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What to feed and what not to feed a guinea pig! ( a guinea pig diet )

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dm120719
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Dm120719

Guinea pig's are Herbivores which means they are adapted to eat plant life , not meat .
Typically , domestic guinea pigs are fed on pellets too made with a type of hay ( alfalfa or timothy) , vitamins and minerals .
These are not necessarily needed , so if you decide to not feed pellets you will have to make up for those vitamins and minerals with some more veggies , personaly i feed pellets but only 1/6 cup of pellets per two guinea pigs
The biggest part of their diet is hay !
Feed big quantities of hay everyday.
Next is veggies , so heres a list of veggies to feed your guinea pig!

*Lettuce any type of lettuce (apart from iceberg as it contains a lot of chemicals and not much of the good stuff)
*Cucumber ( a piece or two a day)
*Peppers , red , yellow and green ( you can also feed orange but most don't enjoy it)
*Broccoli
*Cauliflower
*Kale
*Fennel
*Any herbs ( Dill , parsley ,Coriander ect )
*tomatoes (Kinda a fruit , lol)
*spinach (Not too much as it contains oxalic acid )
*asparagus
*Rocket
*savoy cabbage
*turnips
*Watercress
*courgette
*chicory
*Brussel Sprouts


Now , fruits (remember , fruits are to only be fed as a treat )

*blueberries
*grapes
*apple
*banana
*strawberries
*raspberries
*blackberries
*orange
*Melon
*apricot
*pear
*Cherries (i'd only feed one once a month , as it's made my poor piggie sick once )
*cranberries

Now , what NOT to feed guinea pigs

*Bread (okay as a treat i guess , it's never made my piggie sick)
*Biscuits
*Chocolate (very deadly to a piggie )
*Citrus Fruit
*Any dairy product
*Nightshade
(these are the most deadly ones , apart from bread)
*Rhubarb

piggies.webp

EDITTED BY MODERATOR
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Peppertheguineapiggie said:
Guinea pig's are Herbivores which means they are adapted to eat plant life , not meat .
Typically , domestic guinea pigs are fed on pellets too made with a type of hay ( alfalfa or timothy) , vitamins and minerals .
These are not necessarily needed , so if you decide to not feed pellets you will have to make up for those vitamins and minerals with some more veggies , personaly i feed pellets but only 1/6 cup of pellets per two guinea pigs
The biggest part of their diet is hay !
Feed big quantities of hay everyday.
Next is veggies , so heres a list of veggies to feed your guinea pig!

*Lettuce any type of lettuce (apart from iceberg as it contains a lot of chemicals and not much of the good stuff)
*Cucumber ( a piece or two a day)
*Peppers , red , yellow and green ( you can also feed orange but most don't enjoy it)
*Broccoli
*Cauliflower
*Kale
*Fennel
*Any herbs ( Dill , parsley ,Coriander ect )
*tomatoes (Kinda a fruit , lol)
*spinach (Not too much as it contains oxalic acid )
*asparagus
*Rocket
*savoy cabbage
*turnips
*Watercress
*courgette
*chicory
*Brussel Sprouts
*rhubarb

Now , fruits (remember , fruits are to only be fed as a treat )

*blueberries
*grapes
*apple
*banana
*strawberries
*raspberries
*blackberries
*orange
*Melon
*apricot
*pear
*Cherries (i'd only feed one once a month , as it's made my poor piggie sick once )
*cranberries

Now , what NOT to feed guinea pigs

*Bread (okay as a treat i guess , it's never made my piggie sick)
*Biscuits
*Chocolate (very deadly to a piggie )
*Citrus Fruit
*Any dairy product
*Nightshade
(these are the most deadly ones , apart from bread)

View attachment 116701
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

Thank you for posting your information.

Please note that stone fruits (cherries, apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines) are NOT recommended for guinea pigs and that ANY fruit (including tomato) should at the very best only feature as a very occasional treat and not as a regular part of the diet.

Please also be aware that fresh veg is only 10% of what a guinea pig should eat in a day; over 80% should be hay and 1 tablespoon of pellets (and not muesli/dry mix) should make the last 5%.

It is the hay that is essential for long term gut and dental health; and it can also add 1-2 years to your piggy's life span if you do not overfeed on veg (especially not on fatty and sugary veg like root veg, sweet corn and fruit) in general or on pellets full of empty fillers. ;)

Sadly your food pyramid is not quite correct with potentially life shortening consequences - hay should take up most of it and pellets should be just a tiny tip at the top! Fruit should ideally not feature at all with the exception of a small slice of pepper, nor should carrots.
Veg should take up a lot less room, too. Veg is NOT the mainstay of a piggy diet but more in the way of a daily treat.
That is the reason why we see so many people with guinea pigs with a massive potentially life-threatening weight loss because piggies may still nibble on veg when they have long stopped eating hay - which you cannot control by eye anyway. Please make sure that you weigh your guinea pigs once weekly throughout life. :(

Please also be aware that many of the recommended green veg are high in calcium. In a hard water country like the UK, too much of it can quickly cause bladder stones as we see only all too often on this forum.
Your diet recommendations unfortunately do not take the variance between water hardness, individual water intake, pellet composition and quantity into account - yet water and pellets are the areas where actually most calcium can come from, especially in the UK. Different hays have a different calcium content, too. :(

I REALLY wish that whoever is so keen on promoting a high calcium veg diet (ca : ph ratio diet ) would give very precise advice for ALL areas of a diet to help any users work out a sustainable diet and not just cover 10% of the food intake and leave the rest to chance... Which in our member's overwhelming experience has gone all too often wrong, unfortunately. :(

You can find our own detailed diet guide at the top of this section together with other informative food guides. They all have a green background. Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Green pepper and cucumber. Every days dude!

Did someone put the cucumber like its shown on purpose? 🤣
 
Sorry I had to amend your post. Rhubarb is poisonous and not safe for piggies so I have moved it to the bottom of your list just in case someone viewing the forum doesn't read the comments and feeds it to their pigs
 
Lady Kelly said:
Sorry I had to amend your post. Rhubarb is poisonous and not safe for piggies so I have moved it to the bottom of your list just in case someone viewing the forum doesn't read the comments and feeds it to their pigs
Click to expand...
Good idea .
 
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