Feeding lettuce and cumumber - is this ok?

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I've always fed my piggies lots of lettuce an cucumber as it tends to be their fav veg but I've heard some people say that due to the high water content is can be bad for them and contains no nutrients.

I've bad piggies for over 6 years and have always fed this with no apparent problems.

Does anyone else use it?
 
Mine will not eat cucumber(snooties)...but have lettuce as a treat (romaine)...I think it's iceburg lettuce that is a big No No :)
 
Lettuce for Guinea Pigs is like Chocolate for us, it should be used as a treat. Mine get lettuce about once a month now, I used to feed every day. I always give greens like cabbage, kale, baby spinach (but only small amounts) and green pepper for the vt c.
Cucumber does contain a lot of water and lots of pigs love it, I give once a week just as a little treat for them.

Have a look at the food section on here, there are loads of ideas. :)
 
The best lettuce to give is Romaine (or Webbs Wonders, Little Gems, Cos - as a final resort round/flat lettuce) I've been told to never ever feel Iceberg.

There's no problem with feeding cucumber as it is a high favourite with many piggies but there is very little nutritional value in the flesh, although having said that it can do them no harm. Most piggies will devour a chunk of cucumber and I've seen many have food fights over cucumber!
 
I generally give the plain round lettuce - never iceberg.

I also give tomatoes which the love.

I've tried kale, celery and brocolli which they were not interested in at all.

Must take after mum and prefer the unhealthy foods! ::)
 
mine have lettuce and cucumber but in moderation, a varied diet is the way to go O0
 
My piggys get fed on a diet of romaine lettuce, curly continental lettuce, escarole, lambs lettuce, red oak lettuce plus a few other variesties. They also get get red/green/yellow peppers. They never have iceberg as yes, this is bad and can cause diarrhoea. They get carrot, beetroot, parsley, fresh clean grass, baby tomates and basil as a treat.

I feed things such as kale, broccoli and cabbage sparingly due to high calcium content and also the gas causing properties. A real favourite treat (besides parsley) is corn on the cob husks and silks (not the corn itself). They adore this and it is also great for keeping molars trim.

They are very happy and well fed :)
 
Hannah,

I am just imagining your piggies sprawled on the settee with a large lettuce,watching Match of the Day!.
 
I thought they had to have greens every day? Mine eat romaine lettuce or baby spinach for greens but won't touch cabbage (except kale, too expensive for every day) or green pepper.

They have romaine lettuce or bagged salad quite a lot, because apart from that they only really like celery, cucmber, carrots and apples, the occasional satsuma, and grapes as a treat. They won't touch tomatoes.

They have carrots practically every day, that's their favourite thing.
 
I give mine a green everday, this may be spring greens, round lettuce, romaine (bit costly right now though), cabbage, spinach, watercress etc etc. I only give a very small handful per portion though and a give small portions of the other veggies and I have found no white spots from the urine, this works for me and those down stairs! :D

I feel its finding a balance that works for your pigs, it took me months to figure it out but I got their eventually. Now I've got tof figure out Pearl and Ambers eating habbits and see what works for them! :)
 
mine get brocoli, parsley, celery(stalks chopped) silverbeet, spinach, apple, water or rockmelon rind(you call it cantelope)grass. for now though jessie and faline get these, zoe however is only getting grass, hay, parsley and celery leaf, her private area is a bit dirty but have seen no soft poops. on friday have to add another veggie maybe carrot something that's not green. any advice would be appreicated. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
I think a varied diet with nothing being fed in large quantities are the way to go. years ago people didnt know much about guinea pig diets and they were fed a carrot a day and a bit of cabbage, nobody knew any better. My pig lived on this kind of diet outdoors for 5years, not old but certainly not young for a piggy to go. i think its right to try to follow guidelines for diets etc but nobody wrote a rule book on what can and cant be fed, its just peoples experiences and doesnt have to be gospel! you could feed a pig on an amazing diet sticking to everything you're told and it could still die young, whereas one fed on just carrot and a bit of lettuce could live 7years! it depends greatly on the pig and as i said, i think its best to try to give a varied diet with everything in moderation, we can learn form others' experiences! but if you feed your pig cucumber twice in a row its not the end of the world lol!
 
Totally agree with Emma and Mary, this is what I do and I no longer have white spots in the cage. I also realise that if I do give too much of a handful of greens and they are left then I gave too much that time around. :)
 
Does anyone know whether you can feed them curly leaf lettuce? I've seen it at my local shop and it looks quite nice, bet my pigs would love it just a bit unsure?
 
i thought as lettuce is mostly water it wasn't good to give guinea pigs. mine don't get lettuce at all. did try them on rocket leaves but am unsure if this is a breed of lettuce or not. but have read in books and been told by vets lettuce-too much water a big no no. cabbage farments(sp) in their stomachs another big no no. cucumber as also made up of mostly water and sugar- a big no no. was also told if a guinea pig gets diabeties it is extremely hard to treat and is like a death sentence? this was told to me by a vet NOT the one who operated on zoe. as zoe has an upset stomach i am extra careful on what she eats now. nothing with a lot of water or sugar! though as she has been so good with her poops she did have a fight with OH over his rockmelon and zoe won! :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
The majority of lettuces are fine to feed to your Piggys. Mine get it twice daily. The main culprit for causing tummy problems is iceberg which you def shouldn't feed.

Try escarole, frisee, curly leaf, romaine and endive. All are fine for Piggys.
 
Ditto to everything said above. Lettuce is fine as long as it isn't iceberg. Cucumber is high in water but not particularly high in sugar - it has less sugar than yellow/orange/red veggies like peppers and can be fed every other day. Fruits are something you need to be careful of as they are high in sugars.
 
I've always known Iceburg was a huge no-no but was unsure about others. That cool about the curly leaf I think mine would like that as a treat. :) :)
 
Because our little guy doesn't drink water, other than what i syringe him ::) i'm happy for him to have some cucumber and lettuce.... but only cos lettuce or i buy the mixed bag every couple of weeks and he gets a selection of that .... MUNCH MUNCH he looooves it
I'm really lucky at the moment our cos lettuce hearts or the baby cos lettuce are so sweet and lovely O0 O0 he adores it and gets it daily but not too much, i've also known him to not eat lettuce or cucumber if he's had a funny tummy he's actually gone off those foods O0
 
this is why we don't feed ours lettuce as our girls do drink water! both jessie and zoe average around half a bottle a day each! so we feel there is no need for lettuce, also our vet believes our piggies get too much sweets now and don't want ours to be diabetics. each to their own i guess. hugs and cuddles to you and your fur babies. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
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