Vegetables Anything we should add?

There is nothing wrong with giving lettuce every day.

My three girls get the following every day

Lettuce (not romaine or iceberg)
Witloof (aka chicory, aka belgian endive)
cucumber
bell pepper (great for vitamin C)
cherry tomato (1 per pig)

this is all low calcium as I have one pig with sludgey pee.

I sometimes give them fruit, depending on what I am eating.

@bibliocavy , how old is your pig? Kale is extremely high in vitamin K, calcium, and some other things that pigs don't really need. I'd cut the kale back to just an occasional bit. If your pig is over six months old, I wouldn't feed that much parsley -- it's very high in calcium. You need more lettuce (red or green leaf is preferred, no iceberg, and romaine may cause calcium problems). They need bell peppers for vitamin C.

You also need much more of a variety of foods -- the more things they'll eat, the fewer problems you'll have when the grocery store is out of one of your staples.

I know others don't agree, but I won't feed carrot tops to mine. They're closely related to queen anne's lace, which isn't edible, and it's just not worth the risk to me. And they need no more than one baby carrot per pig per day.

See https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...y-nutrition-charts-poisonous-plants-list.html for suggestions on what you can feed and how often.

@SardonicSmile, belgian endive isn't low in calcium at all -- it's nearly double all the other usual lettuces.

I'd love to give him green pepper, but he doesn't like it apparently. I am going to try him with it just to be sure he really doesn't like it. Oliver likes carrot tops, but that doesn't mean they're good for him! So, no more carrot tops. I will add more lettuce, green or red leaf. I am not feeding him romaine. He can have some lettuce today. I'll cut down the parsely as well, since he's about 18 months old.

@bpatters

the "belgian endive" is just how it sometimes gets translated, but look it up like "witloof" and you know what it is, and that is not so high in calcium, about 20mg per 100 grams.

this is what it looks like

My girls are currently in a "we do not like red or yellow or orange bell peppers" mood. They do eat the green ones right now, you can try other colours, though some are higher in sugars I think.

Wait, I thought romaine is ok? It is on the chart as "almost daily"... right?

Romaine, for some unknown reason, can cause white pee in some pigs, hence the not recommending it especially for pigs prone to sludge.

Hmm... I haven't had that problem. But good to know just in case.

My two piggies love the green peppers, but Gizmo is starting to prefer the yellow, and his new favorite "daily" is a slice of zuccini, cut into quarters, with the skin left on.
I've also been splitting up their daily portion into two meals.

Like, one bell pepper slice per pig per day - I chop one slice and feed it in the morning and then I chop a second slice for dinner.



This was their dinner last night. one bowl and one plate per pig.
This is a red lettuce leaf, ripped up and split between the two, one baby carrot chopped and evenly split, one green bell pepper slice, chopped and evenly split, and then they each got a zuccini slice quartered.

They got the same portion in the morning.

You see, I made this menu based on the research I found on this site, from the link bpatters posted above. What do you mean by sludgey pee? Is it pee that is not clear? I saw some the other day during floor time, and it looked like it could be sludgey. His previous owners were feeding him romaine. I am switching him to red or green leaf lettuce. Is there anything else I can feed him every day?

Is it okay to spread the veggies throughout the day? Or is it best just twice a day? He enjoyed his veggies this morning while he was on my lap.

We give green leaf lettuce, green bell pepper, zucchini, and cilantro daily. I usually toss in a little "treat" too because Flo doesn't seem big on any of the veggies we've tried so far. She'll come eat a few bites and then go back to sleeping, eating hay, or eating pellets. Hustle will sit at the bowl until it's nearly empty eating veggies! Does anyone have any suggestions on more veggies to try with Flo? And if she isn't eating a ton of them is it ok still?

We've tried orange bell pepper, carrot, blue berry, broccoli, and cauliflower as well as everything listed above.

Sometimes you gotta keep trying with veggies, chop it up really small and put it in with their pellets sometimes helps.

Sludgey pee is a 'strange' thing, there are many degrees. Some people say that pee that dries up and leaves powdery residue is okay, while gritty residue is not okay, other people, like me, think that any white pee is bad. I never really knew about white pee until I switched to fleece and now it is visible. Before I used wood pellets and never saw a thing wrong.

Thank you! (for some reason it wouldn't let me "Thank" you, lol)

bibliocavy said:

Is it okay to spread the veggies throughout the day? Or is it best just twice a day? He enjoyed his veggies this morning while he was on my lap.

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You can feed them as often as you want. Don't feed so much that the pig doesn't eat the hay it needs, though. I usually feed more greens than vegetables--lettuces mostly, but other greens as well.

I agree. The way my feeding chart is as follows.

75% red and or green leaf lettuce
8% cilantro
8% split between a small piece of zucchini and green bell pepper(which the pepper doesnt normally get eaten)
5% one baby carrot
4% treat (alternates between pieces of the following (raspberry, strawberry, broccoli, grape, apple, etc)

I feed cilantro(mine LOVE it), green peppers, and green leaf lettuce daily always. I switch it up between carrots, tomatoes, and strawberries 2 days a week each and on Sundays they get a cutie(small orange/tangerine thing), which they also love.

I give my two girls red leaf lettuce and a baby carrot a piece every morning, then in the evenings I give bell pepper and then I alternate (two of these) parsley, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, sugar snap peas and zucchini to go with it. Once a week I give them a late evening snack of some kind of fruit.

I tried zucchini, green pepper, and grape tomato (a little of each) on him last night. He wouldn't touch the tomato at all, so I ate it. More for me, I guess! Haha! The zucchini and pepper I dont think is his fave, but he will take a little bit. What he really likes is carrots and lettuce.

The girls have altogether stopped eating the zucchini. They didn't eat much of it before but I think it's safe to say they don't like it. So every day is lettuce, cilantro, and bell pepper for both meals. Some other veggie variety in the morning and carrots (or blueberry) at night during lap time for a treat.
Flo has started eating the veggies but only if we hand feed them to her; it takes up time but I'm willing to do it if she'll eat. She eats so much hay during the day that I think she's not hungry for veggies and Hustle will eat them all before Flo comes out.
I have noticed though that Flo has started stealing veggies from Huss. I think its for payback