pellet-free diet

[Access]

I have an excess of vegetables in my fridge, is there anything wrong with feeding them nothing but vegetables and hay? Mainly I have romaine lettuce, which doesn't keep very well and occasional carrots (1 baby carrot a day or less) and there is no way I can eat it all myself before it spoils. Normally they get Cavy Cuisine, would they be missing anything in their diet if they don't get it for a week or two? They don't like the cavy cuisine too much and only eat it when all the hay and fresh vegetables are gone.

[spiffykinkajou]

Originally Posted by Access

I have an excess of vegetables in my fridge, is there anything wrong with feeding them nothing but vegetables and hay? ....... Normally they get Cavy Cuisine, would they be missing anything in their diet if they don't get it for a week or two? They don't like the cavy cuisine too much and only eat it when all the hay and fresh vegetables are gone.

First of all, how old are your guinea pigs?
Please visit this page. It goes into detail what they specifically need.
Too many vegetables (especially if they get no pellets) can give them diarrhea and/or make them ill.
They really need a good balance of veggies, pellets, and hay. Their age also makes a difference.
I have read through this forum that too much calcium in adults can cause bladder stones.
http://www.guinealynx.com/diet.html
http://www.guinealynx.com/fave.html
http://www.guinealynx.com/diet_vegs.html

[Percy's Mom]

You can feed a pellet free diet, but it requires a lot more work than just feeding extra veggies and cutting the pellets out of their diet. You have to know what nutrients are in everything, measure how much you're giving, and make sure they have a balanced diet. I certainly hope even with their pellets that romaine and carrots aren't the only veggies they're getting now. They need a much more varied diet.

[Piglet]

Mine havn't received pellets for well over a year, but I don't count or measure anything that is given to them. I know that they are getting enough veggies, so what's the need? Mine get - romaine lettuce, ball peppers, kale, spinach, brocolli, salad mix, cilantro, parsley, apples, carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers and....can't think of anything else! That's what their whole diet consists of - of course they don't get that all in one day They also eat a lot of fresh grass daily.

[Charlie's_mamma]

Umm I don't think you should be feeding them spinach. I've heard that it's posinous.

[spiffykinkajou]

http://www.guinealynx.com/diet_vegs.html

They can have spinach but I wouldn't give them too much or all the time. Spinach has a higher calcium content.

[Percy's Mom]

Definitely not poisonous. Just not a good idea in large quantities due to the higher calcium content as spiffykinkajou said.

[Piglet]

Yes, spinach is only given once or twice a fortnight. I've been on this forum long enough to know that

[Ly&Pigs]

A HAFF (hay and fresh foods) diet must be nutritionally balanced. It's good to do a lot of research before giving this type of diet. Piglet is feeding a good nutritionally balanced diet from what she's posted. You have to feed a LARGE variety of veggies if you aren't giving pellets.

Pellets should be the least part of any guinea pigs diet. They should receive very limited quantities of pellets per day. The recommended is 1/8th of a cup per pig but you can feed up to 1/4th of a cup per pig but no more than that. Pigs under 6 months should get unlimited pellets to help them grow.

[jabberwock]

My pigs won't eat pellets. I got some very helpful advice on this forum (before that I hadn't actually picked up that the main thing about pellets was the vitamin C - I hope that's right). I spent a happy weekend studying vitamin C, Ca and P levels from the tables on guinealynx, weighed sample quantities of veggies, did a few sums and worked out a diet that's seems to be OK for Ca/P ratios, isn't high in sugar and has absolutely oodles of Vitamin C (I used to be a research scientist, so I enjoyed the investigation enormously). Now I don't need to weigh and measure any more - you can soon judge the quantities by eye.

I also borrowed a book on British grasses from the library and started Googling to try and find their nutritional content. Grass is still the piggies' all time favourite food. Hay is always there but they mostly eat it at night (because I'm mean and don't get up at 2 in the morning to go out and get fresh grass!). They get veggies/forage in the morning and evening.

I did approach the pellet-free diet with great care and it took a lot of work for a while but it's going smoothly now.