Help! I think I am doing everything wrong!

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sophieandhoney

sophieandhoney

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I have 3 guinea pigs, all roughly 3 years old, one boy waiting for me to pluck up the courage to have him "done" and two grumpy girls.

They get hay and dried food in the morning (they live on hay). I use Wagg food for Guinea pigs.

In the late evening they get a bowl of veg, I have explained in another thread how I am basically over feeding them and feeding them the wrong stuff.


would this work as a diet?

Saturday - pulled up grass and bell pepper

Sunday - pulled up grass and celery

Monday - Grass and carrot?

Tuesday - Grass and tomato (cherry)

Wednesday - lettuce from a ready washed bag (Italian style) and pepper

Thursday - lettuce and celery

Friday - Lettuce and carrot. (or baby corn?)


I am asking for a really simple diet for two reasons

1. I have been giving them the wrong diet for nearly two years so want to be extra careful i am not adding to health problems I have already started.

2. Mum is looking after them whilst I am on holiday and she will not notice if they are ill/bloated AND feeds them snacks of lettuce or cucumber during the day. I need to be very clear and specific about what they eat each day!

thank you for any help.
 
I'm really confused, how have you created health problems for your pigs?

Guinea pig diets are anything but simple believe me I've worked it out, what your best to do is feed everything in moderation and they may also benefit from being on a pelleted diet to prevent selective feeding.
 
Sorry, probably not clear unless you have read my other posts, I feed them ALOT of veggies, lettuce that is high in vit A and carrot and tomato and celery every day - which is wrong, I just want a fairly simple plan to give mum whilst I am away.

thanks xx
 
Do your pigs have medical problems? I have one pig on a special diet due to crystal formation but his veg needs weighed daily his menu's alternate - really your best just rotating your menu's and feeding in moderation.

I feed lettuce everyday - there's lots of different kinds!
 
No not yet, I am just assuming since feeding them food high in vit A can cause liver problems that two years on that kind of diet will have caused problems.

Sophie is certainly over weight, as is Henry - although Sophie was told by the vet and Henry is just me guessing as he is huge.


xx
 
Just vary the veg - I have a veg chart which tells you if you should feed daily, weekly or in moderation. I'll pm it to you - it's not my own it's from another forum so can't post the link.
 
I must admit until I read on this forum about carrots I always gave my girlies them every day, they loved them & my last piggie recently passed away aged 7 :(

I don't think you are doing anything wrong at all. I would just increase the amount of hay you give them & decrease the amount of veg rolleyes Maybe after they have filled up on hay give them their fresh food, hopefully they won't want as much then anyway :)
 
Thank you both, it is very confusing, you think you are right and then discover you might be really hurting them. They are having a rough enough time of it as it is with me working so much and not going out in the garden.

oh dear. they are difficult little wosits!

xx
 
flintstones said:
Just vary the veg - I have a veg chart which tells you if you should feed daily, weekly or in moderation. I'll pm it to you - it's not my own it's from another forum so can't post the link.
Click to expand...

could i have one to please! Thanks!
 
flintstones said:
Just vary the veg - I have a veg chart which tells you if you should feed daily, weekly or in moderation. I'll pm it to you - it's not my own it's from another forum so can't post the link.
Click to expand...

yes can you please pm me one as well thnx
 
OOO and me too please I would find this very useful.
Many thanks xx
 
The diet looks ok but, as we've discussed on other threads, you can feed them more types of veg each day but in smaller amounts.

Lettuce is a tough one because, really, there's no such thing as lettuce. What we call a lettuce in English is called a cabbage in other languages and vice-versa. You can feed quite a few types of lettuce fairly frequently.

For example, hearts of romaine or romaine lettuce (see we call it two things even in English!) are a pretty good veg that they can have say three times a week. Baby gem lettuce (which is really very similar) could then be fed twice a week and you've got lettuce there five times a week. Once a week they could have a (very small) amount of kale and maybe twice a week they could have spring greens. Then maybe add to this four or five times a week feeding them grass and you've covered greens pretty well.

Then they could have a smallish piece of bell pepper almost every day. Baby sweetcorn three times a week, a cherry tomato each a couple or three times a week and then maybe some carrot tops with a bit of carrot left on once or (at a push) twice a week.

If you add all this up and mix it up, it's still a lot of variety but you're keeping everything in moderation and making sure they get plenty of vitamins but you'd keep the vitamin A, phosphorous and calcium down and there's very little sugar in that mix.

They can still get occasional treats like a piece of banana skin with a bit of banana left in there (real treat) or a strawberry or a blueberry - you know when you're eating them. The same goes for grapes and apple. They can have a bit as a treat but not all the time. We use those kind of really sweet fruits and things as treats/rewards for positive reinforcement - except that my wife is really good at that and I'm really soft and just give them a treat every week...
 
quote They can still get occasional treats like a piece of banana skin with a bit of banana left in there (real treat)

Really? Banana skin? I've not heard of this before! I have given my piggies a little bit of banana as a treat, but assumed they couldn't eat the skin!

Thanks mikulinek, my piggies will be getting a new treat tonight!
 
It seems fine to me although you could maybe do the lettuce less regularly because it can be quite high in water and does not always have a high nutritional value.
 
I heard a cup a day for each piggie of veg. decide on how much and get your mum to weigh vegtable youve left
 
i have had guinea pigs for years now and still i find i feed them better than me, clean them out everyday, take them to the vets when they get poorly, but they still go over the bridge before i am expecting them too - maybe i love them too much!
 
My boars absolutely adore banana skin and in fact like it more than the banana. Obviously they only get some as a treat but its a lovely treat for them when they get it. drool
 
flintstones said:
Just vary the veg - I have a veg chart which tells you if you should feed daily, weekly or in moderation. I'll pm it to you - it's not my own it's from another forum so can't post the link.
Click to expand...

I'd love one too please as this is one of my big concerns ---- am I giving them the right vegs etc and in the right quantities and frequencies. Thanks,
 
I find the veg thing so confusing, mine get quite abit of kale eeekkk.

Could you pm me the chart to please xx
 
flintstones would you mind sending me it by pm too?
thanks
tracey x
 
It doesn't seem as if you're going too wrong! If your guineas seem happy and healthy then it can't be much of a problem! All I can say is too much lettice can give them a bad tummy sometimes so be careful about that! xx
 
flintstones said:
Just vary the veg - I have a veg chart which tells you if you should feed daily, weekly or in moderation. I'll pm it to you - it's not my own it's from another forum so can't post the link.
Click to expand...
Jo, is there a rule here that says you can't post a link to another forum for something beneficial to Piggies?
 
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