Vitamin C

[LaurenS]

Hi I’m worried that my guinea pig doesn’t get enough vitamin C in her diet. Her diet consists of hay, some pellets and of course vegetables but she’s not very fond of veg and won’t each much at all, unless it’s carrots which I don’t give often. I give them green bell pepper often to make sure they get enough vitamin C and they all eat it except her. Sometimes she’ll manage two small pieces and most of the time just won’t want it at all. There’s a lot of veg she will just sniff and leave so I'm worried she will be vitamin c deficient. I’ve heard of people giving vitamin C in a syringe to their guinea pigs but I don’t know if I should do this. Just to add she only weighs about 750 grams and should be about 11 months old (not sure exactly because she was adopted)

 

[LaurenS]

Some days she will eat her share in veg and other days she won’t touch any of it. The days she won’t touch it are more often than the days when she will eat it.

 

[DMS260820]

You could try changing the pellets to the highest vit c ones you could find. They only need one tablespoon per pig per day. Scatter feeding instead of using a bowl is best if one pig hogs the bowl alot.

If you do change pellet brands. Mix the old with the new first, slowly lowering the old ones amount each day, until its 100% new pellets.

Some high vit c or good vit c veg I feed are...

Kale high vit c but high calcium so not an everyday food.

Coriandor or in USA named cilantro has good vit c. I feed this daily, but only a couple of stems with leaves left on.

Red bell and green bell pepper

Spinach has high vit c but again, do not feed everyday. As high calcium. High calcium can lead to bladder stones.

Parsnip has OK vit c but not an everyday food.

 

[LaurenS]

You could try changing the pellets to the highest vit c ones you could find. They only need one tablespoon per pig per day. Scatter feeding instead of using a bowl is best if one pig hogs the bowl alot.

If you do change pellet brands. Mix the old with the new first, slowly lowering the old ones amount each day, until its 100% new pellets.

Some high vit c or good vit c veg I feed are...

Kale high vit c but high calcium so not an everyday food.

Coriandor or in USA named cilantro has good vit c. I feed this daily, but only a couple of stems with leaves left on.

Red bell and green bell pepper

Spinach has high vit c but again, do not feed everyday. As high calcium. High calcium can lead to bladder stones.

Parsnip has OK vit c but not an everyday food.

Thanks, I already feed them the best pellets I could find but not sure of how good their vitamin c content is I’ll have to check. She does like spinach so I’ll try give her it more often but not too often and she likes coriander so I’ll start buying that again

 

[PigglePuggle]

Coriander is great for vitamin C, and most pellets contain vit C but you should check your brand! If you are worried you could buy some pro-C probiotic plus vit C and syringe feed her a couple of mls a few times a week. I wouldnt go down the route of putting it in the drinking water as vit C degrades quite fast, if you buy a pot of pro-C powder you can just make up what you need fresh each day. I believe some people prefer to sprinkle to pro-C powder on food too! All options but getting her interested in fresh veg would of course be better than supplements.
Have you tried feeding beansprouts? They are a good source of vit C and very popular with my piggies!

 

[VickiA]

Mine get coriander every day and love it. Even new arrivals who are suspicious of anything that isn’t carrot or cabbage come round to loving coriander.

Here’s our guide to Vit C in veggies and fruit. Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading