Piggie weekly food

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Chappers

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We have sat down and tried to come up with a weekly diet for the piggies. Any opinions on this, as try to make it as easier as possible.

I want this to open a discussion and any help would be great. Hopefully after a while I can get a great little list and keep us and the piggies very happy.

Monday am

Pak choi
Baby carrots

Monday pm

Blackberries
Apples
Grapes

Tuesday am

Rocket lettuce
Courqutte

Tuesday pm

Kale
Parsnip
Turnip

Wednesday am

Clery
Baby carrots
Watercress

Wednesday pm

Spinach
Peppers

Thursday am

Parsley
Pal choi

Thursday pm

Grapes
Strawberry
Pear

Friday am

Rocket lettuce
Baby carrots

Friday pm

Kiwi
Pineapple

Saturday am

Cucumber
Water cress
Peppers

Saturday pm

Spinach
Mint
Baby carrots

Sunday am

Parsnip
Kale

Sunday pm

Pineapple
Strawberries
Mango
 
Seems good but you need to defiantly cut down on the amount of fruit on there. Fruits have natural sugars in them and as Guinea Pigs don't brush their teeth these sugars are very bad for there teeth. They should be getting vegetables like Romaine Lettuce, Carrots, Spinich etc. everyday and maybe a slice of fruit every three or four days. I would cancel out Pineapple as it's sugar content is very high.

Also make sure they have access to Unlimited Hay and also make sure they are getting pellets everyday.
 
Piggie Life said:
Seems good but you need to defiantly cut down on the amount of fruit on there. Fruits have natural sugars in them and as Guinea Pigs don't brush their teeth these sugars are very bad for there teeth. They should be getting vegetables like Romaine Lettuce, Carrots, Spinich etc. everyday and maybe a slice of fruit every three or four days. I would cancel out Pineapple as it's sugar content is very high.

Also make sure they have access to Unlimited Hay and also make sure they are getting pellets everyday.
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Cheers and yes they have hay and the nuggets
 
My lot have Romaine lettuce daily - they love it and it is good for them.
Spinach, kale and parsley are limited to 1-2 times per week (I never give them high calcium veggies two days in a row)
You could add raw beetroot, chicory, celeriac, baby sweetcorns to their diet.
Fruit should be limited too as well as carrots, again my lot have it 1-2 weekly only.
Has anybody spotted corn in husks around yet ? I'm gutted as I can't find them yet - plentiful last year but haven't seen any around...
 
I would give a slice of sweet pepper (green or yellow mostly) every day, it is high vit C & my lot love it, reduce the fruit, maybe to once or twice a week, for example mine get two grapes a week at the most or a couple of blueberries. I don't give them acidic fruit like oranges at all. Apple they get a slice once a month.

I would be careful with watercress as it has to be washed thoroughly as it can have liver flukes in it, maybe substitute for pea shoots, raddichio or endive/lambs lettuce, mine love the Florette Crispy salad mixed bag, which contains all three. I also give them raw uncooked beetroot which I get from Morrisons as I can't find it elsewhere, they love that.

Spinach & Kale can cause stones so maybe alternate those one one week, the other the next but only give them twice a week, three times at the most. Celery is great, cut up small & I also give mine a cherry tomato each once every few days.

You sound very organised, my pigs don't get such a well planned menu lol :)
 
I am watching this with interest as I never feel I have it right with mine, I may even copy the perfected menu! xx
 
I have a nice diet:
romaine lettuce
A bell pepper rainbow
small amount of cucumber
Coriander/cilantro
I alternate between meadow and orchard grass.

This should get you on the right track. I also like how you alternate every day. I hope this helps! :laluot_02:
 
Ours only have veggies or fruit once a day-is that okay?
I used to give them a grape or a bit of apple in a morning but I stopped because I was worried they would get over weight.
 
I think once a day is fine, unfortunately 11 years after we had our first piggies the latest bunch have us (me) wrapped around their little paws so I do feed them veggies twice a day, as I did with our last pair :red It's probably too much, but as they don't have veg that's high in calcium too often & never have soft poops then I think it's okay.

I don't give mine many pellets though, roughly 2 level tablespoons between the three, twice a day, they never have access to pellets all day which is unlike the previous ones we've had. They also get unlimited hay, the only time the hay rack is empty is the mornings when the slave gets up to cater to their needs rolleyes
 
As others have said, way too much fruit!

Also, some days you're feeding parsley and pak choi - both of these are quite high in calcium.

Some days you're feeding parsnip and turnip - both are root vegetables so are quite starchy = a lot of sugar.

I like the information here regarding frequency of feeding http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum...y-nutrition-charts-poisonous-plants-list.html

If you're reducing the fruit, have you thought about feeding broccoli, coriander, cauliflower leaves, cabbage etc. ?
 
Has anybody spotted corn in husks around yet ? I'm gutted as I can't find them yet - plentiful last year but haven't seen any around...[/QUOTE]

I was only thinking the other day - when are the corns with husks coming out - absolute bargain when Aldi do them - and I love them too.
 
TAN said:
Has anybody spotted corn in husks around yet ? I'm gutted as I can't find them yet - plentiful last year but haven't seen any around...
Click to expand...

