Vegetables as well as grass daily?

[Shelley anne]

I apologise if this is covered somewhere but I am unable to find the answer to this question. I was wondering if feeding grass, as well as the one cup of vegetables per day per guinea pig is OK.
I presently feed my 2 guinea pigs the following:

Unlimited hay (served on the ground where they prefer it & will eat more of it)
1/4 cup Burgess pellets total for the two of them (1/8C each exactly and no more)
2 cups vegetables total for the two (1 C each)
2 heaped handfuls of grass served twice a day( I throw it out after a couple of hours if not eaten)

What do you think? Grass as well as the vegetables, is this OK?
Thanks for you advice

 

[Wiebke]

I apologise if this is covered somewhere but I am unable to find the answer to this question. I was wondering if feeding grass, as well as the one cup of vegetables per day per guinea pig is OK.
I presently feed my 2 guinea pigs the following:

Unlimited hay (served on the ground where they prefer it & will eat more of it)
1/4 cup Burgess pellets total for the two of them (1/8C each exactly and no more)
2 cups vegetables total for the two (1 C each)
2 heaped handfuls of grass served twice a day( I throw it out after a couple of hours if not eaten)

What do you think? Grass as well as the vegetables, is this OK?
Thanks for you advice

Hi and welcome!

Our tip is to count fresh green spring and autumn grass more as part of your daily veg portion while you count drier summer grass more as hay. Keep in mind that grass is rich in vitamin C (as is hay); that is the reason why guinea pigs are not making their own vitamin C - with a hay-based diet, they don't need to.

See your guinea pig diet as mainly hay (over 80%) with veg (10%) and pellets (5%) more like daily treats. If you feed plenty of fresh grass on top of your normal veg, especially watery ones, you can end up with soft poos. Go lightly on watery veg (especially lettuce) and rather feed fresh herbs. Generally treat any calorific high sugar veg (carrots, sweetcorn etc) and fruit/tomato as occasional treats and not as part of a daily diet. It is like eating a burger and lots of ice cream for piggies.

You may find the information in these links here helpful:
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Feeding Grass And Preparing Your Piggies For Lawn Time
The temptation to overfeed watery veg and fruit in hot weather!