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Researching diet-- need some help

new_pigsitter

new_pigsitter

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jun 21, 2019
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Location
Pennsylvania, USA
Hello!

My research was more sparked by a want for my own pigs in the future but I suppose also for my current pet sat piggie.

So, I'm looking off of this and the calculator that comes with it, as well as the articles around here.
Nutrition READ ME- Cavy Nutrition Charts & Poisonous Plants List

I'm trying to get the Ca:Ph ratios down but I'm not sure how to tackle it...collards look really nice for it but I can only feed it 1-2 times per week due to Vit A issues. Are there any good Ca:Ph helpers that don't have any consequences?

Or maybe I'm just looking into this too much? Idek...

Any help is more than appreciated :)

~Robin
 
Hi! I know it feels like everything you give them is going to cause a problem😤 My Guinea pigs have been on this diet for a while now and they seem to like it and it hasn't caused any issues. I feed them Romaine lettuce, cucumber, and different colores pepper. And then twice a week they each get a carrot. Once a month they get these piggy donuts😂
I hope this helps a little!
 
Hi @new_pigsitter there is an excellent diet guide on the forum, with a photo of an example dinner plate of daily veg, and also a guide to dry food pellets, and one for hay.
Try not to overthink things- essentially 80% of the diet should be hay, usually meadow hay or timothy hay or both!
Many of us prefer a grain free pellet type, though not everyone does, the key thing is no added seeds or sugary bits, and they only need a very small amount like a spoonful/small handful per day. Some folks even go totally pellet free, though the pellets usually have some added vitamins and minerals so its probably to start out with a small amount of a healthy dry food pellet in the diet.
With veggies you need to maximise the vitamin C but also have a bit of variety and not too many high calcium or high sugar things. Bell peppers and cucumber can be fed daily, the peppers are very high vitamin C. Salad leaves are good in moderation (but not those round watery iceberg lettuces, stick to smaller greener leaf types). Cilantro is great, again high vitamin C, you can feed that several times a week.
High calcium veg like spinach, kale, broccolli and cabbage should be fed only once or twice a week.
And high sugar things like carrots or fruit should again be fed in very small amounts (like 1 slice of carrot, or 1 strawberry, or 1 apple slice) only once or twice a week.
You are definitely doing your research here! :)
 
PigglePuggle said:
Hi @new_pigsitter there is an excellent diet guide on the forum, with a photo of an example dinner plate of daily veg, and also a guide to dry food pellets, and one for hay.
Try not to overthink things- essentially 80% of the diet should be hay, usually meadow hay or timothy hay or both!
Many of us prefer a grain free pellet type, though not everyone does, the key thing is no added seeds or sugary bits, and they only need a very small amount like a spoonful/small handful per day. Some folks even go totally pellet free, though the pellets usually have some added vitamins and minerals so its probably to start out with a small amount of a healthy dry food pellet in the diet.
With veggies you need to maximise the vitamin C but also have a bit of variety and not too many high calcium or high sugar things. Bell peppers and cucumber can be fed daily, the peppers are very high vitamin C. Salad leaves are good in moderation (but not those round watery iceberg lettuces, stick to smaller greener leaf types). Cilantro is great, again high vitamin C, you can feed that several times a week.
High calcium veg like spinach, kale, broccolli and cabbage should be fed only once or twice a week.
And high sugar things like carrots or fruit should again be fed in very small amounts (like 1 slice of carrot, or 1 strawberry, or 1 apple slice) only once or twice a week.
You are definitely doing your research here! :)
Click to expand...
Alright, thank you!

I'm just going to plop down what I'm feeding Minnie right now and make sure it's ok if you don't mind :)

-Daily-
-2 sprigs of cilantro
-one slice of bell pepper
-leaf of baby romaine lettuce (definitely switching to a better type of lettuce then; maybe green leaf?)
-1 chunk (maybe 2-3cm?) of celery (although Minnie doesn't care for it... :/)
-one medium/large celery leaf

-every 4-7 days-
-collard greens (not purchased yet)
-one slice of apple
-spinach
-one baby carrot
-honestly any piggie-safe fruit on hand... we'll see when the time comes :)

I (or i will i guess) moreso use the daily list as a base and add in whatever 4-7 day item I can feed. I hope to get some more every 2-3 day items but I'm still thinking about what I should get/what's a reasonable amount of veggies to have in my fridge lol...

Anyways, let me know if anything can be improved upon (either you or anyone who stumbles upon this)!
 
That sounds mostly very good, I'd say you could cut out the celery if Minnie doesnt like it (I've never fed mine celery as I dont like it myself and it doesnt have many nutrients!).
I think celery leaves may be high calcium and should also be restricted a bit? Not sure but I think someone mentioned that!
Romaine, cilantro and bell pepper is an excellent basis for a healthy daily veg diet anyway, romaine is a recommended lettuce type and lots of piggies eat it daily but personally I like to mix it up a bit with some other leaf types too, like a bag of mixed babyleaf salad :)
 
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