7, 8 or 9 PM. Depending on what amount they have left in their bowl at the time. If they have some left, I wait until a little later to refill. I also feed them a bit of treats throughout the day whenever I'm in my room (which is around 4-5 times a day at most) so it's not like they're eating only 2 times a day or anything. (Also, fresh water of the morning, of course. I'm not dehydrating them, I promise!)

I've seen that veggies, hay, fruits and other things should be added too, but I'm not sure how to go about that on a fixed income right now. All the animals, and all of the humans as well live on government benefits, like disability for two of us and child care help for the other two, me and my brother.

How should I fix their diet to be more balanced and even better for them? I don't think only pellets are very healthy for them.

Pellet mix is Wild Harvest Advanced Nutrition Diet, and it says it has fruits, veggies, seeds and grains in it. Which, for a full list of ingredients, they probably have some online somewhere. It's too long of a list.
The treats are Tropical Carnival. (Ingredients are: Dried cranberries, dried kiwis, dried rose hips, dried orange slices.)

 

[MushiiPeas]

Hello!

Welcome to the forum, everyone here is super friendly and helpful.

Hay should make up at least 80% of a guinea pigs diet and should be unlimted so they have access to it all the time, you can find local farm shops that will normally sell good quality large bales for a cheaper price than shops like pets at home or supermarkets.

@Wiebke has written a really good post here about a balanced diet Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet

I hope this helps!

 

[madguinealady]

Pellets are better for them so they can't selective feed.Also only an egg full cup each a dayUnlimited hay as stated and try and find a ship that sells veg cheap at the end of the day, saves a lot of money.Fruit is more of an occasional treat

 

[Namaah]

Hay is pretty cheap and should make up most of you guinea pigs diet, look for Timothy hay or orchard hay for your piggies.
They pellet mixes aren't supposed to be as good for guinea pigs so you might want to consider changing to something else when you need new bag, if you read that guide wiebke wrote it give you more information in there.
You should be feeding fresh veggies daily. To help keep veg cost down you can use peelings and stuff from making meals (carrot peelings, the stalks from broccoli etc). If you ask who ever makes the meals to keep some aside for your guinea pigs, just make sure they are safe for guinea pigs to eat or that they haven't been cooked or mixed with anything like salad dressing etc.
Be careful with treats as they can make guinea pigs over weight, things like dried fruit is high in sugar, only use them sparingly. I often give my piggy a bit pepper (bell pepper or sweet pepper NOT chili peppers) as a treat, he loves pepper and it's really good for them. I occasionally give him some apple as a treat as well. Or for a very special treat he gets some baby sweetcorn.
Be careful when changing their food though, don't just suddenly change everything over night. Hay can be added right away but don't suddenly cut their pellets right down and add loads of new veg at once, do it gradually.
Also if you are on a fixed income it would be a good idea to start putting some money aside every week to cover vet bills if your piggies ever need them. A sudden $200+ vet bill can be next to impossible on a fixed income. if you start saving a little each week then you will hopefully have the funds or at least most of the funds to cover the bill.

 

[VickiA]

Hi there, sorry I don't know about the pellet mix you are feeding to your piggies as I'm in the UK. We prefer to feed our pigs an all in one pellet to stop them picking out the tasty bits and leaving the fibre! If yours are an all in one pellet that sounds fine. If you plan to change it, please do it slowly by mixing a little of the new one into their existing one and then increasing the new one and decreasing the old one each time. The recommendations and guides we have on the forum can be a great starting point for veg and fruit.
Guinea pigs need an awful lot of fibre in their diet and they can't make their own vitamin c so they do need large amounts of hay and a small amount of fresh veg each day. Lack of Vit C can cause scurvy and in severe/extreme cases they can have major problems with their bones. Veg should be the smallest part of their diet with hay making up about 80%, then pellets and then finally veg. You can feed veg once or twice each day depending on your routine. Some people feed a mix (like a little bit of cucumber, a little bit of bell pepper and a little bit of romaine lettuce or spring green) and others will just feed one item at a time eg cucumber in the morning one day, cilantro or romain lettuce in the evening and then vary those through the week.
You will soon figure out what your piggies like to eat and how best to achieve this on your budget. Just be careful not to give them too many fruits as the sugar and acid in them are not good in large amounts.
Hope you find this helpful but if in doubt please shout out

