Vitamin c

[DM190921]

Hello everyone, hope your all well. I have a question about vitamin c . My girls won’t drink water with vitamin c drops added & they won’t take it in hay tablet form either. I have tried to mix the drops with a smoothie & feed with a syringe but have had no luck. I have looked online for alternatives but can’t find anything other than things to add to water. I’m so worried the girls won’t get enough vitamin c & get a deficiency. Any advice on what I could do would be great please. Thank you for reading

 

[Piggies&buns]

They do not need vitamin c supplemented to them at all, provided you give them a good hay based diet with some access to grass (either picked or via a run on the lawn) and with a variety of veg including high Vit c veg such as coriander and bell pepper. Grass and hay make the bulk of their diet and contain Vit c. Their guinea pig pellets are also fortified with Vit c anyway so they absolutely will not get a Vit c deficiency if you follow the diet guides.

It is not recommended to put Vit c drops in their water in any event as it changes the taste and can stop them drinking.

 

[DM190921]

They do not need vitamin c supplemented to them at all, provided you give them a good hay based diet with some access to grass (either picked or via a run on the lawn) and with a variety of veg including high Vit c veg such as coriander and bell pepper. Grass and hay make the bulk of their diet and contain Vit c and is the whole reason guinea pigs don’t make their own Vit c. Their guinea pig pellets are also fortified with Vit c anyway so they absolutely will not get a Vit c deficiency if you follow the diet guides.

It is not recommended to put Vit c drops in their water in any event as it changes the taste and can stop them drinking.

Hello & thank you so much for replying. I didn’t realise they didn’t need supplemental vitamin c. Very relieved to know this. My girls have lots of fresh Timothy hay daily, access to grass daily just now as the weathers been lovely. They also have Burges pellets & spring greens, sometimes small amounts of kale or spinach & some safe fresh herbs. I will get them bell peppers but they do get fresh greens daily & occasionally fruit as a treat

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hello & thank you so much for replying. I didn’t realise they didn’t need supplemental vitamin c. Very relieved to know this. My girls have lots of fresh Timothy hay daily, access to grass daily just now as the weathers been lovely. They also have Burges pellets & spring greens, sometimes small amounts of kale or spinach & some safe fresh herbs. I will get them bell peppers but they do get fresh greens daily & occasionally fruit as a treat

Kale and spinach need to be kept strictly limited due to high Levels of calcium. No more than one small amount once a week. Spring greens are fine to feed but again need to be a small as they have higher oxalate levels but are good for Vit c. Basically everything in moderation but with variety!

Keep pellets strictly limited to one tablespoon per piggy per day. Overfeeding pellets greatly increases the amount of calcium they intake which can lead to health issues

I will link in some feeding guides below but every day my piggies get fed some cucumber, some lettuce (don’t feed iceberg to them though), bell pepper and coriander. I will sometimes add in other items if I’ve got them in but if not it’s the main basis of lettuce, cucumber, coriander and pepper

Fruit as a very occasional treat is fine, but is not important in their diet at all and should be kept limited.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading

 

[Wiebke]

Hello everyone, hope your all well. I have a question about vitamin c . My girls won’t drink water with vitamin c drops added & they won’t take it in hay tablet form either. I have tried to mix the drops with a smoothie & feed with a syringe but have had no luck. I have looked online for alternatives but can’t find anything other than things to add to water. I’m so worried the girls won’t get enough vitamin c & get a deficiency. Any advice on what I could do would be great please. Thank you for reading

Hi!

Piggies have about double the amount of taste buds compared to humans and five times of that of cats. They don't like additives in their water (it promotes the growth of algae if anything!)
All About Drinking And Bottles

The simple truth is that if you feed a good diet, you won't need any additives - it all comes with their normal food.
Key to the diet is hay and fresh grass - it should make around 80% or more of their daily food intake. Fresh growing green grass is actually high in vitamin C and hay also still contains some. They are the reason why piggies have never had the need to make their own vitamin C in the first place. Because hay and grass are not part of our human diet, they are generally treated as 'empty' foods without any nutritional value. The more you encourage your piggies to eat from this food source, the healthier they will be. It can make the difference between them reaching the lower or the upper end of the average life expectancy more reliably (5-7 years).
Please be careful to get your piggies' gut used to any fresh grass by introducing it gradually or you may get diarrhea or even bloating.

