Diet How often should I change his food?

[Selenaah]

So, sir Mashed potato the third doesn't eat all his food, but i have been emptying it and refilling it, do i have to empty it, or can I just continue to add to it?
also, how often can I give him fresh food? i ws told 4 times a week, but he will eat that more then his other food.

 

[bpatters]

What food are you talking about? Hay? Pellets? Veggies?

Pigs less that six months old, and pregnant and nursing sows, need unlimited pellets. Put them down, leave them down, keep the dish full. All other pigs get 1/8 cup of pellets per day per pig. When they're gone, they're gone. If they don't eat them all when you put them in the cage, just leave them there. They'll get around to it. And you don't need to empty them to refill it unless they've peed or pooped in the dish.

With veggies, if they don't eat them all, you're probably feeding too many. Cut back (think a cup or so of veggies per pig per day), but leave any leftovers in until they look wilted.

Hay, they need ALL the time. Never let them be without hay.

 

[Selenaah]

I was talking about pellets thank you!
I wasn't giving him a lot of veggies or fruit because i was told I was only to give him some 4 times a week, so I'll have to add more in today, this really helped thank you!

 

[bpatters]

He needs veggies every day. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List for what he can have, and how often.

He definitely needs something that's a good source of vitamin C. GPs must have it, but like humans, can't make their own so must eat or drink it. Bell peppers are an excellent source of vitamin C.

And if someone at a pet store is telling you how to take care of your guinea pig, you'll (and your pig) will be much better off if you ignore it. Unless that person has a guinea pig and has learned to take good care of it, they will know nothing about the care of guinea pigs.

 

[mamaduck71]

I have noticed with my 2 girls. I put an 1/8 of a cup of pellets, I have 2 bowls. Some times it seems days that they even eat 1 pellet. I will dump it out, wash the dish out and then add new pellets from the pellet bag. Seems like they eat them then. Thanks for the question and answer!

 

[poop_patrol]

And you don't need to empty them to refill it unless they've peed or pooped in the dish.

If I dumped my pellets every time a pig pooped in the dish, there would never be any food for them to eat. ;P

One of my girls, and I can't figure out which, takes great pleasure in pooping in the dish as soon as I turn my back. It's like she's trying to mark the dish as her territory. There is ALWAYS a single dropping in the bowl. No more, no less (unless it is right after I've cleaned it.) I always dump it out and wipe the bowl clean right before I feed, but like clockwork there will be another pig-pellet in the bowl before the food pellets are gone.

 

[bpatters]

I never emptied a pellet bowl unless it had been peed in or had lots of poop in it. If it was just one or two poops, I just flicked them out.

 

[lunarminx]

I pick out the poops too if its only one or two. I have yet to have them pee in the dish but I will dump them in the hay bin every other day. That way they have fresh and can forage in the hay for them if they want.

 

[mamaduck71]

When it comes to hay, my two seem to pick out all the good stands of hay and then leave the ones they do not like. I don't want to have an "You wont get fresh hay until you eat everything" attitude, but I feel like so much hay gets tossed. Seems wasteful. Oh, what we do for our piggies!

 

[frNzR4evr]

I never emptied a pellet bowl unless it had been peed in or had lots of poop in it. If it was just one or two poops, I just flicked them out.

my girl Cocoa eats ALL her pellets, no matter how full her bowl is, so I have been rationing her servings to try to get her Timothy hay intake up closer to 70%

so, no dilemma for me, sometimes there's a poop or two, I just dump them, but I'm in the habit of ALWAYs cleaning every bowl that I put in their cages with Petsmart's All Living Things brand spray or wipes before I put anything in it

Rusty promptly upends any dish with pellets in it, it's hilarious, he does it for fun... I have taken to just providing a handful on the floor of the Boys' kitchen loft, so Jerome can eat some clean ones

 

[bpatters]

@frNzR4evr, if your pig is an adult, she should be limited to 1/8 cup of pellets per day. And hay should be more like 85% of their diet than 70%.