 

[Wiebke]

Currently, the way I feed my two pigs is I give them a small cup of pellet mix we buy at the pet store at 11 PM and 7, 8 or 9 PM. Depending on what amount they have left in their bowl at the time. If they have some left, I wait until a little later to refill. I also feed them a bit of treats throughout the day whenever I'm in my room (which is around 4-5 times a day at most) so it's not like they're eating only 2 times a day or anything. (Also, fresh water of the morning, of course. I'm not dehydrating them, I promise!)

I've seen that veggies, hay, fruits and other things should be added too, but I'm not sure how to go about that on a fixed income right now. All the animals, and all of the humans as well live on government benefits, like disability for two of us and child care help for the other two, me and my brother.

How should I fix their diet to be more balanced and even better for them? I don't think only pellets are very healthy for them.

Pellet mix is Wild Harvest Advanced Nutrition Diet, and it says it has fruits, veggies, seeds and grains in it. Which, for a full list of ingredients, they probably have some online somewhere. It's too long of a list.
The treats are Tropical Carnival. (Ingredients are: Dried cranberries, dried kiwis, dried rose hips, dried orange slices.)

Hi and welcome!

Please don't feed dry mixes, choose a pellet brand instead.
Pellets Or Muesli / Dry Mix?

Dried fruit are also not recommended; grow some fresh herbs in pots on your windowsill instead. Sow some fresh ones every 2-3 weeks, so you have got a steady supply. Cilantro (UK coriander) is the one that you can feed daily, parsley is another you can feed every 2-3 days. Alternatively, you could buy a pot of fresh herbs from the supermarket, carefully separate the plants and repot them much further apart, so they last longer and grow bigger. You can also grow cut-and-come lettuce in a tray as well as grass (wheat grass is a real favourite) indoors.

Fresh veg (go easy on the fruit) should be supplemented, especially if you opt for a cheap pellet brand. Give at least one high vitamin C veg a day; ideally that is a slice of sweet/bell pepper of any colour. It has more vitamin C than any fruit and none of the acidity that can cause problems if overfed or fed too often. @MushiiPeas has already given you our diet link.
Do your local supermarkets mark down veg just before they close for the day?

If you have got equine suppliers within your reach, you can get hay a lot cheaper from there, but it won't be treated to prevent hay mites etc. coming in it.

 

[7squeakers.]

Just one thing to add to all the great advice above; we recommend that you avoid feeding pellets or muesli mixes that contain seeds or grain. They are a No-no for piggies, I think, because they can choke on them.

 

[Data's Piggies]

A small update for anyone who might be following the thread for such updates. Pfft.

I've taken all the advice I've been given. I've been feeding them bell peppers and lettuce (and I've noticed Gadget doesn't eat the bell peppers as much as Gizmo, but he does like tomatoes, so I give them a little tomato in the little mini salad mix) almost every day in the morning for the past few days and I've been giving them a small amount of pellets and some cucumber or lettuce at night. I'm gauging it right now, of course, so this is just a starting point, but I plan to add a little LITTLE amount of fruit at night instead of the veggies with the pellets.

We're looking for places to get hay without the mites, and we think we found a place, which is good! c:

Thank you everyone for all the help. You're all very sweet to me. ;o;

 

[Veggies Galore]

That's great news ! - I wouldn't give tomato too often though - the max I would ever give it is twice a week.