Include a veg high in vitamin C into every meal, like a slice of pepper of any colour, a sprig of two of fresh leafy herbs (great source of vitamin, minerals etc.!), a bit of greens (milder UK cousin to kale) or a pinch of kale in turn, combined with some watery low nutrition veg, more so when fresh dog pee free and untreated grass is not available. And don't overfeed veg please.
Stay away from sugary/fattening veg like carrot and sweetcorn or too much fruit - too much can lead to the wrong kind of bacteria flourishing in the gut. A small amount should be at the best a very occasional treat but no more.

Also go lightly on pellets; even timothy based no added calcium ones contain a lot more empty filler than hay itself (no filler there!) and more calcium than the veg highest in calcium, kale.

I would also recommend to filter your water. More calcium in the diet comes by the water and the pellets than by any veg.

You can find more detailed information on all food groups in this practical guide here: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

 

[DM190921]

Hello & thank you so much for replying. I didn’t realise they didn’t need supplemental vitamin c. Very relieved to know this. My girls have lots of fresh Timothy hay daily, access to grass daily just now as the weathers been lovely. They also have Burges pellets & spring greens, sometimes small amounts of kale or spinach & some safe fresh herbs. I will get them bell peppers but they do get fresh greens daily & occasionally fruit as a treat

 

[DM190921]

Kale and spinach need to be kept strictly limited due to high Levels of calcium. No more than one small amount once a week. Spring greens are fine to feed but again need to be a small as they have higher oxalate levels but are good for Vit c. Basically everything in moderation but with variety!

Keep pellets strictly limited to one tablespoon per piggy per day. Overfeeding pellets greatly increases the amount of calcium they intake which can lead to health issues

I will link in some feeding guides below but every day my piggies get fed some cucumber, some lettuce (don’t feed iceberg to them though), bell pepper and coriander. I will sometimes add in other items if I’ve got them in but if not it’s the main basis of lettuce, cucumber, coriander and pepper

Fruit as a very occasional treat is fine, but is not important in their diet at all and should be kept limited.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading

Hello & thank you for replying. I forgot to add that I give cucumber daily. I have given iceberg lettuce once but won’t give again as didn’t know not to. I will lay off the spinach & kale but thankfully they only had some a couple of times. I was giving spring greens daily so will stop that also. I will need to cut their pellets to right amount you mentioned also. Such great advice, thank you. Theses are my first pigs so any advice is great. They have the full run of a room in the house with lots of play things that I read about on here like boxes, tunnels etc & have a big run in our garden & of course plenty cuddles. They are only 4 & half months

 

[DM190921]

Hi!

Piggies have about double the amount of taste buds compared to humans and five times of that of cats. They don't like additives in their water (it promotes the growth of algae if anything!)
All About Drinking And Bottles

The simple truth is that if you feed a good diet, you won't need any additives - it all comes with their normal food.
Key to the diet is hay and fresh grass - it should make around 80% or more of their daily food intake. Fresh growing green grass is actually high in vitamin C and hay also still contains some. They are the reason why piggies have never had the need to make their own vitamin C in the first place. Because hay and grass are not part of our human diet, they are generally treated as 'empty' foods without any nutritional value. The more you encourage your piggies to eat from this food source, the healthier they will be. It can make the difference between them reaching the lower or the upper end of the average life expectancy more reliably (5-7 years).
Please be careful to get your piggies' gut used to any fresh grass by introducing it gradually or you may get diarrhea or even bloating.

