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Diet Guinea Pig Menus! (brands, types, amounts)

adventuresof

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Hey, fellow pig-friends! I apologize if I'm wrong, but I thought this might be a good thread to start in order for new guinea pig owners (like myself), and might even be helpful for some veteran pig-families who want to expand their knowledge base about piggy nutrition.

As a new pig-mom (and prior to our taking in these two wonderful little nuggets), I have been doing a voracious amount of research trying to figure out what is best and healthiest for my pigs. There are so many different brands of pellets out there - and not only brands, but even types within brands. Though we give the pigs lots of fresh vegetables, I am always looking for ways to supplement their Vitamin C without adding too much calcium to their diet (I know drops for water degrade quickly, and I worry that putting powder on their food will make them less likely to eat, since they HATE taking their medicine, even if I try to lure them in with their favorite veggies).

I'm wondering if anyone would be willing to contribute to a thread where we list pretty comprehensive menus for all of us to read, review, and compare (and provide some extra guidance for those of us who are new)? The questions I'd pose are:

*Is this menu for a young, adult, or elderly guinea pig? Or a pig with a specific health concern?
*What brand and subtype of non-veggie food do you use? (For example, 'Oxbow "Cavy Cuisine" Timothy-Based Adult Guinea Pig pellets' or if you use Critical Care or a mush or some other alternative)
*If you use a Vitamin C supplement, what type (powder, water drops, etc)? How much? How do you administer it? (Syringe, water, on pellets or veggies)
*Your "usual" veggie bowl/plate (what kind of vegetables do you try to include on an average day? how much?)
Anything extra you think might be useful add....

I apologize if this thread has already cropped up somewhere. I just thought it might be useful to have all in one place!
 

piggielover401

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I use complete cavia. It is made by exotic vets and contains Timothy hay, lots of vitamin c and almost ni calcium..vitamin c supplements are not needed, just give them veggies with vitamin c. If you really want to use a supplement, I would recommend like a chew, for example I think oxbow has a vitamin chew. I give my piggies lettuce, but stay away from iceberg. My piggies also receive a tiny tomatoe. They receive cucumber and bell peppers, green red and yellow, they also receive carrots and also parsley, but not too much as it is high in calcium.
 

SardonicSmile

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I use complete cavia. It is made by exotic vets and contains Timothy hay, lots of vitamin c and almost ni calcium..

Please post a link to the pellets you are referring to, I am curious.
 

SardonicSmile

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@piggielover401
Okay, so that really is NOT a low calcium pellet. The youtube vid says 0,8% which is high, everything I could find online says it contains 1% calcium.
Could you take a picture of the actual ingredients list on the package?

EDIT

just found this
Ingredients: Vegetable by-products (7% timothy grass, grasses and herbs), vegetable protein extracts, fruit (4% elderberries), seeds (2% linseed), minerals, fructooligosaccharides (0.3%), marigold, yucca.


The first ingredient of a good pellet should be a grass, not a vegetable by-product (what even is a vegetable by-product...)



So this pellet really isn't the best. Though I did feed my pigs this brand years ago too.
 

LifeAsItMayBe

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* I have 5 adult guinea pigs. At least two of them have problems with passing calcium in their urine, probably three.
* I use pellets from KMS: (broken link removed) Currently they are taking forever shipping my next order, so my pigs will have to go without for a few days.
* I don't use vitamin C supplements. My pigs are healthy and currently get enough from their diet.
* Each pig gets 1-2 lettuce leaves (green leaf or red leaf), a baby carrot, and part of a green bell pepper every day. Sometimes I also add in radicchio, cilantro, zucchini (not all of them like it), green beans, or tomato (which they also aren't impressed with).
 

SardonicSmile

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Two 4-year old girls, one with calcium issues.

They get Living World Green Celluplus pellets for adult pigs

They also get a human chewable vitamin C tablet every morning, they come running to get this "treat" (took about a week of me sticking the tablets in their mouth, making sure they didn't push it out again, before they got used to them and started to love them)

Staples in veggies: lettuce (most kinds except iceburg), bell pepper, cucumber, witloof (aka belgian endive)
A couple of times a week they get a cherry tomato, and every once in a while some fruit.
 

piggielover401

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What human- vitamin C tablet should I use for my pigs?
 

SardonicSmile

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My girls get a simple, home brand of a chemist, human chewable tablet. You just have to look around at what is available.
 

piggielover401

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Thank you, I will be getting some chew tablets tomorrow
 

SardonicSmile

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Mine are relatively low dose tablets, because a human should eat more than one a day of them. You may have to cut tablets in half or quarter them, depending on the dosage of the tablets you can find.

I think on here they recommend about 20-25mg per day per pig.
 

piggielover401

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Ok, thank you very much, could you please send me a picture of the bottle?
 

SardonicSmile

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Unless you live in The Netherlands a picture will do you no good!
 

piggielover401

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Ok, sorry, I just wanted to know why it looked like
 

SardonicSmile

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Just a regular plastic pill bottle,with writing all in Dutch so of no use to anyone outside of The Netherlands to help find vitamin C tablets.
 

piggielover401

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Ok, thank you for the help though.
 

Nazgul

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* This is a menu for my young piggies. They're around 6 months old now.
* I use KMS Hayloft's Timothy Choice pellets.
* Their staple diet (which was recently revised... again) includes, per pig: 1-2 large lettuce leaves (red or green leaf), 1/6 of a bell pepper (green or yellow), 1 small or medium baby carrot, 1 wheel of cucumber or zuchinni

I'd give them cherry tomatoes daily as well, but sadly, they do not like them. Other random additions to their diet include apple (like one small slice for both of them 1-2 times per month),
radicchio, yam, peas, squash, green beans, and celery. All fed according to the chart listed on this website.
 

smfetter

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1/8 cup KMS hayloft pellets per pig per day
1 vitamin c tab for my four year old piggy only (my 2 almost 3 year olds don't like them)
Grass/dandelion/clover 2 times per week during the summer, unlimited Timothy or bluegrass hay from KMS
1 leaf of red or green leaf lettuce per pig per day, 1/8-1/4 of a bell pepper per pig per day, 1 cherry tomato for my 4 yo, 1/3 slice for each of my 2yo b/c I think just one of them really likes them so she ends up eating them all sometimes but I like to give them all the option, 1 baby carrot each, occasionally celery (1-2 stalks for 4 pigs), cilantro, parsley, and apple 1-2 times per month!!!
 
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