feeding guinea pigs

FEEDING GUINEA PIGS | Feed and feed enrichers for guinea pigs

What do guinea pigs need for good digestion? How much food should a guinea pig be fed per day? And is this the same amount every day or does it differ? After reading this blog, you’ll be updated on all ins and outs on feeding guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs always need high-fiber hay. These raw fibers are necessary for their digestion. It is also important that they always have fresh and clean drinking water that you as their owner must refresh daily.

 

Mixed feed, muesli or pellets for guinea pigs

When looking at guinea pig food, there is a choice between mixed feed, muesli or pellets. For all differences, we refer you to the blog in which the differences are explained. Click here to see the differences.

 

Amount of food per day

Always feed your guinea pig as needed. How do you do this? Take a good look at the condition of your animal and adjust the amount of food accordingly. Age, ambient temperature, desired weight, activity and supplementary feeding also have an effect on the feed requirement. On average, a guinea pig should be fed about 30-45 grams of food per animal per day. In addition, make sure the guinea pigs get enough fiber-rich hay.

Tip: avoid selective eating behavior. Let them finish the entire bowl and only give guinea pigs what they can eat per day.

Greens

Fresh vegetables may be fed to a limited extent when guinea pigs are used to this. If they are not used to this, it is important to let them get used to it slowly. If you feed too much greens to quickly, there will be a chance that the guinea pigs will suffer from diarrhea, for example.

Fruits and candies are really only meant as a snack. It can help tame a guinea pig. Do not give this to your guinea pigs as standard and do not just put it in the enclosure.

Feed enrichment

To stimulate the natural gnawing behavior of guinea pigs, we recommend branches as a nutritional enrichment. Then choose branches of willow, hazel or birch, for example.

Vitamin C

Guinea pigs are one of the few animal species that need vitamin C, but cannot produce it themselves. They have to get this vitamin from their food. In Garvo guinea pig food we have added a permanent variant of vitamin C. This means that the amount of vitamin C remains the same and is not reduced by, for example, the effect of air and light on the feed. For more information, see the 5068 – guinea pig pellet with vitamin C.