Include a veg high in vitamin C into every meal, like a slice of pepper of any colour, a sprig of two of fresh leafy herbs (great source of vitamin, minerals etc.!), a bit of greens (milder UK cousin to kale) or a pinch of kale in turn, combined with some watery low nutrition veg, more so when fresh dog pee free and untreated grass is not available. And don't overfeed veg please.
Stay away from sugary/fattening veg like carrot and sweetcorn or too much fruit - too much can lead to the wrong kind of bacteria flourishing in the gut. A small amount should be at the best a very occasional treat but no more.

Also go lightly on pellets; even timothy based no added calcium ones contain a lot more empty filler than hay itself (no filler there!) and more calcium than the veg highest in calcium, kale.

I would also recommend to filter your water. More calcium in the diet comes by the water and the pellets than by any veg.

You can find more detailed information on all food groups in this practical guide here: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Hi thank you so much for all the great advice I really appreciate advice as these girls are my first pigs & are about 4 & half months old. Also thank you for the info links, will read now. I had been giving some fruit daily but will stop that now though.

 

[DM190921]

Hi!

Piggies have about double the amount of taste buds compared to humans and five times of that of cats. They don't like additives in their water (it promotes the growth of algae if anything!)
All About Drinking And Bottles

The simple truth is that if you feed a good diet, you won't need any additives - it all comes with their normal food.
Key to the diet is hay and fresh grass - it should make around 80% or more of their daily food intake. Fresh growing green grass is actually high in vitamin C and hay also still contains some. They are the reason why piggies have never had the need to make their own vitamin C in the first place. Because hay and grass are not part of our human diet, they are generally treated as 'empty' foods without any nutritional value. The more you encourage your piggies to eat from this food source, the healthier they will be. It can make the difference between them reaching the lower or the upper end of the average life expectancy more reliably (5-7 years).
Please be careful to get your piggies' gut used to any fresh grass by introducing it gradually or you may get diarrhea or even bloating.

Include a veg high in vitamin C into every meal, like a slice of pepper of any colour, a sprig of two of fresh leafy herbs (great source of vitamin, minerals etc.!), a bit of greens (milder UK cousin to kale) or a pinch of kale in turn, combined with some watery low nutrition veg, more so when fresh dog pee free and untreated grass is not available. And don't overfeed veg please.
Stay away from sugary/fattening veg like carrot and sweetcorn or too much fruit - too much can lead to the wrong kind of bacteria flourishing in the gut. A small amount should be at the best a very occasional treat but no more.

Also go lightly on pellets; even timothy based no added calcium ones contain a lot more empty filler than hay itself (no filler there!) and more calcium than the veg highest in calcium, kale.

I would also recommend to filter your water. More calcium in the diet comes by the water and the pellets than by any veg.

You can find more detailed information on all food groups in this practical guide here: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Hello & thank you also for all the advice & links, it’s so helpful & appreciated I have read all advice from all replies now so will be taking it all on board & looking at links oh & do you mean buy filtered water or a system to filter the tap water itself?

 

[Wiebke]

Hello & thank you for replying. I forgot to add that I give cucumber daily. I have given iceberg lettuce once but won’t give again as didn’t know not to. I will lay off the spinach & kale but thankfully they only had some a couple of times. I was giving spring greens daily so will stop that also. I will need to cut their pellets to right amount you mentioned also. Such great advice, thank you. Theses are my first pigs so any advice is great. They have the full run of a room in the house with lots of play things that I read about on here like boxes, tunnels etc & have a big run in our garden & of course plenty cuddles. They are only 4 & half months

Hi thank you so much for all the great advice I really appreciate advice as these girls are my first pigs & are about 4 & half months old. Also thank you for the info links, will read now. I had been giving some fruit daily but will stop that now though.

Please don't beat yourself up. Diet is a minefield which is constantly expanding with new information feeding in, as we are wending our way through and are trying to find a suitable compromise between as natural a diet as possible (basically grass/hay, some wild or dry forage and the odd berry or fruit) and the fact that most owners live in an urban environment and rely on supermarkets.
Pellets were intruced in the middle of the last century to provide a cheaper concentrated form of feed than the natural feed as more and more land was intensively farmed. Unlike what most people think, pellets are not a superior form of feed - and the more pellets you feed, the disproportionally more hay your piggies won't eat.

