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Guinea Pigs Diet

Guinea Pig Food:

When you get yourself a pet, caring for it becomes your prime responsibility.



Getting a guinea pig will subject you to the same amount of responsibility as a cat or a dog. To keep your pet healthy and well, it is important to give it the right kind of food, a clean habitat, clean and fresh water, and plenty of attention. Fortunately, since guinea pigs are commonly adopted as pets, there are a lot of products available for them commercially. However, even though there are commercially available materials for your pets, it is up to you to choose the right kind of products for your pet.



When it comes to food, the guinea pig food list is not a huge one. You can get commercially made food pellets in the market but those aren’t always the best kind of food for your pet. Guinea pigs are not fussy about their food, which makes it all the more important to give them the kind of food that will keep them healthy. It’s easiest to make a guinea pig food diet chart at home and then prepare foods for it yourself.



Be careful though, baby guinea pig food is a little different from that of an adult’s. Their staple food is timothy hay and you should introduce your pig to it slowly. If they’re already used to pellet food from the market, you can slowly introduce them to hay which will help wean them off the synthetic food.

Guinea pigs often develop scurvy due to vitamin C deficiency. When they are suffering from scurvy, they tend to get sluggish. To ward this disorder off, give your pet about 10 mg of vitamin C everyday. Cabbage, berries, apples, and oranges are some of the foods that you can give your pet everyday. To their diet, also add some bran. You can use barley, wheat or oat bran in their food. Cereals which are dense in nutrients can also be given to your guinea pig. Grains like wheat, barley and rice are good for your pet.

Leafy greens are healthy both for you and your pet. Give your pet turnip greens, parsley, dill weed, and watercress. However, for your tiny pets, these leafy greens may act as laxatives. Therefore give them these greens sparingly. If your guinea pigs start to pass loose stools after eating leafy greens, stop feeding those greens completely or reduce the quantity. Fresh vegetables and nuts can be given to the pigs in small quantities.

 
  Submitted on January 21, 2010