What Should You Feed Guinea Pigs – The part of guinea pig care that will affect the health of your guinea pig is the food it eats. Like other small pets, guinea pigs are herbivores. They also have a sensitive digestive system that has special nutritional and dietary requirements to function properly. Following our recommended diet for your guinea pig will help maintain a healthy weight and prevent other health problems. It will also keep your pig happy and active!
This article covers everything you need to know about feeding your guinea pig a healthy, nutritious and complete diet. We cover what foods they should eat and how much they should eat, as well as recommend the best pig feed products. The entire article is full of useful information for guinea pig owners, but if you are looking for information on a specific part of the Cavay’s diet, use the content link to go to this section.
What Should You Feed Guinea Pigs
To help ensure a long and healthy life for your guinea pig, you need to make sure that you feed him a daily diet that includes these important ingredients:
Straw Or Hay? What To Feed Rabbits & Guinea Pigs?
Unlimited water and hay should be available to your guinea pig at all times. It is usually easier to provide clean, cold water through a water bottle. Do not add vitamin C or other supplements to your pig’s water (find out more about this in the section on vitamin C for guinea pigs).
Your pig should also be fed a high-quality pellet daily to ensure that it receives the minimum amount of vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients. The type of pellet given depends on the age of the guinea pig (see the next section ‘Age of the guinea pig and nutrition’). Fresh vegetables also help round out Kaffee’s diet, providing essential vitamin C and other nutrients.
Although guinea pigs get most of the nutrients they need from good pasta and vegetables, guinea pigs can’t make their own vitamin C, leaving them vulnerable to scurvy. You may want to give them a vitamin C supplement to ensure consistency in their diet.
The nutritional needs of young pigs and guinea pigs are different from those of adults. Growing guinea pigs should eat alfalfa pellets and can have alfalfa grass in addition to regular grass hay. Pregnant and lactating mothers should follow the same diet.
Guinea Pigs Fruit And Vegetables Consumption (feeding Guide)
A guinea pig is considered “adult” when it reaches six months of age. At this point, they should be transitioning to adult food. Mature pigs should have grass hay and timothy pellets with grass in the middle of their diet. Alfalfa should only be given as a supplement if your pet needs it or treated regularly. Too much calcium can cause bladder stones in older pigs.
Hay is one of the most important parts of a guinea pig’s diet. This is because (like water) it should always be available by chewing. Pigs’ digestive systems are constantly moving, so they must have unlimited access to high-quality hay to feed on. Eating grass also requires gentle grinding of their teeth, so it helps prevent them from growing too large. Hay is also important to provide the necessary fiber that the pig needs.
Most grass hays are similar in nutritional value. You can find a favorite type of guinea pig. Mixed feeding is a good way to give your pet variety and prevent boredom.
Feeding alfalfa is only recommended for young guinea pigs or pregnant or lactating mothers. It can occasionally be given to malnourished mature pigs as a supplement, but should not be given in place of grass hay. Alfalfa is high in calcium which can cause bladder stones in older pigs.
Guinea Pig Food Doesn’t Need To Be Restricted! Here’s Why
You can buy grass at pet stores or order it online. If you have the space to spare, buying in bulk is a great way to save money. Buying hay directly from a farm or feed store will cost less than hay from a pet store and the hay will also be cleaner. When buying grass, make sure it is clean. It should be green and fragrant, but not moldy.
You can put hay on a wire or wooden rack to keep it clean and out of the cage or pen floor.
Our recommendations include national brands that you can find at pet stores or order on Amazon. We also have farms that you can order directly for larger quantities.
If you are buying timothy hay for your guinea pigs, you may have the option of “cutting” either first, second, or third. These numbered pieces indicate which hay crop was produced during the growing season. In general, the second piece is better because it has a good balance of nutrients and fiber and is more homogeneous. Many owners prefer to cut third timothy grass, but it is rare and may not happen during a bad season.
Foods That Guinea Pigs Should And Should Not Eat
We’re big fans of Oxbow, mainly because it’s easy to buy for owners in the US. It is one of the best brands available at most pet stores and it is very easy to order hay online. They offer several types of hay that are good for small animals like guinea pigs. Their leaves are grown in the USA and hand picked to ensure the best product.
Small Pet Select is the largest online supplier of hay for small pets. They only offer timothy grass and garden grass, but both are good choices for guinea pigs.
The only thing that Small Pet Select does differently, though, is that they package and ship their hay in a cardboard box, which is a better long-term storage option for hay storage than plastic bags. They give timothy hay in the first, second and third sense.
Farmer Dave is located in upstate New York and specializes in high quality, organic pet supplies for small owners. Sadly, his choice of grass is limited to Timothy, but he delivers in the first, second, and third cuts. They also ship large boxes of hay, which are great for guinea pig owners and a full house of hungry pigs. Currently, he offers 10-pound, 25-pound and 35-pound boxes.
Guinea Pig Diet Guide: Complete Health And Nutrition For Cavies
If you want to buy hay directly from the farmer but don’t need such a large quantity, check out Fay’s Hay. Also in upstate New York, Alicia Fay owns a small family farm that sells hay to large animal farms in the Northeast. Now they offer delicious pig hay for small animal owners, too. All their grass is pesticide and chemical free, and is also sun and wind dried on their farm.
They only sell timothy hay and a garden hay mix that has a small amount of alfalfa, but is available in the first and second cut, or a combination of the two. Available sizes include 1 pound, 5 pounds, 10 pounds, and 20 pounds.
When you walk into a pet store, you are immediately struck by tons of pig food options. It requires nuts, seeds, and brightly colored pellets. It can be overwhelming. Guinea pigs can’t eat any of that, so shopping is almost too easy.
Guinea pigs should only eat high-quality, colorless timothy pellets that contain vitamin C (no nuts, seeds, or colored bits). When choosing pig food, look for pellets with vitamin C. Ingredients or corn and anything made from animal products.
A Natural Life For A Guinea Pig
Each guinea pig should eat about 1/8 cup of pellets per day. As long as you provide plenty of fresh grass and enough vegetables (more on this in the next section), the pig shouldn’t eat too much.
Most guinea pig supplements are alfalfa based. These types should only be given to guinea pigs under 6 months of age or pregnant pigs.
Choosing the right pellet for your guinea pig will ensure that the piglet gets the daily requirements of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in their diet.
Not surprisingly, Oxbow appears in the article again! Available at most US pet stores and easy to order online, Oxbow also makes one of the best guinea pig foods available. These supplements are specially formulated for older pigs, based on timothy hay and fortified with stabilized vitamin C. .
What Can Guinea Pigs Eat?
If you have young pigs to care for or a pregnant or lactating mother, Oxbow makes small guinea pig pellets. Similar to adult food, these tablets are fortified with fortified vitamin C, but the basis is alfalfa.
It can be fed in unlimited quantities to pigs under 6 months of age and pregnant or lactating pigs.
If your little animals turn up their crooked noses at Oxbow, KMS Hayloft pellets are a great alternative. Although you have to order it online.
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