Please stop fruit; and feed a very little once a week - as a special treat. It is too rich and too high in acid (which can cause potentially fatal lip infection, cheilitis).

Iceberg lettuce is not poisonous and can be safely fed in a pinch. It is however singularly devoid of any nutrients whatsoever and shouldn't part of a regular diet for that reason.

You will hopefully find our diet guide helpful as we have had time to work out the kind of questions that new owners really want the practical and precise answers to.

We have lots more helpful and informative guides on a wide range of issues we get the most questions, worries and cries for help from; including learning to understand guinea pigs, learn what is normal and what not, how to monitor health and weight and how to care for your piggies and also have fun with them safely.
Here is the access link. You may want to bookmark it and use it as useful resource. I am sure that there are some fascinating articles in there which may rather surprise you! The guide format allows us to update our guides as needed; unlike books.
Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides

Here is our emergency information access link - another one that you want to bookmark if you are ever in a panic: Emergency Resources and Critical Illness Care - Contents list and subforum link

Our full and even wider information can be accessed via the Guides shortcut on the top bar but you are of course always welcome to ask any questions you may have. the green links usually give access to a guide which deals with a point in greater depth than we may be able to discuss in a single post; especially as we are all doing this for free in our own free time.

If you please added your country, state/province or UK county to location in your account details (accessed via clicking on your username on the top bar), this makes it appear on the left with every post you make and allows us to tailor any recommendations straight away to what is relevant and available where you are. We have members and enquiries from literally all over the world with different backgrounds, climates, vet and rescue access, differing brand names (including medical) etc... It saves both sides time and allows us to indivdualise our answers instead of giving you the basic advice that fits anywhere. Thank you!

 

[DM190921]

Please don't beat yourself up. Diet is a minefield which is constantly expanding with new information feeding in, as we are wending our way through and are trying to find a suitable compromise between as natural a diet as possible (basically grass/hay, some wild or dry forage and the odd berry or fruit) and the fact that most owners live in an urban environment and rely on supermarkets.
Pellets were intruced in the middle of the last century to provide a cheaper concentrated form of feed than the natural feed as more and more land was intensively farmed. Unlike what most people think, pellets are not a superior form of feed - and the more pellets you feed, the disproportionally more hay your piggies won't eat.

Please stop fruit; and feed a very little once a week - as a special treat. It is too rich and too high in acid (which can cause potentially fatal lip infection, cheilitis).

Iceberg lettuce is not poisonous and can be safely fed in a pinch. It is however singularly devoid of any nutrients whatsoever and shouldn't part of a regular diet for that reason.

You will hopefully find our diet guide helpful as we have had time to work out the kind of questions that new owners really want the practical and precise answers to.

We have lots more helpful and informative guides on a wide range of issues we get the most questions, worries and cries for help from; including learning to understand guinea pigs, learn what is normal and what not, how to monitor health and weight and how to care for your piggies and also have fun with them safely.
Here is the access link. You may want to bookmark it and use it as useful resource. I am sure that there are some fascinating articles in there which may rather surprise you! The guide format allows us to update our guides as needed; unlike books.
Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides

Here is our emergency information access link - another one that you want to bookmark if you are ever in a panic: Emergency Resources and Critical Illness Care - Contents list and subforum link

Our full and even wider information can be accessed via the Guides shortcut on the top bar but you are of course always welcome to ask any questions you may have. the green links usually give access to a guide which deals with a point in greater depth than we may be able to discuss in a single post; especially as we are all doing this for free in our own free time.

If you please added your country, state/province or UK county to location in your account details (accessed via clicking on your username on the top bar), this makes it appear on the left with every post you make and allows us to tailor any recommendations straight away to what is relevant and available where you are. We have members and enquiries from literally all over the world with different backgrounds, climates, vet and rescue access, differing brand names (including medical) etc... It saves both sides time and allows us to indivdualise our answers instead of giving you the basic advice that fits anywhere. Thank you!

Thank you so much I will update where I’m from also