Diet Guinea Pig Picky of food and always hungry for the food he likes

Guinea pigs are wired to eat all the time. Unlike us, they can't do with three meals a day. So they need unlimited hay, and should never run out. It's what keeps their teeth ground down and their digestive tracts moving.

As far as wheeking for food, he has you trained well. He wheeks, you appear with food. The only way to stop that, and it will take a while, is to feed him on a schedule. Mine get three small veggie meals a day, and when the time comes, they're all at the end of the cage waiting on me to appear. If I seem to be ignoring them, they'll wheek then, but not all during the day.

Because they eat all the time, they poop all the time. That's totally normal.

His diet should be mostly hay, and he should have no more than 1/8 cup of a plain timothy hay pellet per day. The colored bits have no nutritional value in them, and are an indication that it's a poor quality guinea pig food. He should never have a food that has hard nuts and bits in it because of the danger of choking.

Parsley is too high in calcium to be fed in large quantities to an adult pig. He should have some leafy greens every day, and red or green leaf lettuce are good choices. He needs bell pepper or another vegetable high in vitamin C every day. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List for what he can eat and how often.

I was actually coming on this forum looking for help for a similar issue. We just got our piggy about 3 or 4 weeks ago and he's about 10 months old. My friend is extremely allergic to the Timothy hay. She got Oso from a work friend that had surgery on her hand and could no longer care for him. So we are his 3rd owner. It killed my friend to give him up, but she broke out in welches everyday. And believe it or not, it's the only rodent type thing my eczema allergic to everything daughter is not allergic to, including the hay.
This little guy has decided that if he wants a certain veggie he will squeak until he either gets it (which my 12 year old and even me will give in) or I end up shutting my bedroom door to not hear him. He does not give up though. How do they even know? And how is it they are choosing what they want?

They don't choose what they want. They're just hungry, or want you to think they are. If you put it in front of them and walk away, it'll get eaten 99.4% of the time.

bpatters said:

They don't choose what they want. They're just hungry, or want you to think they are. If you put it in front of them and walk away, it'll get eaten 99.4% of the time.

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LOL ! That is totally incorrect with fuzzy our piggy ! I have bought him the parsley types he don't like he Don't Touch Them! He leaves them in his cage Untouched about 99.4% of the time he won't even go for them they could be still there like 3 hrs later, 4 hrs later which I would go on like it could still be untouched within 6hrs and would still be untouched later on as it is Anything that isn't feeling his craving mood is left uneaten and untouched until he gets what he wants .
I have tried other greens n fruits with him as he's a very specific piggy as he can be sometimes in the mood for cilantro but othertimes if hes not in the mood for it then he won't touch it and he will be wheeking and wheeking for what he wants to have which is part of his cravings . He can have craving for cucumbers n enjoy them but sometimes he gets tired of them and wants something else and if what you picked isn't what he wanted he will not touch a cucumber, a parsley , cilantro especially if hes having a craving of salad mixes or his curly parsley within the farms . he has unlimited hay ! We tried many varieties of food on the guinea pig safe list which fuzzy truly only likes Certain types of greens he tried kale before did like that for a bit then decided he didn't like it anymore, same with the green bell pepper he would used to love those but then he stopped. He will be wheeking for what he's craving for and if I don't have what he's craving for except the cucumbers or other parsley and the curly parsley is his absolute favorite so you would think he would be willing to eat Any other Parsley nope not at all ! Same with cucumbers if hes not in the mood for a cucumber he will be wheeking and not touching Any of those ! It has to be what hes demanding for that is hitting his craving zone that hes craving for ! If I don't have it and give him what hes not wanting he will wheek and wheek n wheek all the time as he won't touch what he don't like or what he's not craving for ! Plus, once I hit what hes craving for he wants that all the time ! As in all the time he will be asking for his craving like every 30 minutes ! Even when you try to do a schedule of stuff in the morning,afternoon ,evening dinner and bedtime he will be wheeking 30 minutes later after. He will be wheeking for a hour long 30 minute after he gets his food he wants its like once he knows what is there he will be wheeking for it all day long ! Every hr on the hour . I will tell him its Not time Yet Fuzzy but he will still be wheeking for it . Its like in reality it seems like he could eat a whole bag of what he's craving for and he will be wheeking for it til the time he gets it again and then again if he thinks he hasn't had enough or something which just makes me wondering if hes craving those certain things so much is something not going thru him to make him get enough nurtrition or are those things going thru him too quickly when he poops alot as he is a big time pooper . As I could get his cage cleaned and within the time of only 5 minutes of his cage being cleaned there is like about 16 poops there freshly pooped . When I get him out he poops out there with me within 5 minutes of like 5 poops and 10 minutes later 10 poops r there .

