Feeding Help & Schedule

[vmorin918]

With so much information floating around about what to feed them, with quantity and percentages of vitamins and minerals I am hoping that we can simplify things for us and maybe others.

We have four piggies, and currently we have been feeding twice a day (morning and night):

1.) 1-2 cups of a Spring Mix Lettuce from Aldi (baby lettuces, greens and radicchio.

2.) Half of either a green or red pepper (whichever we have on hand)

3.) Either cucumber slices or celery (we swap these out) For cucumber I put 8 slices in that are about 1/4 inch (or 0.635 cm for my metric friends) for celery I chop up one rib.

4.) occasionally I will add a small broccoli floret, no bigger than 1 inch (2.54 cm) for each pig

5.) I slice up one carrot per day and they share it amongst them.

So we try to have 3 veggies AND lettuce. I'd like to create a meal plan calendar so that myself and my husband know what to feed each day... so that way we aren't accidentally feeding them too much of one thing, etc.

We are open to trying other veggies - nobody likes zucchini, summer squash, mustard greens... we tried multiple times hahaha

Is this too much, too often, etc? They saw the Vet on Monday as one is sick with pneumonia (but they all got a checkup) and their weight was fine and they LOVE the lettuce, and will go NUTS for broccoli and carrots but we want to see what others do and if we could be doing anything better!

Oh and it probably goes without saying they have unlimited hay, and oxbow pellets. They graze from the bowls so we just fill it every so often and shake it so the bottom stuff doesn't go stale.

 

[Piggies&buns]

In terms of pellets, they should not have unlimited access to them. Pellets should be kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per piggy per day. I give my boys their pellets, I actually sprinkle feed them rather than use bowls (to encourage natural foraging behaviour), but they have access to them for just half an hour and then I remove any uneaten pellets and they don’t get any more until the next day. Pellets are supplementary, the least important part of their diet.

In terms of veggies, you can aim for about a cup of veg per pig per day. I don’t measure it out so it’s not exact but that’s fine.

It’s best not to give carrot daily - it is high in sugar and should be regarded as nothing more than an occasional treat (same as with fruits including tomatoes). My two get a little carrot perhaps once or twice a month.

As for schedule - my boys get about one tablespoon of pellets each (although it mostly is less than that) and top up of hay in the morning. Top up hay a couple of times in the day time. In the evening I give them two cups of veg (one cup each scatter fed in their cage) and another top up of hay. Their daily veg meal will contain some pepper, coriander, lettuce and cucumber. I may add in other veg if I have anything they like in stock. I will give them a handful or two of grass several times a week during the winter months if I can get it.
I have found this thread very interesting when it comes to feeding a wetter diet (while still maintains a high amount of hay intake) Feeding the guinea pigs at TEAS

I feed veg once a day because that works best for me. It’s absolutely fine to feed veg twice a day though.

This is our feeding guide - Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading

 

[vmorin918]

In terms of pellets, they should not have unlimited access to them. Pellets should be kept strictly limited to one tablespoon per piggy per day. I give my boys their pellets, I actually sprinkle feed them rather than use bowls (to encourage natural foraging behaviour), but they have access to them for just half an hour and then I remove any uneaten pellets and they don’t get any more until the next day. Pellets are supplementary, the least important part of their diet.

In terms of veggies, you can aim for about a cup of veg per pig per day. I don’t measure it out so it’s not exact but that’s fine.

It’s best not to give carrot daily - it is high in sugar and should be regarded as nothing more than an occasional treat (same as with fruits including tomatoes). My two get a little carrot perhaps once or twice a month.

As for schedule - my boys get about one tablespoon of pellets each (although it mostly is less than that) and top up of hay in the morning. Top up hay a couple of times in the day time. In the evening I give them two cups of veg (one cup each scatter fed in their cage) and another top up of hay. Their daily veg meal will contain some pepper, coriander, lettuce and cucumber. I may add in other veg if I have anything they like in stock. I will give them a handful or two of grass several times a week during the winter months if I can get it.
I have found this thread very interesting when it comes to feeding a wetter diet (while still maintains a high amount of hay intake) Feeding the guinea pigs at TEAS

I feed veg once a day because that works best for me. It’s absolutely fine to feed veg twice a day though.

This is our feeding guide - Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading

Interesting. I have ready many conflicting opinions regarding pellets. A lot of people said it all depends on your pigs, if they're the type to sit and devour a whole bowl a day then yes you should limit. Mine go over a few times a day and take a bite or two. That's about it.

I'm more concerned with the veggies, that's all. I'm pretty sure each piggy is probably getting closer to 2 cups of lettuce per day, and 1 cup of veggies a day. I probably should start measuring. I usually just eyeball it.

