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Vet advised 300g of veg a day?

Ketoprofene17

Ketoprofene17

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 18, 2017
Messages
55
Reaction score
43
Points
195
Location
Rome, Italy
I recently moved to Italy and brought my pigs along. I brought one for a vet general check up today, the first vet I ever had to use in Italy for now. The vet (specialist on exotic animals) seemed very good, in the way she handled him and the things she was looking for. She also took a fresh poop and checked it on the microscope. She said she found yeasts, sign that my pig eats too many carbs. She said to decrease the amount of pellets to a tsp a day (only?) and increase the leafy veg to 1/3 of his weight, around 300g. I found this astonishing but I am not a vet. I was under the impression that 50g a day would be enough so I am quite confused now.
 
Just got an image in my head of a guinea pig eating chips - carbs 😂
 
My question at this point is: is she a good vet? I never read anywhere about a pig needing 1/3 of his weight in veggies, whilst I may understand the "decrease the amount of nuggets" advice.
 
The problem with vets is they may be a "specialist on exotic animals" but not necessarily on guinea pigs. Did the vet mention hay at all? Where are you in Italy? Maybe you should try and find another vet?
 
She did mention unlimited hay of course. And she seemed quite pig-savvy until she mentioned the food. I found other (quite reputable) sources in Italian mentioning 150-200g of veggies a day per adult pig. In terms of where I am, I'm outside Rome, it wouldn't be too hard to find another vet, but it'd be a bit of a longer journey every time. This one was the one that visits the piggies at the pet shop where I got a pig recently..
 
Ketoprofene17 said:
I recently moved to Italy and brought my pigs along. I brought one for a vet general check up today, the first vet I ever had to use in Italy for now. The vet (specialist on exotic animals) seemed very good, in the way she handled him and the things she was looking for. She also took a fresh poop and checked it on the microscope. She said she found yeasts, sign that my pig eats too many carbs. She said to decrease the amount of pellets to a tsp a day (only?) and increase the leafy veg to 1/3 of his weight, around 300g. I found this astonishing but I am not a vet. I was under the impression that 50g a day would be enough so I am quite confused now.
Click to expand...
That is 1/4 of a heathy guinea pigs weight a day, I’m not sure that is right.
 
My boy Finn and Lara each get three servings of veggies a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I don't believe that is a lot of veggies because their poop is regular. I was advised from this site one cupful of veggies but I think mine get a cup and a half each.
Mine are used to eating three servings of veggies a day, which is about a cup and a half each.
 
300g a day would be on the huge mix salad bag from the supermarket a day for comparison..that surely isn't right at all..
 
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