Grapes and High vitamin C foods.

[Rachy1412]

How often can I feed grapes? 1-2 per pig daily, or is that too much? My pigs only get fruits (such as apples, oranges etc) for birthday treats. The only fruits I give them are bell peppers and cucumber. (If you count them as fruits!) The cost of bell peppers is getting very high and my parents are getting annoyed. I spend on average about £17/$32 a week on bell peppers! I have eight pigs and I can't buy the cheap multi packs because they always contain green peppers, which my pigs hate. What other veggies are good to feed daily that are high in vitamin C? I am going to start giving them about 1-2 baby/cherry tomatoes each a day but thats not enough. At the moment I calculated using GL's calculator that each pig gets 155.24mg of Vitamin C a day. I want to lower the amount of bell peppers I use but keep the Vitamin C level up!

Edit: I also noticed that the calcium: phosphorus ratio was a little low so I need to change that some how! The ratio was 1.20
Any ideas?

 

[C&K]

Unfortunately, bell peppers are about one of the best sources of vitamin C. I would not give that many grapes, and I don't think they are the a really great source of vitamin C either. The problem with grapes is the sugar, it can lead to problems such as diabeties.

However, why don't you get some human vitamin C tablets with very low sugar and give them some of that sprinkled on their food? That is a great way of administering some extra vitamin C! Some pigs will even just eat the tablet depending on the type you get. (Sorry, I don't know off hand what brand or how much, but other people here do!)

Oxbow also makes a tablet, my be expensive to buy but not as much as the peppers are costing!

 

[jdomans]

Rachy you can go to a chemists and buy a bottle of generic chewable Vit. C. Make sure they don't have added sugar. You can check out a health food store also.

 

[C&K]

I have eight pigs and I can't buy the cheap multi packs because they always contain green peppers, which my pigs hate.

I definately think a vitamin supplament is the way to go when pepper prices are high. Other veggies have good Vitamin C in them too, however they also usually have high sugars or calcium or that acid that starts with an O (yup, being real scientific today!)

However, if you are really persistant with them, they may get a taste for the green ones yet, sometimes it can take weeks of trying though. Funny thing is, most of my pigs don't like the red ones!

 

[Jennicat]

I'm not pig-savvy enough to know this, but I do know there is a chemical in grapes and raisins which is toxic to dogs. Is that a danger with pigs too?

(broken link removed)

 

[Ly&Pigs]

How often can I feed grapes? 1-2 per pig daily, or is that too much?

It's too much. Grapes can be fed like any other fruits like apples and oranges, about twice a week. I usually feed 1 grape per pig cut in half.

What other veggies are good to feed daily that are high in vitamin C? I am going to start giving them about 1-2 baby/cherry tomatoes each a day but thats not enough.

There aren't really any veggies that are high in C that can be fed daily other than bell peppers. You can add in one cherry tomato per pig per day as that is all that is recommended but it won't really help with the C issues as they only contain about 2.2mg of C per cherry tomato.

At the moment I calculated using GL's calculator that each pig gets 155.24mg of Vitamin C a day. I want to lower the amount of bell peppers I use but keep the Vitamin C level up!

If that is for each then that's plenty of C daily, infact probably too much as they only need 10-30mg per kg of C a day. They will also get a bit of C from the pellets.

I'm not pig-savvy enough to know this, but I do know there is a chemical in grapes and raisins which is toxic to dogs. Is that a danger with pigs too?

There are some debates over this at gl. Some have stopped feeding grapes/raisins totally and others still feed them. I have fed my girls grapes and raisins ever since I've had them but they don't get grapes very often. For a long time, I gave my girls a raisin or two almost daily (even though I shouldn't have) and my girls have never had any health issues. They are very healthy pigs (knocks on wood) and have never had to go to the vet. I finally got myself out of the bad habit of feeding raisins so often but they still get them a couple times a week but they only get 2 raisins each.

 

[Rachy1412]

Thanks everyone! That 155mg is per pig, it was only an estimate though. Veggie's weigh differently each day. The majority of my pigs weigh between 1.2kg and 1.5kg I found some Oxbow tablets, it is $24 for 200tablets. That would last me about 25days. I think I may cut back on peppers, get the Vitamin C tablets and try some other vegetables like cougettes and chard (if I can find any!) Is squash an every other day fruit or twice a week fruit?

We're going to a cash and carry place tomorrow, not sure what they are called in america. They do things in bulk for cheap prices, hopefully I can pick up some nice but cheap peppers!

 

[JarBax]

I'm with you on the price of peppers Rachy! Unfortunately, my two piggies have yet to aquire the taste, which makes me even more glum as I throw another wilted, and not even sniffed-at piece in the compost!

 

[aqh88]

Usually even if you aren't feeding high vit c foods like peppers so long as your giving at least a cup per pig per day your meeting at least the minimum amount and possibly even still well over it. Add in the pellets and it's not really a concern. Mine rarely get peppers except in the fall when we harvest what we've grown ourself. I just can't afford several dollers per pepper for 9 pigs and they won't eat green. After weighing it out though I found even 1 cup of butter lettuce which is quite low in vit c but their absolute favorite has enough to reach the minimum. That's one reason a cup is quoted as the minimum amount. So long as your giving them that they should be fine. If your really concerned weigh out how many grams of each vegetable you are feeding and look up the vit c levels on GL. That will tell you the average amount they are getting.

