vitamin c query?

Status
Not open for further replies.
lady_chilli

lady_chilli

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 5, 2012
Messages
34
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
Leigh, Wigan
Hey everyone,

Just wondering how you give your piggies the added vitamin c? I was advised to get the drops for their water which i've done but I intend to give them a very good diet of fresh vegetables twice daily with some occasional fruit aswell as their daily Muesli mix, do you think I still need to use drops or would their diet be enough?
They had lettuce and red pepper for breakfast and broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for tea.
 
I wouldn't put anything in their drinking water. You can't control how much water piggies are actually drinking so don't know how much vitamin C each is getting. Also additives can change the taste of the water and put some piggies off drinking entirely. They should be able to get enough vitamin C from daily fresh vegies. I use the following calculator to ensure my boys are getting enough vitamin C from their vegies as they have no added vitamin C in their dry food and their only source of it is from their vegies.

http://www.bbevs.com.au/index.php/pet-information/guinea-pigs/vitamin-c-calculator
 
The veg in their diet should provide enough Vit C unless for any reason they may need anymore such as they are recovering from a illness or have Vitamin C deficiency such as Scurvy. Here is some useful infomation on how much vitamin C guinea pigs need. It comes from a great medical website for guinea pigs: http://www.guinealynx.info/scurvy.html always worth keeping a note of this site as it has tons of infomation on.

Guinea Lynx also has a sortable food list that gives you nutritional info on veggies so you can see how much is in a food type http://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html#chart

From what you've said regarding their diet, I wouldn't beleive they need any more additional Vit C and wouldn't recomend adding drops to water. Hope this helps
 
Hi :)
As the above posts say, your piggies should get most of their vitamin C from their veggies and dry food.

I have only given mine added vitamin C once and that was due to an illness.

Try no not them them too much fruit as this can cause upset tummies and mouth ulcers. Mine get a bit of apple, pear or melon once or twice a week as a treat.

You may find this link helpful for what foods are best to feed and what should be avoided. There is also a list of foods high in vitamin C http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42

Welcome to the world of piggyhood :)
 
Vitamin C in their water is generally not recommended. As an example: I have two boars. One drinks from the water bottle several times a times a day. The other one hardly ever does (I suspect because he hogs a lot of the water-retaining veggie and gets a lot of his water from there). If I put drops in their water, Yoshi would get absolutely shedloads, and Machu would get virtually none.

Bell peppers have loads of vitamin C, are suitable for frequent feeding, and are very popular with most piggies. You can easily give them what they need with good-quality pellets and fresh veg.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top