Fresh Food: What fruits and veggies are good for pigs to eat?

[sdpiggylvr]

I currently feed my guinea pigs romaine lettuce, spinach, parsley, and some red lettuce leaves. Are those vegetables ok for them to eat? I feed spinach one day, parlsey the next, etc. Is this a good way to feed?
Which fruits and veggies are good for them to eat? How do you feed the veggies?
Thanks in advance.

[Ly&Pigs]

You're diet isn't really there yet. You need some adjustments.

Have you seen http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...gie-menus.html and http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ants-list.html?

Spinach really isn't a good veggie to feed. It's through the roof in oxalic acid and Vitamin A which can both cause problems if fed too much over a long period of time. Parsley is high in calcium.

The best basis for a daily diet is a variety of lettuces (any but iceburg), bell pepper (green is lowest in sugars) and cilantro. Zucchini is another good daily.

Then you would add in rotating veggies. Parsley is better fed every 3-4 days instead of every 2 days in pigs over 6 months.

[sdpiggylvr]

I have two female guinea pigs. This is their current diet: (amounts are for both of them)

AM: 1/4 cup of Kaytee Timothy Complete pellets, large handful of hay, change of water
PM: 2 cups of a mixture of vegetables, large handful of hay

Is this diet a good diet? Or should I be feeding more or less of something? Should I be feeding something different?

Thanks in advance.

[ShaunaMuse]

Hi!

First and for most you should review this.

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ants-list.html

It has everything you need to help plan an varied diet for your piglets. I am currently shifting my menu around for my 4 boys as well, I can tell you however that they need lots of leafy greens, all lettuce but iceberg and spinach.) Green peppers, about 1/8th per pig, unlimited hay no matter the time of day and yes water changed daily.

Review the link and set up a diet. Vary it as much as you can so the piglet or piglets get a good range for better health and happiness!

[JD In Van]

Timothey complete contains some perservitives that I recall are very bad for your pigs.

Where are you? Can you get Oxbow?

[Ly&Pigs]

I'm not really sure why you started another thread about diet when you have two already where things have been addressed.

There was this one- http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...k-my-pigs.html where it was explained that Kaytee feeds aren't good. You said you were going to switch to Oxbow. So as far as the pellets, no they are not good. They contain too many low quality ingredients, fillers and a potentially cancer causing preservative.

And this one (which I've merged your new thread into) where I gave you some good advice regarding veggies. Your questions could have been added to this thread instead of making yet another thread for the same questions. Please in the future just add any veggie or diet questions to this thread instead of making more threads about the same thing. Thanks.

I can't tell you if your veggie diet is good or not as you've only put the total amount (which is good) but not each veggie you are feeding and the amounts of each veggie you are feeding. It is better to split veggie feedings into a.m. and p.m. feedings as cavies are constant foragers.

[sdpiggylvr]

I have a 3 year old female guinea pig. For most of her life, I am sorry and ashamed to admit, she lived in a pet store cage. I unknowingly fed her the wrong pellet brand and fed her the wrong vegetables. I feel like I have failed as a guinea pig owner.
Right now I feed her Kaytee Timothy Complete, going to switch to Oxbow Cavy Cuisine. I feed her about a cup of vegetables daily - a varying mixture of cilantro, parsley, spinach, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce. Every other day she gets a baby carrot and almost everyday gets a strawberry or slice of apple/orange.
The bathroom is about the size of a 2x5 C&C Cage. (I think.) It's got marble floors, and I use the towel/fleece bedding, so I THINK there is enough grip.
So anyways, my guinea pig, Maggie, seems overweight. You can tell by the prominent "curves" past her shoulders. I am housing her, along with her best buddy, Sophia, in my bathroom with the towel/fleece bedding until I can make a C&C Cage for the two of them.
What should I do to make her more thin? It doesn't seem healthy for her to be this way ... I want to extend her life as long as possible. How can we get her to be slimmer? More exercise? Less pellets or something? HELP!

[akstrohm]

What brand pellets are you feeding and how much? What veggies are you feeding and how much? How big is the bathroom? Is there enough grip to the surface so she can run around? How much does she weigh? Do you feed any treats?

Also be careful housing them in the bathroom. The large fluctuations in temperature and humidity could be stressful. Mold also grows more easily in bathrooms.

[JD In Van]

Kaytee has a cancer causing enzime in it. Spinach is also pretty gassy so go easy on that and apples/oranges have a lot of sugar - fruit should be like 2 times a week and that's it and parsley has a lot of calcium so it shouldn't be fed daily.

She should be getting bell peppers daily along with her greens to meet her Vit C requirements going to Oxbow should help a bit too as it has stabilized vit c in it. You should check out some of the sample menus at the top of the diet section as they lay out the kind of variety that two pigs need. Each pig needs 1 cup a day too (best divided up between two feedings if you can).

How much pellets do they get a day? They only need 1/8-1/4 of a cup each (so you shouldn't be offering more then 1/4-1/2 cup a day). I know I have one big pig who hogs the pellets so I've even broken up pellets further into 2 1/8 cup feedings for my boys to make sure the big one doesn't glut himself on them and nothing else.

Also are you giving them unlimited grass hay?

[akstrohm]

Originally Posted by JD In Van

Kaytee has a cancer causing enzime in it.

Ethoxyquin is an antioxidant, not an enzyme.

[JD In Van]

Originally Posted by akstrohm

Ethoxyquin is an antioxidant, not an enzyme.

Ah! I had it on a list of things to check for in food as an enzyme. I shall change it.

It's still toxic though.