@lattiee, it will make your posts much easier to read if you'll break them up into paragraphs. A lot of people will consider them TL;DR (too long, don't read) and skip over them.

The food issue is because he has YOU trained. If you put the food there and leave it, there'll be very little that he won't eventually eat.

Yeah, that cilantro has been in there since 7 am this morning. It's almost 1 PM. Oso knows when I am in the Kitchen and wants me to get him something. LOL. He has eaten a lot more hay than normal today though. He will eat organic Kale but not regular Kale. He use to eat regular Kale. But the store I went to once only carried the flower organic kale and after that I bought the leafy Kale. and he stuck his nose up at it and refused to it whenever I put it in his dish. I bought him greens last weekend and he won't eat them. I ended up having to give them to a friend. I got what she was saying though, just like a child. Put it in front of them, and they will eventually eat them. I can't get my youngest daughter to eat things either. In fact she does not even like her food touching. She also has a different silverware for some of her food. LOL OMG they are turning into each other.

bpatters said:

The food issue is because he has YOU trained. If you put the food there and leave it, there'll be very little that he won't eventually eat.

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Wrong ! Like I said hes a very specific pig and picky which he has his prefences it may be hard to believe but believe me when I tell you if He is not getting what he wants or prefers it will still be left alone uneaten in the dish as in Untouched he won't eat it as in he won't touch it or eat it..

I have learned his preferences of his wants so I'm not wasting money on something I will give him that is not of his prefences !

If its something he is craving for or prefers during that week he will eat those up within 5 minutes I'm not kidding you on that then ask for more!

Then mine got me trained in a week. Dang I'm pretty easy.

Welcome to the forums!

I would definitely switch the pellets to either KMS Hayloft or Oxbow. Mixed pellet foods are basically the guinea pig junk food equivalent and often contain ingredients that can be harmful or even dangerous to your pigs or are just plain unhealthy. It's also not surprising if your pig is very picky if he's used to eating basically junk food. It's like humans eating McDonalds all the time, it's hard to get them to start eating healthy foods like vegetables because they're not as addictive, but it can be done.

It's imperative to your pigs health that you switch them to a healthy diet. Please follow Bpatters advice on that and also check out the vegetable chart Bpatters linked (don't forget to scroll down to the second post beneath the chart). Also check the following page out about how to spot quality pellets, which things are bad, and other diet information. The guides on this website I'd consider to be 'must reads' for all piggy owners and is what we routinely recommend to all who come to this forum:

https://www.guinealynx.info/pellets.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html

The guides to read thoroughly:

https://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/medical_guide.html

You will really want to stop him from controlling you, remember you're bigger, you're the boss. Pretend it's like having kids who nag you for cookies instead of a healthy meal. It's hard to watch them cry and throw a tantrum but you wouldn't feed your kids cookies 24/7 because they would get sick and not get the nutrients they need. You just need to gradually get them used to healthy foods and remove the unhealthy stuff or your pig will become sick and might die young.

Also be careful about how much calcium you give because they can lead to horribly painful stones that will be expensive to treat at the vet and can be deadly. Also be wary of gassy foods as they can cause bloating which can also be deadly.

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/105287-How-to-teach-a-guinea-pig-to-eat-vegetables
https://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html#bloat

I hope all this helps! Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions

Fay said:

Welcome to the forums!

I would definitely switch the pellets to either KMS Hayloft or Oxbow. Mixed pellet foods are basically the guinea pig junk food equivalent and often contain ingredients that can be harmful or even dangerous to your pigs or are just plain unhealthy. It's also not surprising if your pig is very picky if he's used to eating basically junk food. It's like humans eating McDonalds all the time, it's hard to get them to start eating healthy foods like vegetables because they're not as addictive, but it can be done.

It's imperative to your pigs health that you switch them to a healthy diet. Please follow Bpatters advice on that and also check out the vegetable chart Bpatters linked (don't forget to scroll down to the second post beneath the chart). Also check the following page out about how to spot quality pellets, which things are bad, and other diet information. The guides on this website I'd consider to be 'must reads' for all piggy owners and is what we routinely recommend to all who come to this forum:

https://www.guinealynx.info/pellets.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html

The guides to read thoroughly:

https://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/medical_guide.html

You will really want to stop him from controlling you, remember you're bigger, you're the boss. Pretend it's like having kids who nag you for cookies instead of a healthy meal. It's hard to watch them cry and throw a tantrum but you wouldn't feed your kids cookies 24/7 because they would get sick and not get the nutrients they need. You just need to gradually get them used to healthy foods and remove the unhealthy stuff or your pig will become sick and might die young.

Also be careful about how much calcium you give because they can lead to horribly painful stones that will be expensive to treat at the vet and can be deadly. Also be wary of gassy foods as they can cause bloating which can also be deadly.

