How to Feed Your Guinea Pig
Guinea Pigs are herbivores, this means they only eat vegetable matter.
The main food in a guinea pigs diet should be guinea pig pellets. This particular food has almost everything a guinea pig needs. It is the best food and guinea pigs should always have it available to them. The best way to make sure of this is to use a feeding bowl and always keep it topped up with food, never letting it run empty. They will not over feed on the pellets. It is important to know guinea pigs cannot produce their own vitamin C. Guinea Pig Pellets have added vitamin C to help them deal with that.
Your little guinea pig loves to chew on hay. It is a must have product. Hay isn’t just fun for your guinea pigs to eat, it also helps their digestive systems and wears down their constantly growing teeth.
If you love your guinea pigs, you can get them some treats. You could try some Gnawing Sticks or some of our other treats.
If you are going to feed your guinea pig something from the garden, you can feed them lettuce, carrots, dandelions, grass, parsley or clovers.
Do not feed them bluebells, buttercups, foxgloves, daisy’s, ivy, or poppies as these are poisonous. Other things can also be poisonous so if you are unsure about feeding them something, don’t give it to them at all.
Guinea pigs diet should be made up of guinea pig pellets, hay and greens such as cabbage or spinach. Guinea Pigs are herbivores, and do not eat meat of any kind. Chocolate is poisonous to them.
Other food ad treats should be fed sparingly as otherwise this can lead to the guinea pig becoming overweight or running into other health issues. Also, if treats are fed too often it means your guinea pigs can wait for them and not eat the important pellets and hay.
The exact amount a guinea pig eats really depends on a lot of things, such as age and environment. Guinea Pigs tend to not overeat when fed the right types of food (i.e non treats), but do keep an eye on your Guinea Pigs weight throughout the year.
Preventative Health Care
Good preventative health care will help ensure that your guinea pig is healthy and trouble-free.
Vaccinations are usually not required in Ireland for guinea pigs. Nevertheless, the benefits of a check over from a vet cannot be underestimated. It helps to spot any issues early, especially if you have just purchased your guinea pig.
Routine Health Care
Ensuring a good diet for your guinea pig and keeping the hutch nice and clean. Both these things are easy to do and they help to promote good guinea pig health. It is very beneficial to inspect your guinea pig regularly, ideally daily. This helps to spot signs of illness or injury early. A healthy guinea pig will always be spotlessly clean and very active.
Something else that we recommend is to regularly apply a preventive flea treatment. Flea treatment is recommended if you keep any pets, guinea pigs are no different, and the purpose is to prevent an issue occurring.
Most potential health problems can be prevented or easily treated if spotted early.
A simple health check on a guinea pig may only take five minutes of your day, but by checking your guinea pigs health you can make sure that they are healthy and happy. Guinea pigs are one of the cheapest pets to keep. They do not need to be vaccinated at all and eat very little food. But however they can can benefit from a daily routine health check. We have put together our top 7 things to check for on our health check list.
Guinea Pig Health Check List
- If a guinea pig is drooling or has a wet chin, this could be a possible sign of dental problems. Make sure that you feed the guinea pig correctly to help prevent this.
- Check their eyes, ears and nose for discharge.
- Look at their feet, there should be no cuts or sores.
- Check that they are moving around okay and are behaving as normal because this is usually a sign that they are perfectly healthy.
- Their breathing should be normal and quiet.
- Guinea pigs have constantly growing teeth and nails. Check that these have not got too long. Guinea pigs love hay and it also helps wear down their teeth. Their nails can be worn down or cut, a vet might be able to do this for you.
- Their coat and skin should be clean and in good condition. You can check this when you are grooming the guinea pig.
By spending five minutes a day checking your guinea pig you could prevent it from getting seriously ill. If a guinea pig is looking out of the ordinary or sick you should bring it too a local vet. They will advise you on what to do next. But usually guinea pigs don’t run into health problems. This simple check will help prevent any health issues in the future.