General Continue guinea pig pellets for approx. year old male pig?

[Ankitpiggiefan]

My male guinea pig, Rocky is approximately 11 months to a year old now. I've reduced his alfalfa pellet intake now (Timothy is very very expensive) because his urine turned gritty and white. Every time I stop feeding him the pellets his urine clears up almost immediately. Is this ok? Also is one year old for a guinea pig? When should I consider him "old"? As far as I can see..he is still growing quite a bit and weighs over 1400 grams (he's not fat....just really big). He stretches out to at least 14-15 inches in length.

 

[bpatters]

I'd stop the pellets altogether rather than continue to feed him alfalfa pellets. They have too much calcium for an adult pig.

You will need to make an effort to get vitamins and minerals into him, though. Oxbow sells internationally and makes a variety of support tablets -- you might consider ordering some of those. Plain vitamin C would also be a good thing to give him.

Most guinea pigs live six or seven years, but some make it even longer.

 

[Ankitpiggiefan]

Thanks! So I can consider him old at about 2 years of age? I plan on giving them these Vit.C tablets (each tab = 1000mg of Vit.C) but it's a fizzy type of tablet with assorted lemon/orange flavour. Will this be OK?

 

[bpatters]

No, heavens! He's not old at two! He'll be barely past the worst of puberty by then. Guinea pigs normally live 5-7 years, and it's not at all uncommon for them to be much older than that.

And no, that vitamin C tablet won't work. You're aiming at about 30 mg. of vitamin C per day, so that tablet is 33 times too strong. You just need a plain human vitamin C tablet. The chewable ones for kids are 100 mg. each, so a third of one of those is perfect.

 

[Ankitpiggiefan]

Thank you so much! I was just a bit paranoid as I used to keep hamsters and they used to be considered old at 1.5 years of age!