Pellets

Princess Dustmop

Princess Dustmop

Adult Guinea Pig
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Hello,
Several of my previous guinea pigs didn't really like pellets, so I didn't have to think very hard how much was the best amount for them to have available, since they naturally ate the best ratio anyways. Well, I've got a two year old pellet fiend and a youngster, who we're estimating at 6-8 months but still growing rapidly and is a maniac. They're caged adjacently, so no food poaching concerns.

I did read the diet guideline, and I think it actually confused me more ...
"The current recommendation is to please not feed more than 1 tablespoon (UK recommendation) or 1/8 cup of pellets (US recommendation) per adult piggy per day (ca. 10-30g by weight depending on the pellet brand)."

1/8 cup is 2 tablespoons ... so I weighed a scoop of my piggies' food and it's about 10g per tablespoon. So what's best? 1 tablespoon or 1/8 cup? 10g, 20g, 30g?
I scoop with a liquid measuring cup marked with tablespoon and ounces (up to 1/4 cup) because it scoops well.

Their food nutrition:
8E68ED98-4D7A-4578-9F3F-701E5A73C09D.webp
 
I agree with piggies&buns. Also, different foods have different weights. I feed each piggy 1 UK tbsp of science selective grain free which actually weighs 5 grams so I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
No it isn't I'm afraid, almost though. It would make life a lot easier for everyone if it was. Just give one level tbsp per pig per day and you'll be fine ☺️

Screenshot_20220512-221725.webp
 
I think milliletres are the same everywhere ... my measuring cup does those, too ... tbsp would be about 15ml and 1/8 cup would be 30ml ... which is why I asked about the guide stating 1tbsp in the UK but 1/8 cup in the US ... Am I to take that to mean 15ml then?
 
Here's my measuring cup:
6DA21002-69DB-4449-AC24-E6DABFB11C44.webp
US fluid ounces and US tbsp on the ring ... ml is backwards, since it faces outwards, but I couldn't get a good picture with it forwards.
 
It's all to do with the fact that different countries use different systems (imperial, metric, customary ect). Which makes things very confusing. However I've just looked into the actual difference between UK (imperial) and US tbsp and there isn't much of a difference so you can just use a tbsp. It's something like 1 US tbsp holds 14ml while 1 UK tbsp holds 17ml.

Anyway I really wouldn't worry. For you, 1/8 cup pellets is enough for 2 pigs per day.
 
1/8 covers 2 piggies. So one tablespoon would be 1/16 off a cup (of my calculations are correct).
 
Ive just realised I put 1/4 of a cup in my reply - no idea why I typed that as I know that’s too much! it’s 1/8 of a cup for the two.

No a UK and US tablespoon are not quite the same and we don’t use cup measures so it can get confusing for us too!

A Uk tablespoon is 15ml.

The pellets I use, 1 tbsp comes to 6g
 
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So it occurred to me that pellets seem to come in a variety of styles. (I had to look up some of brands I'd not heard of, as a factor of 2 weight difference seemed large for what I was picturing in terms of "pellets".)

My piggies pellets are compressed and small ... there's some visible in the bowl here ...
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This seems very different from some of the ones I looked up, which seem larger and puffier.

So two questions ...
1) Does the form of the pellet impact how it should be fed? Are there pros and cons of the different shapes/styles/textures? (I have seen the nutrition chart/discussion, but either there isn't a section on form, or I missed it.)

2) How would you classify something like Oxbow Simple Rewards? I have viewed them as special treats, but some of the pellet brands look a lot like the O shaped ones ...
 
1. No it doesn’t make any difference. It is still one tablespoon per pig per day.

2. I’d not heard of oxbow simple rewards but have looked them up. They would be considered a very occasional treat and not to be fed regularly at all given. I personally avoid those kinds of commercial treats in any event
 
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