How much vegtables and question about pellets.

[guineapigman]

Hi
When guinea pigs are younger (3 weeks) how much vegetables should they be given? When they are older (3-4 months plus) how much veggies do they need in grams? We don't have cups here and I don't know how much a cup is. I am thinking for two adult female guinea pigs I could feed 3-4 green lettuce leaves, 10 raspberry leaves when they are in season (replace with more lettuce when not), 1/3 of a green bell pepper and 1/6 of a red/yellow bell pepper everyday. Then give one of the following each day; 1 carrot, some cucumber, some broccoli, 5-6 sugar snap peas or 5-6 green beans. Then maybe once a week a slice of apple or a couple of strawberries or raspberries. Does that sound like a good amount? Of course they will have their pellets and unlimited hay too.

Secondly, the pellets I bought seem very big. The best I can describe them is having four normal pellets stuck together. The pack says this is to help grind down their teeth and to prevent them eating the pellets too quickly and getting bloat. I can't help but imagine that my future pigs will have trouble eating them. Does what the pack says make sense , Should I leave them as they are or crush them into smaller pieces to make them more manageable.
Thanks.

[bpatters]

A cup is eight ounces -- a large-sized coffee or tea cup should do for measuring. You can find an online ounce-to-gram converter so you can figure out the specifics for any particular vegetable.

For two adult females, your plan sounds pretty good, although I'm not sure about the raspberry leaves. I'd give only a tiny amount of broccoli or anything else in the brassica family, as it can cause gas. And you don't have to limit the other veggies to one per day -- in addition to lettuce and bell peppers, mine also get tomatoes, carrots, green beans, radicchio, belgian endive and corn husks and silks every day.

Just feed the younger pigs fewer veggies, and if they finish them all, add a bit more until you get to the adult amount.

[pigger123]

1 cup is approximately 1/4 of a liter. A cup can not be converted into grams, since you're not measuring how much the veggies weigh, you're measuring their volume.

What kind of pellets did you buy, and what are the ingredients?

[guineapigman]

Thanks. I have looked up if feeding the raspberry leaves is ok and I found loads of sites saying they could be fed as a staple in their diet. Are you saying that I should feed every vegetable I have mentioned everyday? That seems like a lot of vegetables to me. I will limit the broccoli and I might give some tomatoes as well, I don't know where I can get the other veg you mentioned.

[pigger123]

No, you don't have to feed everything every day. She was just saying that you can give more than one every day, like a carrot and some cucumber instead of just a carrot. Mine get lettuce and bell pepper, cilantro (also called coriander), cherry tomatoes, and carrot every day.

[guineapigman]

Sorry pigger123 I never saw your second question. The brand is JR Farms grainless complete guinea pig food.

http://t.zooplus.ie/shop/rodents/foo...jr_farm/178337

There is a picture on this page that shows the pellet shape

Ingredients:
Timothy grass, orchard grass, meadow grass, plantain, red clover, meadow fescue, lady's mantle, parsley, pea flakes, diced carrots and beans flakes, diced parsnip, peppermint leaves, fennel, diced apple, flax seed, dandelion leaves, diced beetroot, nettle, chamomile flowers, black seed, vitamins
Additives:
Vitamin A (10,000 IU/kg), Vitamin D3 (1,000 IU/kg), Vitamin C (250 mg), Vitamin E (40 mg)

[SardonicSmile]

Those are one of the best pellets available here in Europe.

Two other good ones are:

supreme vetcare plus multi modal formula
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Supreme-Vetc.../dp/B00GONVD80

living world green
http://www.amazon.de/Living-World-Gr...eerschweinchen


I switched from JR Farm to Living World Green pellets as they are smaller pellets and my pigs go bananas over them, which they never did for JR Farm.

[Party Guineas]

Those are one of the best pellets available here in Europe.

Two other good ones are:

supreme vetcare plus multi modal formula
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Supreme-Vetc.../dp/B00GONVD80

living world green
http://www.amazon.de/Living-World-Gr...eerschweinchen


I switched from JR Farm to Living World Green pellets as they are smaller pellets and my pigs go bananas over them, which they never did for JR Farm.

@SardonicSmile Just so you are aware, even though your guinea pigs go "bananas" over Living World Green pellets, they are bad for guinea pigs - they not only contain potato, which is a very big no-no for guinea pigs (see Ly's nutrition chart on this forum), but they also contain canola oil, which is another bad product to be seen in pellet food. It also has calcium carbonate, which can cause stones in pigs. I would recommend changing back to JR Farm or Supreme VetCare Plus for you or perhaps trying this Bunny brand, which I mention below.