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/105287-How-to-teach-a-guinea-pig-to-eat-vegetables
https://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html#bloat

I hope all this helps! Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions

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Fay,
I understand that like I said before he doesn't eat regular pellets tried them before and he didn't touch any regular pellets that I tried as I have tried the all the seperate green pellets he won't touch those so I chose to get the piggy food that he would eat so he would at least be getting something as I don't like giving him seed type of food because I for sure don't want him to be starving .

I had to give the bags of regular pellets away to other piggy owners. So if you have a way of getting him to eat regular pellets as I have tried all the regular pellets thats out there he won't touch those . Fuzzy is 4 yrs old . I have had about 14 piggies in my life time all different personality . So I'm no way new at raising guine pigs .

Fuzzy get varieties of his treats not all at once or at one week of the same ones . I don't give in to his wheeks where did it say I did?

All I said is that after he wheeks for more after he gets his treat or just asks for it with me just being in the room playing on the computer game he will be wheeking just suddenly and the question was I was wondering why he was asking non stop for treats when no sounds was being made that he was getting treats as thinking maybe he's not getting enough food or maybe his digestion goes thru quickly as I don't know .

He likes specifics treats like certain greens and very particular on that stuff . I do not go overboard at feeding him lots of too much greens as where did it say I overfeed him on greens or parsley ?

I metioned his love of parsley , love of cucumbers and the love of salad mixes and his pickiness to specific type of parsley . As he has been the only piggy I have had that turned up his nose that my other guinea pigs loved to eat .

Like I said before he's on a Treat schedule Morning Wake Up Treat , Afternoon Treat , Evening Treat , Bed time Treat . I will tell him its not time yet and how I respond to his wheeking is not by giving in as in giving him treats as I do way better than that I pick him up and spend time with him . Snuggle with him and cuddle with him !

Plus if you guys think oxbox pellets r supberb ! Look what is in the ingredient list as it contains Lignin Sulfonate so what is that ?
Lignin Sulfonate. What Is It?
Lignin sulfonate is the glue that holds three rings together. It's been used for 60 years to control dust and stabilize gravel on unpaved roads. For dust control, you can spray it on the surface. For stabilization and dust control, it's better to mix it with the top few inches of road surface. It's water soluble, environmentally friendly, easy to handle and apply, and very cost-effective.

Road Glue in Guinea Pig Food ? Now that is what you all recommending piggies to eat when you say pellets like those so never knew so many guinea pigs enjoyed eating road glue .At least mine don't .

What do you mean by "Separate green pellets" which brand? or do you mean you picked out the green pellets out of the mixed food? What is the name of the mixed pellets that you give them? As for starving, you can feed a guinea pig a full vegetable diet without pellets but you would need to do a lot of research in what they should have with a pellet-free diet, I've personally never done it. You can find more info on that by using the search function.

What kind of treats do you give him? Do you just mean fruit or other things as well? If so what kind of things? The morning, afternoon, evening, and bed time treats sound like a lot of treats which is why he is probably not eating his pellets since he's full on treats. If you're giving him fruit that often it's not good for him. The constant wheeking is because he knows you will give him treats whenever he does so he'll keep doing it. You just have to not cave into giving him treats all the time and stick to a feeding schedule. Your pig might just not be hungry enough to eat healthy stuff.

As for overfeeding him on greens, it depends on the greens but you need to limit things like parsley and cabbage and stick to one cup per pig per day, you can check the veggie chart that was linked above by Bpatters for specifics on that. Is your pig in with other pigs or can he see them? There's the saying that guinea pigs like food best that's in another guinea pigs mouth so feeding the other pigs food where he sees them eat it might encourage him to eat his. Just make sure they don't mingle if they're of different genders of course.

As for the comment about Oxbow, KMS Hayloft is much better but it's not as easily available to a lot of the members and some people don't like the idea of ordering pet food online so we also recommend Oxbow which is the second best brand on the market right now (In the US, that I know of at least). It's certainly not perfect but it's the second best so you can imagine how bad the other stuff is.

