My guinea pig can’t stop knocking over his bowl.

[monilovespuhi]

Hello everyone!I am here to talk about my guinea pigs behaviour since my piggy has been acting very strange and he knocks over his bowl even if i just gave him his food.Can somebody give me advice on what i can do to prevent this from happening?Thanks a lot!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I assume it is a food bowl rather than a water bowl. We would recommend you don’t use a bowl and instead scatter feed their food around the cage. Scattering food around the cage encourages them to forage and is a source of mental stimulation and entertainment (vs eating from a bowl which is a mindless activity and doesn’t encourage anything). There aren’t many of us long term owners on here who don’t use food bowls.

To check, does he live with another piggy? A single piggy can get bored and you are then more likely to notice those kinds of behaviours as a way to get attention and their interaction needs met by you

 

[Wheekallweek]

If you do decide to continue to use a bowl, perhaps a heavy ceramic one would be a good choice.

 

[monilovespuhi]

I assume it is a food bowl rather than a water bowl. We would recommend you don’t use a bowl and instead scatter feed their food around the cage. Scattering food around the cage encourages them to forage and is a source of mental stimulation and entertainment (vs eating from a bowl which is a mindless activity and doesn’t encourage anything). There aren’t many of us long term owners on here who don’t use food bowls.

To check, does he live with another piggy? A single piggy can get bored and you are then more likely to notice those kinds of behaviours as a way to get attention and their interaction needs met by you

Thanks a lot for the advice i will start scattering his food.He is a single piggy, but we are thinking of adopting another one!Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Kyogre386]

If you do decide to continue to use a bowl, perhaps a heavy ceramic one would be a good choice.

I have one of these, and it usually gets knocked over anyway, though usually less intentionally and more from trying to get at the further pellets.

I may simply remove it permanently at some point. Right now I put about half in the bowl and sprinkle feed the rest.