 

[GSL1445]

My little pig likes a little piece of orange every day

 

[amfeider]

Oranges should not be fed very often as they can cause mouth sores and are high in sugar.

 

[Slave to the Wheek]

I don't think anyone has pointed out that the vegetables highest in vit C are dark green leafy veg. I looked up the nutrition content on the spring mix I use, and one 3 oz serving is 32g of calcium, which is the same as half of an orange.
https://www.ebfarm.com/Products/Nutritionals/Spring_Mix_11oz.aspx

Between that, and the fresh Oxbow pellets, and the KMS hay, I can't see why anyone would need to add additional veggies other than a tablespoon or so a day, and that just to round out the diet.

Everything I've ever read says we should feed from 10-30mg per pound of guinea pig.

Did I miss something somewhere that says they need more than that?
Are your pigs in the 5lb range?

I'm new to all this, so excuse my ignorance. I just went through months of freaking out because my pigs wouldn't eat all those veggies everyone on the forums raves on. When I took a second to figure out how much they were eating so that I could cry to the vet that my pigs were being undernourished, I saw that they were clearly getting enough, and in fact, over what the recommended amount is.

I mean, how much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

What's the benefit of going overboard on Vit C? I know in human's mega doses of Vit C have been linked to kidney stones, so it would seem to much of a good thing...is too much. ?

I clearly am missing something..help me..

 

[amfeider]

Are you thinking Calcium and Vitamin C are the same thing because there not Calcium causes bladder stones not Vitamin C.

 

[krittercrazy]

You might consider growing some pepper plants. They do very well as a potted plant. This would help with the cost. I have several plants going, including fresh greens.

 

[Inrun]

If you leave green peppers in a brown bag they will ripen into red or yellow peppers in a couple of days. Sometimes you can even buy them with the red or yellow streaks showing on them.

Uhh... no?
Red/Green/Yellow/Orange peppers are all different peppers with unique flavors. That is if you're talking about bell peppers. There are probably several hundred different type of peppers, including hot/non hot peppers.
Peppers don't ripen like this.

 

[aqh88]

Some peppers do ripen like that. Many green peppers are unripe red, yellow, orange, or even purple peppers. You will find green peppers with orange or yellow streaks quite frequently. That's why green are not as sweet and not as tasty to both humans and pigs. Also why they are cheaper. They don't have to stay on the plant as long. However not all bell pepper varieties go through the same color changes and peppers aren't as easy to ripen off the plant as tomatos. They tend to rot much easier and lose some of their nutrition. Peppers pick up alot more nutrition from the plant in the later stages than tomatos do.

Most dark greens that are high in vit c are also high in calcium or oxalic acid. These things cause bladder stones and so some of the items contributing to high vit c in spring mix are actually somewhat bad for pigs. Lettuces which are a dark green that is very healthy for pigs are low in vit c which is why peppers are always suggested as an addition. They are the only vegetable that can be fed daily that are near the top of the vit c list. https://www.guinealynx.info/diet_order-c.html All the rest can't be fed in large amounts or daily either due to calcium and oxalic acid or because it causes gas and may lead to life threatening bloat. But if your feeding a cup a day of vegetables and the occasional fruit they should still be getting plenty of vit c from even lettuces and things like cilantro.

 

[Rachy1412]

Well at the moment this is what my pigs get, it's per pair of pigs:
1 stick of celery
2 slices of cucumber
2baby carrots
small slice of swede
1 sml/ 1/2 of a lrg pepper.
2 Leaves of romaine
1 leaf of chinese lettuce
3-4 leaves of round lettuce
3-4 leaves of curly lettuce.

Lately I have been able to get Endive and some other one that I can't spell or pronounce! They also get a couple of springs of Parsley a week and Corriander when it's available. I'll give them a baby tomato each a day now since they love them and it will provide more variety. I'm not sure how much vitamin C is in my pellets, I use Supa Burgess Guinea pig excel so I limit the amount they get. They probably get about 15grams of it per pig per day.

I avoid dark leafy vegetables, I don't like the fact that they can cause bloat. I don't want to risk it! I did think about growing some of my own but I use about four peppers a day, I'm not going to be able to grow enough to have 28 peppers a week!

 

[jdomans]

Rachy it looks good to me. Please just make sure the celery is chopped small so they don't get the strings caught up in their throats. For variety you could give 2 of your 4 lettuces and add tomato and zucchini. Many here give cherry toms, but I buy Roma as they are much less expensive. Mine prefer zucchini over yellow squash but that is just my guys.
Peppers my girls don't care what color the bell pepper is. Now I have Doolittle in here after his surgery and I found out that he wants the green over the red ones.
Rachy every other day you can give a slice of fruit. Mine adore apple, strawberry, blueberry (I wasn't going to give it to them beause it was a treat for us but..) and orange. Many give melon but I haven't done that yet.

And yes, Vit. C and Calcium are two entirely different things.

 

[Rachy1412]

Thanks! I tried zucchini once, they didn't speak to me for days! It's like I tried to poison them or something. I always chop the celery up nice and small, can't have them choking. I've never tried blueberries, they weren't all that keen on the Strawberries that I gave them for Cookie's birthday. I think I will difinitely(sp?) get some Vitamin C tablets from Oxbow, just incase one pig eats all the cucumber,swede, carrots and celery while the other eats all the pepper! I feel like I'm being an over protective parent!

Can they eat cherries? Oh and what are Papaya Tablets, are they just for rabbits?