Supreme VetCare is an ok pellet. Mine are currently on this now, by a recommendation from a vet, but I've found it to be of variable quality. I'm a bit nervous to continue them on these because of the soya oil and potential for GMOs, but as mine couldn't eat Oxbow, it was the only other alternative I knew of at the time that was timothy hay based. They are on this due to one of my pigs being a bladder pig. I, personally, would not feed JR Farm, though some other people do on The Guinea Pig Forum, which is UK based. My objection is that it contains quite a few fruits, which shouldn't be fed daily. A pellet that I'm considering, which has received good reviews is Bunny Guinea Pig Dream pellets that you can find on ZooPlus. It's a guinea pig pellet, not a rabbit pellet - the company just branded it "Bunny." They are also large pieces, but you can break them up for your pigs. But just for your reference, GuineaLynx has some good information on pellets:

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

[SardonicSmile]

@SardonicSmile Just so you are aware, even though your guinea pigs go "bananas" over Living World Green pellets, they are bad for guinea pigs - they not only contain potato, which is a very big no-no for guinea pigs (see Ly's nutrition chart on this forum), but they also contain canola oil, which is another bad product to be seen in pellet food. It also has calcium carbonate, which can cause stones in pigs. I would recommend changing back to JR Farm or Supreme VetCare Plus for you or perhaps trying this Bunny brand, which I mention below.

Supreme VetCare is an ok pellet. Mine are currently on this now, by a recommendation from a vet, but I've found it to be of variable quality. I'm a bit nervous to continue them on these because of the soya oil and potential for GMOs, but as mine couldn't eat Oxbow, it was the only other alternative I knew of at the time that was timothy hay based. They are on this due to one of my pigs being a bladder pig. I, personally, would not feed JR Farm, though some other people do on The Guinea Pig Forum, which is UK based. My objection is that it contains quite a few fruits, which shouldn't be fed daily. A pellet that I'm considering, which has received good reviews is Bunny Guinea Pig Dream pellets that you can find on ZooPlus. It's a guinea pig pellet, not a rabbit pellet - the company just branded it "Bunny." They are also large pieces, but you can break them up for your pigs. But just for your reference, GuineaLynx has some good information on pellets:

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

The Bunny brand uses corn, which according to GuineaLynx is a big no.

And the Living World Green pellets have greatly reduced calcium spots in my cage. So the calcium carbonate (which most brands use) is low enough to give my piggies less output. Have you been able to find the source of calcium in the Bunny brand? I only did a quick search, but couldn't find it.

if I could get my hands on affordable KMS I wouldn't hesitate to switch over. Here in Europe there are only choices between bad and not so bad.

I will look into the potato meal thing, but I am not switching pellets just yet. My pigs are doing really well so far.

[Party Guineas]

The Bunny brand uses corn, which according to GuineaLynx is a big no.

Thanks for pointing this out. Yes, that is true. I'm not entirely sure what they mean by "whole plant corn," and I have fed my guinea pigs corn as a treat in the past without any ill effects, such as allergies, as noted by GuineaLynx. I would imagine that whole plant corn would include the outer leaves and silks, which are just fine to feed guinea pigs. The corn products mentioned by GuineaLynx are examples of primarily industrially manufactured, potential GMO products used for animal feed in the US, which is one reason why you can never be sure what the corn product actually is. In this case, it is just natural, non-GMO corn.

There is no "source of calcium" exactly in Bunny brand. It just comes from natural calcium already present in the plants. There is "calcium-sodium salt" listed, but this is the sort of Vit C that is used. The calcium carbonate doesn't play well with my guineas - calcium carbonate is usually the main component of stones, as well, so I worry about this, personally.

I understand exactly what you mean with KMS and how the choice in Europe is between bad and not so bad. You really have to just pick your battles - some combination of seeds, corn, oils, and fruit are present in every food or you have to just pick an alfalfa based pellet, which is impossible for me with my sensitive bladder pigs. However, the one food that I absolutely would not feed is the Living World Green. Potatoes are listed as a "do not feed" ingredient in the nutrition list on this forum, which has been thoroughly researched, and on the PDSA website, among others. Here is a forum topic about the pellets:

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...-Green-pellets