 

[Namaah]

that's great, you must have some very happy piggies now, my guinea pigs are always happiest when I'm topping up their hay. they have tray of hay and a hay rack and even if it's almost full they still popcorn around excitedly when I top it up lol.
One question though, What type of lettuce are you feeding? some are good and some aren't. Things like romaine lettuce is really good but iceberg lettuce is pretty bad (It has virtually no nutritional value and can cause diarrhoea. If I'm feeding something like lettuce or cabbage that has lots of different sub-types I always google it first to check e.g. "Can guinea pigs eat savoy cabbage"
I would still give them the veggies at night and keep the fruit is a treat
Some other veg that is quite cheap you can introduce is most cabbage, cilantro, parsley, carrots, cucumber, swiss chard and green beans. You can grow cilantro and parsley for your piggys to make it really cheap. They are easy to grow and very low maintenance plants I would grow them in pots though as they can spread pretty quickly in the garden, if you don't have a garden you can grow them in pots on a sunny window sill. Baby leaf lettuce and baby leaf chard is also pretty easy to grow

I'm glad this forum could help you, it's a great place for advice. I'm a fairly new owner as well and I was given so much bad advice when I got my first guinea pig. After coming here and asking and reading through all the threads I have learned so much and gotten so much good advice.

 

[Wiebke]

A small update for anyone who might be following the thread for such updates. Pfft.

I've taken all the advice I've been given. I've been feeding them bell peppers and lettuce (and I've noticed Gadget doesn't eat the bell peppers as much as Gizmo, but he does like tomatoes, so I give them a little tomato in the little mini salad mix) almost every day in the morning for the past few days and I've been giving them a small amount of pellets and some cucumber or lettuce at night. I'm gauging it right now, of course, so this is just a starting point, but I plan to add a little LITTLE amount of fruit at night instead of the veggies with the pellets.

We're looking for places to get hay without the mites, and we think we found a place, which is good! c:

Thank you everyone for all the help. You're all very sweet to me. ;o;

Hi! It is great that you are making an effort! Please do not give tomato on a near daily basis and be aware that it counts as fruit. I would also reduce the amount of lettuce, as it is very low in nutrition. Could you try and get hold of leavfy fresh herbs or grow them yourself on the windowsill? If you could feed a bit of savoy cabbage 2-3 times a week instead of lettuce, you can make sure that your boys get more vitamin C and also the magnesium they need in their diet.

If tomato (and any other fruit) are fed too often, they can cause cheilitis, which looks like this: Guinea Lynx :: Cheilitis It can be either bacterial or fungal, depending on what gets into the cracks caused by feeding too much acid. It can also extend into the mouth and cause lack of appetite from the discomfort of mouth sores.

 

[Data's Piggies]

Hi! It is great that you are making an effort! Please do not give tomato on a near daily basis and be aware that it counts as fruit. I would also reduce the amount of lettuce, as it is very low in nutrition. Could you try and get hold of leavfy fresh herbs or grow them yourself on the windowsill? If you could feed a bit of savoy cabbage 2-3 times a week instead of lettuce, you can make sure that your boys get more vitamin C and also the magnesium they need in their diet.

If tomato (and any other fruit) are fed too often, they can cause cheilitis, which looks like this: Guinea Lynx :: Cheilitis It can be either bacterial or fungal, depending on what gets into the cracks caused by feeding too much acid. It can also extend into the mouth and cause lack of appetite from the discomfort of mouth sores.

Thank you for this advice. I'll definitely change it. We've just started adding the tomato so it's not too late I don't think. I'll also try the growing the herbs in the windowsill thing. I keep their cage on a big desk by the window in my room and there's always some room on the side, so I think that'd be a perfect spot to grow some cilantro or parsley. c: (I keep that part of their cage covered when it gets cold of course, so it's not like I'm freezing the babies. I promise.)

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for this advice. I'll definitely change it. We've just started adding the tomato so it's not too late I don't think. I'll also try the growing the herbs in the windowsill thing. I keep their cage on a big desk by the window in my room and there's always some room on the side, so I think that'd be a perfect spot to grow some cilantro or parsley. c: (I keep that part of their cage covered when it gets cold of course, so it's not like I'm freezing the babies. I promise.)

If you struggle with seeds, what you can do is buy a living pot of cilantro/coriander and/or parsley, water it well and then gently prize apart the various plants and pot them on just 3 per pot, so they last you longer and can grow more. Parsley reacts well to cutting back.