They will eat most of what's on the plate, then leave and either go nap or wander around and play (munch on hay) and then just sort of graze. I leave the plate in there for a few hours and they'll pick at the rest at their own leisure.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Depending on the type of pellets you feed, they can also contain less than healthy ingredients but any overfeeding of pellets can lead to excess calcium intake (which can lead to bladder stones) and unhealthy weight gain. They are purely to fill in the nutrient gap and ensure all round nutrition and should never form a meal as such. It really is best to limit them.

One cup of veg per piggy (regardless of whether it is lettuce and/or other veg) in total is recommended but as the thread I linked in above shows interesting details on feeding a wetter diet. My boys probably get closer to a cup and a half of salad/veg per day

 

[artcasper]

I am finding it hard now i have 3 when doing the breakfast and dinner for them.. always had 2 before so chopping for 3 and say not 4 slightly messes with me!

Mine have a herb, green bean, pepper and cucumber daily.. once a week bit of carrot/kale and brocolli... sometimes bit of celery and salad leaves.. i feel i need to go back to basics at times and see what else they can have to give a bit more variety..

 

[PigglePuggle]

There are many different ways to feed piggies regarding exact measures and feeding ratios and regimes but I think most of us agree that minimising pellets is usually good for overall health for healthy piggies that can eat all foods normally. Pellets, even low calcium grain free pellets, contain more calcium and calories that even the highest calorie and most calcium rich veg! Mine get 5g of pellets per piggy per day most days and sometimes we skip pellets altogether. Unlimited hay is also something that I think everyone agrees is a good thing.
Regarding veg, there are various different opinions often linked to the specific health issues we are each most worried about for our particular piggies. Personally, we have a piggy who spent an awful few months with recurring bloat, so I am careful not to feed too much veg at once. Others may have specific health concerns about bladder stones and be more careful to limit high calcium veg than anything else. Though some people may advocate feeding much more veg to give a wetter more natural diet.
So please dont overthink things, but limiting the pellets or skipping pellets entirely on carrot days is probably helpful for long term health!
My piggies get fed twice a day, and we usually have 3 different veg per day- most days this is a slice of cucumber, a slice of red pepper, and some sort of leaves- sometimes baby gem or romaine lettuce, sometimes coriander, sometimes parsley or dill, sometimes mixed leaf salad. If I know I'll be out at work for 11 or 12 hours they might get a slice of bonus carrot with their breakfast cucumber, or half a babycorn with their evening peppers, maybe twice a week. Weekends/shopping days/cage clean days they enjoy a bag of scatterfed mixed salad that has a bit of grated beetroot in, and once or twice a week a beansprout dinner which they love and is a good source of vit C.
Hope this helps!

 

[vmorin918]

There are many different ways to feed piggies regarding exact measures and feeding ratios and regimes but I think most of us agree that minimising pellets is usually good for overall health for healthy piggies that can eat all foods normally. Pellets, even low calcium grain free pellets, contain more calcium and calories that even the highest calorie and most calcium rich veg! Mine get 5g of pellets per piggy per day most days and sometimes we skip pellets altogether. Unlimited hay is also something that I think everyone agrees is a good thing.
Regarding veg, there are various different opinions often linked to the specific health issues we are each most worried about for our particular piggies. Personally, we have a piggy who spent an awful few months with recurring bloat, so I am careful not to feed too much veg at once. Others may have specific health concerns about bladder stones and be more careful to limit high calcium veg than anything else. Though some people may advocate feeding much more veg to give a wetter more natural diet.
So please dont overthink things, but limiting the pellets or skipping pellets entirely on carrot days is probably helpful for long term health!
My piggies get fed twice a day, and we usually have 3 different veg per day- most days this is a slice of cucumber, a slice of red pepper, and some sort of leaves- sometimes baby gem or romaine lettuce, sometimes coriander, sometimes parsley or dill, sometimes mixed leaf salad. If I know I'll be out at work for 11 or 12 hours they might get a slice of bonus carrot with their breakfast cucumber, or half a babycorn with their evening peppers, maybe twice a week. Weekends/shopping days/cage clean days they enjoy a bag of scatterfed mixed salad that has a bit of grated beetroot in, and once or twice a week a beansprout dinner which they love and is a good source of vit C.
Hope this helps!

I am a HUGE over thinker. I appreciate hearing that. The Vet said they all seem perfect, weights are normal, and they are happily eating what we give them. I think we may cut back on the pellets, but as over protective pig parents we just felt like we were starving and depriving them LOL They get the Oxbow Essentials Adult Guinea Pig Food (we've been feeding them that since day 1, and the Vet told us last week it's what he recommends anyway).

Thank you

 

[Siikibam]

As long as they always have hay they won’t starve