Diet I have accidentally been feeding my guinea pigs iceberg lettuce!!

[ericj445]

I have been feeding my 2 male guinea pigs iceberg lettuce for 6 days now but I did not know it was iceberg lettuce and just found it is toxic for them today. I am a new guinea pig owner so please pardon my lack of knowledge on the diet. This is the only mistake I have made with them (so far, hopefully not anymore). However, the rest of their diet is completely fine and I made sure it was good for them. Do y'all think this could potentially kill them or effect them in negative ways??? :sad:

 

[Soecara]

Iceberg lettuce isn't toxic, it just isn't good for them. It doesn't have much nutritional value at all and has been known on occasion to cause loose stools.

Watch them for unusual poops, if everything looks normal there, or if they look a bit odd but return to normal a day or two after stopping the iceberg then you don't have anything more to worry about.

 

[bpatters]

It isn't toxic. It's just like eating crunchy water -- there's no nutrition in it.

Red or green leaf lettuce is much better. Avoid romaine, because some pigs excrete excess calcium in the urine when eating it, and that may contribute to bladder stones.

 

[ericj445]

Iceberg lettuce isn't toxic, it just isn't good for them. It doesn't have much nutritional value at all and has been known on occasion to cause loose stools.

Watch them for unusual poops, if everything looks normal there, or if they look a bit odd but return to normal a day or two after stopping the iceberg then you don't have anything more to worry about.

Okay! Thank you so much.

 

[ericj445]

It isn't toxic. It's just like eating crunchy water -- there's no nutrition in it.

Red or green leaf lettuce is much better. Avoid romaine, because some pigs excrete excess calcium in the urine when eating it, and that may contribute to bladder stones.

Thank you!