Should I put Vitamin C drops in Water or can I put Tang in the water?

[Ly&Pigs]

Simply, the answer is no.

Vitamin C drops in the water degrade too rapidly to do any good. Once the light hits the water bottle the C starts degrading and within a very short period of time, the C is already gone. Also the drops can distort the taste of the water making pigs drink much less.

Tang should NEVER EVER be put into a pigs water bottle. Tang contains refined sugars, very little vitamin C and dyes.

[VoodooJoint]

Let's also not forget that many Vitamin C drops also contain other vitamins and minerals that can cause health problems like bladder stones and sludge.

[frescchurch]

I give my piggies Vit C tabs from Oxbow. They are flavored, and even if your guineas don't like the taste, you can crumble them up and hide them in something yummy.

[Ly&Pigs]

The only time supplements like Oxbow C tabs or other plain chewable vitamin C or a liquid C that you syringe directly to the pigs should be given is if the pigs won't eat veggies or they are ill and off their food or have scurvy. If a person provides 1 cup of fresh veggies per day containing enough C, they really won't need a supplement.

[scrable]

I took my two new little girls to the vet for a check up. One weighs 1lb, the other 1.4. The vet said Oxbow pellets were great, the vegies were fine, but to feed 1/4 orange per day, per pig and make sure they eat that before the vegies. This seems like quite a bit looking at the nutrition charts. Any thoughts?

[VoodooJoint]

The pig doesn't need the orange and in fact too much orange or other citrus/acidy fruits can cause mouth sores.

A balanced diet and daily good, normal, veggie selection will provide all the C your pig should need.

[Ly&Pigs]

There is more C in bell pepper than oranges. Your vet is not very cavy savvy.

[Alawishes]

I am new to owning guinea pigs. My piggy doesn't really like oranges and she has food that has vit c, but I'm paranoid that she's not getting enough and then I'm afraid of over feeding it....so How much is too much and what other foods have a lot of vit c? I know you probably get asked this ALL the time, but pls be patient w/ me. I feed her variuos timothy hays (block form, hay, hay/flwr mix/ hay/veggie mix, etc), collard greens, carrots, parsley, oranges.
She love vitc yogart treats, but I do not want to feed her a lot of dairy, piggy muffins (a treat I got at the petstore), these little hay treats that look like mini wheats......I think that's it.....what other foods are high in vit C?

[Ly&Pigs]

Ditch the yogurt treats completely. Pigs should have no dairy at all as they are lactose intolerant. I'd also dump the piggy muffins.

collard greens, carrots, parsley, oranges.

This isn't a good balanced veggie diet. Too much Vitamin A and calcium. Take a look at the other sticky threads where you found this thread and see the ones marked sample veggie diets and Everything you need to know about a pigs diet- nutrition charts thread. You will be able to make a better diet for your pigs from these two threads and find out what are good Vitamin C foods.

[random09]

Mine wont eat veggies. I have tried. Any advice?

[TX_2_Pigs]

You have only had her a couple of days. Give her some time and do a search on introducing veggies. This topic has been discussed several times.

[webjetter]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

There is more C in bell pepper than oranges.

True statement, BUT, on the sticky thread Everything you need to know about a cavy's diet!!! READ ME- Nutrition Charts & Info - Guinea Pig Cages Forum it tells us to aim for a good balance of Calcium:Phosphorus (Ca:P) between 1.5:1 and 2:1, which means less Phosphorus than Calcium. The chart shows that oranges have 40mg of Calcium and 14mg of Phosphorus, almost a 3:1 ratio. Green and yellow bell peppers have more than TWICE the mg of Phosphorus than Calcium, a 0.5:1 ratio and red peppers have more than THREE TIMES the mg of Phosphorus than Calcium, ... doesn't that mean oranges have a much better ratio and therefore are better than bell peppers by comparison? I'm just curious if a little bit of orange and a little bit of pepper would be better than excluding the other food. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Debbie
PHOTO ALBUM: Deb's guinea piggies

[Ly&Pigs]

The way to balance the calcium/phosphorus is to use a variety of veggies. You can't really just go by one or two foods. When figuring the ratio, you use an entire day's (or meal's) worth of veggies. Other veggies will balance out the ratio.

doesn't that mean oranges have a much better ratio and therefore are better than bell peppers by comparison?

Oranges do have a better Ca:Ph ratio but they also are very high in sugar and are very acidic. You have to take all factors in consideration and not just the Ca:Ph ratio. Oranges compared to bell peppers have about 4 times the amount of sugar than green bell pepper and over twice the amount of sugar in red. Being they are an acidic fruit they can cause mouth sores if fed too often.

[Lakota]

I guess Rudy and Taffy are weird because they love the Vitamin C drops you add to water!

You're supposed to change the water daily with the Vitamin C drops added to solve the problem of the Vit C degradation.... or so I was told by my teacher. Given that Rudy and Taffy belong to the school at the moment, I have to follow my teacher's directions.

I do offer them fresh veggies high in Vitamin C too (they don't like them as much as other veggies), and they have these chew toys that look like dried oranges that they like to chew on. Hopefully between those 3 things, they're getting their Vitamin C.

[kayleemommy01]

You people really know your stuff. I eat veggies but have no idea what kinds of vitamins everything has. LOL! When I get my piggies I will look on the charts to see what I need to feed them, how much and when. Guess I need to go back and relearn everything in health and science class. I did very poorly in high school, I hated it. Took me 6 years to get out of high school. I was the oldest person in the entire high school at the time I graduated, I had a couple of friends older than me but they got kicked out because they were too old.