Vitamin C

[wheeks_squeeks]

Hi everyone, I'm thinking of how should I give my guinea pigs vitamin C, I do feed vegetables (cilantro, bell pepper, parsley...) and I used to feed Oxbow vitamin C tablets but since I have 3 guinea pigs I would have to buy them online quite often. Right now, I give them liquid child vitamin C. How do you prefer to give vitamin C to your piggies?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Guinea pigs get all their vitamin c needs from
a healthy balanced diet and should not be supplemented. You won’t find any long term owners on the forum who do supplement.

Long term supplementation is at best a waste of time and money - excess vit c is simply excreted in the urine. So what you are supplementing with in addition to a healthy diet is just coming straight out.

At worst it can cause health issues. If you supplement, then their bodies become used to abnormally high amounts of vitamin c. This means that if that level drop (even if the level drops to what would be considered within normal levels for any other piggy), the drop will cause scurvy.

Vitamin c supplements should only be used as part of a short course - for two week- to boost the immune system during a period of illness.

Any piggy who has been supplemented long term should be very slowly and carefully weaned off of supplements over a period of many week so as to not cause problems.

Make sure, as you are feeding parsley, that you do not give much and don’t give it often. It is high in calcium so needs to be kept limited.