Treats Can they eat oats?

@spy9doc: I only braved the sunflower seeds after trying some other things said to be certain death as choking hazards: bell pepper seeds, peas, etc.

I've never had anything remotely resembling an issue and like the oats I've been feeding them for years to a large herd. In my experience, my pigs chew them well. If you're really worried, though, you could grind them in a food processor or coffee grinder and sprinkle them over your pellets. The benefit would be the same, and you wouldn't need to worry about choking.

On the "vet says" comment, I was just thinking how easy it is, for those of us who think ourselves experts in cavy care, to dismiss the things we don't personally support with the almighty "my vet says" while at the same time regarding other matters, we urge folks NOT to implicitly trust the advice of a vet because there are so many unknowns in the realm of cavy care!

Ultimately what we feed our guinea pigs is up to us.

I tend to agree with Paula for the most part about vets, but in cases like this where these are trusted exotic veterinarians that I've never had cause to disagree with before, I believe them. And my own experience, which has as much merit as anyone else's. When I've attempted to add oats to the diet to put weight on guinea pigs, this has resulted in misshaped stool, with a mushy consistency. I've had much better luck adding fresh grass.

You can read more about feeding carbohydrates on this website--
(broken link removed)

That site does say "In certain cases such as where a cavy needs to gain weight oats can be given as a supplement in their diet".