Check the link below on Guinea Lynx where they analyze pellets and talk about ingredients. Feel free to do all the ingredient research yourself as well and make up your own mind. Just keep in mind that while some ingredients are used for weird stuff like you mentioned that doesn't necessarily make them bad. For example, we can make glue out of potatoes but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad thing to ingest just because it's called 'glue', it's still just made out of potatoes in the end. I also found this that may also provide a clue as to it's purpose in the pellets:

"Calcium lignin sulfonate (and/or sodium salt) - FEED, REG, <4 % of finished pellets - As sole pelleting aid in animal feeds - 573.600; < 11% - Surfactant in molasses used in feeds as a source of metabolizable energy - 573.600"

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Source: https://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm091048.htm

Someone more knowledgeable about ingredients might be able to tell you, you might also be able to ask on the Guinea Lynx forum. But again, do your research, you don't have to believe us right off the bat. We just suggest what we suggest because these things have been researched before and is what we know as being the best two options. If you find any that are better then please let us know!


https://www.guinealynx.info/pellets.html

Don't know where your reading into things and overexaggerate things I have said . Its getting tiring of trying to explain to people who over read something what they think give me a headache big time as here I say I don't overeat and (broken link removed) he don't eat fruit and i'm glad . (broken link removed) were in the world did you get the calicum ingredient when I specifically looked up the timothy hay pellet information that stated the exact Ingredient as I listed .

Timothy Grass Meal, Soybean Hulls, Soybean Meal, Cane Molasses, Wheat Middlings, Sodium Bentonite, Soybean Oil, Salt, "Lignin Sulfonate", L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Vitamin C), Monocalcium Phosphate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Yeast Culture, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate

You thinks Seperate means I'm taking pellets out of the mxed food what do you think that I'm some idiot as I stated that i have used many different types of pellet food that my guinea pig doesn't like when it just those regular pellets so at least my piggy doesn't like to eat spanish flowers or road glue which are in the regular pellet food that has no extra stuff in it .

It's a shame that you're seeing what I'm saying as some kind of attack and misconstruing what I said. I'm just trying to help and I thought I was pretty clear in my wording (non of which were aggressive or judgemental in tone). If you don't want to hear it and don't want to clarify things I asked about, fair enough. I hope at some point you will reconsider reading through the thread and checking out all the links and information we gave to you since I didn't say the things I said to 'attack' you in any way but to help your pigs. Until then it is clear to me that you don't really want the advice unless it fits with what you know so I'm bowing out. I do wish you the best of luck.

Here all I wanted to know is if fuzzy pooping was making him more hungry and when I share what he gets, Along with his preferences you guys found it hard to believe that he would be that picky assuming if the greens in there are left in there he will eat it which he wouldn't. You guys assume every time he wheeks that I'm giving into his wheeks and giving him his greens which I call as his treats. You tell me he needs to be on schedule I say he is and you guys say thats too much treat giving time .

Generally, the rule of thumb is a generous handful of veggies per pig, per day. Start with small amounts, and see what your piggy prefers. Guinea pigs will not eat what they do not like. Remove any uneaten fruits or veggies after about an hour so that you don't have an icky, moldy mess in your guinea pig's home.

Our mornings begin at 11 or noon -Morning Treat Time , Afternoon Treat Time is like 5 or 6pm Bedtime Treat time is like around midnight or 1 am .

Plus, those pellet links are dated since the year of 2003 and Oxbox don't carry that Cavy Type of Pellets anymore as they have different pellet food now which contains the above ingredients as I listed for the cavy essential pellets for adults. As the ones you were listing were the Cavy cusine one , Mazuri has BHT the other regular supposedly good pellets contain yucca schdigger plant extract also known as spanish flower if you guys can't stand being corrected with actual information don't make it assume its like I'm not hearing what i want to hear . Plus if synthetic vitamin k is bad in other cat and dog food wouldn't you assume that to be bad in guinea pig food too .

ESSENTIALS - ADULT GUINEA PIG FOOD
Oxbow’s complete and balanced adult guinea pig food is formulated to meet your pet’s unique nutritional needs. We begin with hand-selected Timothy Hay for effective digestion and add wholesome ingredients and vital nutrients to support daily function and performance. In this bag, and beyond, we promise only the best for your pet. Sizes: 5 lb, 10 lb, 25 lb.



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• YOUR PET WILL ALSO ENJOY

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  [*=center]NUTRITION
  [*=center]FEEDING
  [*=center]TESTIMONIALS
  [*=center]RATINGS

Ingredients

Timothy Grass Meal, Soybean Hulls, Soybean Meal, Cane Molasses, Wheat Middlings, Sodium Bentonite, Soybean Oil, Salt, Lignin Sulfonate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Vitamin C), Monocalcium Phosphate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Yeast Culture, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate
Guaranteed Analysis

• Crude Protein (min) 14.00%
• Crude Fat (min) 2.00%
• Crude Fiber (min) 25.00%
• Crude Fiber (max) 28.00%
• Moisture (max) 10.00%
• Calcium (min) 0.35%
• Calcium (max) 0.75%
• Phosphorus (min) 0.25%
• Vitamin A (min) 10,000 IU/kg
• Ascorbic Acid (Vit C.) (min) 250 mg/kg
• Vitamin D3 (min) 900 IU/kg
• Vitamin E (min) 190 IU/kg