Just grass? :(

Status
Not open for further replies.
Coffeebucks

Coffeebucks

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 21, 2011
Messages
81
Reaction score
0
Points
140
Location
Glasgow
I got a pair of rescue sows a few days ago & whilst one is eating all the fresh food I put in front of her, the other one is not very interested. She's eaten cucumber and grass, but has turned her nose up at a range of other things, even parsley & coriander. I've never seen a guinea pig refuse those before :(

I don't know much about their history, only that they weren't handled much. It shows. They must've been fed fresh food in their former home as they're not ill, but I wonder if they weren't getting a lot of variety.

She has so far refused broccoli, celery, carrot, pepper and pak choi, as well as the herbs. I'm going to try kale & romaine lettuce tomorrow, but will she be OK with just grass until I can find what she likes? Does grass have enough vitamin C? I'm thinking it must be, as it's their natural diet, but I just wish she'd eat the same veg as the others.
 
Is she eating pellets? They also have added Vitamin C. It maybe she might just take time to settle in. I would keep a close eye on them and weigh them weekly.

Keep offering different veggies - and leave them in with her.
 
flintstones said:
Is she eating pellets? They also have added Vitamin C. It maybe she might just take time to settle in. I would keep a close eye on them and weigh them weekly.
Click to expand...

Yes, she is eating pellets (well, they're both on p@h muesli. I'll be weaning them off that over the next couple of weeks & onto my usual pellet mix). Should've mentioned that probably :)

Good point about the weight check - I've not weighed them yet. Will get on that tomorrow.

Thanks :)
 
She'll be fine with pellets, grass and hay. The Pellets has all the vitamins they need. :).
 
My two older piggies came from a home that I assume didnt feed anything more than grass/pellets.

To start with they would only eat kale/carrots but have now started to love veggies so much they try almost anything offered.

If you have other piggies I would suggest letting them see the others eat the veg so they can see it isnt scary or odd, if not just stick with it.
 
Bless her, my Peters a bit of a fussy pig with veggies, hopefully she's just settling in but it might be worth talking to the rescue as they may know what veggies she prefers. Abi told me Peter liked red pepper... what I've since discovered is he likes everything thats not green - carrots, tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries and red pepper - but won't touch green pepper, will only nibble at green leaves and definitely won't eat the stalky bits of lettuce :))
 
I was advised by a rescue center to offer orange squash (no added sugar) as well as water to help keep vit C levels up, mine have a water bottle and a squash bottle for over a year now and the orange is always drunk first!
 
Please persevere with offering veg. It may take a while with any piggies that have not had much in the way of veg, but they will start eventually.

Personally, I would not recommend adding things to the water. They tend to go off quite quickly and you can't control the intake. The only thing that profits is algae bloom! If necessary, it is better to dissolve 1/8 of a vitamin C table in a little bit of water and syringe that so the piggy gets the full benefit.
 
2 of my piggies won't eat much veg either. They do wolf down carrots and apples but refuses to eat all other veg (I've tried cucumber,kale, spring greens, red/green peppers, celery, aubergine, courgette, parsley, strawberries and even dandelion) I'm hoping they'll eventually give in a eat something other than grass and hay.

My other one doesn't eat hay but that's another thread.
 
Thanks to everyone for all the advice :)

Happily the kale & romaine lettuce were both very well received, along with carrot after she got jealous of my other two pigs sharing a carrot! So there's plenty to keep her going. & I put a bowl of cranberry juice out at floor time as well, which everyone's enthusiastic about. The newbies are also being fed Burgess nuggets in with the p@h stuff so I'm happy they're getting what they need from that.

I just wish the bonding process between these two new ones & my lonely pig was going better, but that's for another thread :(
 
i had three pigs when I was very young, they were always well cared for but they were only fed pellets, hay and grass daily - supplemented by a few carrots and veg scraps, skins and stalks etc from cabbage, broccolli, apples. They all lived with no health problems up to a ripe old age, the last one was 7 when he died! We did used to put vit c drops in their water every now and again.
it may be better for pigs to eat plenty of fresh veg but if she doesn't come around to it, thats no reason why she wouldn't lead a long and healthy piggy life!
 
My Charlie is also very fussy eater. Took him ages to eat apples. Now he loves them. Wont eat peppers or kale. And I just tried him on celery. He canb take it or leave it right now. Oh and cumcumbers took ages too and now he devours them.

It's so funny how fussy they can be! :(|)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top