I was only thinking the other day - when are the corns with husks coming out - absolute bargain when Aldi do them - and I love them too.[/QUOTE]

I saw some pre-packed corn in waitrose recently, but they were only there for decoration I think! There were only one or two on each cob. They're coming into season soon, so shouldn't be too much longer!

I got far too excited when I saw them in waitrose rolleyes
 
Lovely that you have added a variety for each day, very a-la-carte!

I find that my three boars are not interested in fruit. I've tried them with grapes, apples and pears but it doesn't get eaten. They seem to prefer anything that's green or leafy or both. Celery is their favourite but I do limit it, they love cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower leaves, pea shoots, salad leaves. They do like carrots as well. They are still young though so maybe their tastes will broaden as they get older!
 
Tesco sell packs of 4 corn on the cobs for £1.99 but they aren't whole-kind of got the ends chopped off. I buy them for us because we love them, so do the Piggys.

I'm not sure what time of year they are plentiful and cheap, think its July/August time.
 
Here is version 1, tried to get as balanced as I could. All comments welcome, and I've also tried to make it so that you are not buying too much each week, which of course helps with costs.

PiggieFoodV1.jpg
 
Amysmom said:
Tesco sell packs of 4 corn on the cobs for £1.99 but they aren't whole-kind of got the ends chopped off. I buy them for us because we love them, so do the Piggys.

I'm not sure what time of year they are plentiful and cheap, think its July/August time.
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Yeah, we buy these but they don't go that mad for them or the baby corns ?/
It's the husks they go ballistic for :x
Last year, we had them in the shops and on markets as early as April - wonder if the rotten weather we've had is to blame :(
Think I'll be popcorning myself if I ever find them...mallethead
Does anyone else get funny looks when you get a bit enthusiastic over veggies etc...;)
 
Chappers said:
Here is version 1, tried to get as balanced as I could. All comments welcome, and I've also tried to make it so that you are not buying too much each week, which of course helps with costs.

PiggieFoodV1.jpg
Click to expand...

What do the colours/numbers mean?

It looks to me like they're having high calcium foods too frequently (parsley/pak choi on an almost daily basis), also the amount of carrots seems quite high - carrots should be fed once or twice a week due to high vitamin A levels.

What kind of quantities are you planning on feeding these foods in? It seems quite a lot, but maybe I'm just mean :)) My guys get mainly leafy veggies for their toofies, and they'll get maybe 3 types of veg in the whole day, usually 1 type in the morning with their pellets, and then two in the evening, although really it depends on what we have - at the moment they're having small amounts of a lot of different things as my mum is a chef and she's bringing bits like cucumber ends, outside cabbage leaves etc. home from work
 
The key is at the top and it relates to calcium. Think the ideal figure is 1.3 per meal so that is what I was aiming for.

Everything was taken from the link and it said that carrots were ok daily.

But this is the whole point for the thread to sort this kind of thing out.
 
Chappers said:
The key is at the top and it relates to calcium. Think the ideal figure is 1.3 per meal so that is what I was aiming for.

Everything was taken from the link and it said that carrots were ok daily.

But this is the whole point for the thread to sort this kind of thing out.
Click to expand...

If the ideal is 1.3 per meal, have you looked at the calcium content of whatever dry food/hay you're feeding? It's difficult because guinea pigs don't really have "meals" - or at least mine don't, the greedy little whats-its have one meal a day....it starts at 7am and finishes at about midnight! :))

I think it's really difficult to get anything 100% balanced, when the calcium levels are right, something else will be out.
 
Amanda1801 said:
If the ideal is 1.3 per meal, have you looked at the calcium content of whatever dry food/hay you're feeding? It's difficult because guinea pigs don't really have "meals" - or at least mine don't, the greedy little whats-its have one meal a day....it starts at 7am and finishes at about midnight! :))

I think it's really difficult to get anything 100% balanced, when the calcium levels are right, something else will be out.
Click to expand...

It's really hard, but just wanted something to make it easier. And to make it a decent diet for them.

Hopefully get there in the end.
 
Ooh I love a good spreadsheet!

I did not know that about carrots (vit A). The query I have had is if it's ok to include eg a high Ca food more frequently as long as the Ca/Ph ratio is ok, eg people say don't feed eg parsley every day as it's so high, but would it be ok every day if you get the balance right? Mine lurve their parsley but i don't feed every day.
 
Well this morning I gave them 25g each and it looks like nothing. Think we may have been giving them too much before.

They got a few pieces of carrot, one leaf of pak choi and some cucumber. It was the pak choi that went first in all three cages.
 
I bought some raw beetroot the other day from Sainsburys. It came with the long stalks still attached. Does anyone know if pigs can eat these? Couldn't see it mentioned on the food list.
 
The more I think about it, it must be per day.

So that's what the new improved diet will be based on, getting as close to the 1.3 as possible.
 
Version 2 and unless someone really hates it, this is what I, using. Read a few places now that say that Carrots are okay and considering they are only getting 10g of each food at any given time, they should be okay.

PiggieFoodV2.jpg
 
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