Pellet-less Natural Guinea Pig Diet

[The_Dutchess]

I think my guinea pigs are suffering from scurvy (vitamin c deficiency). It would make sense, as they are not on pellets (I can't afford them, still). The have unlimited grass hay and each pig gets 1 cup of veggies (as of right now it's tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, squash and the occasional carrot as a treat, although they do get a variety of vegetables) a day. I definitely will never be able to buy pellets on a regular basis. The only good brand out there is Oxbow Cavy Cuisine, and IT'S $16.59 FOR A 5 lbs. BAG!!!! So, does anyone here feed their guinea pigs a pellet-free diet? I have no clue about natural feeding, I've never tried it before and I have absolutely no idea what I should do.

 

[akane]

They need pounds of fresh greens if you aren't providing vit c. Most of the diet has to be vegetables, fruits, and forages. Otherwise, 1/4th teaspoon per gallon of water (might want to double it for awhile) of vit c crystals http://www.puritan.com/puritans-pride-b ... ?scid=6829

You can get various vit c tablets and put vit c on the food but while it's more stable than water vit c it's harder to measure on the food and both methods will probably end up far more expensive. The vit c tabs marketed specifically for guinea pigs will cost well over pellet prices.

 

[Zass]

Dollar tree has vitamin c pills for a $1 ...Couldn't those also be crushed and used if you needed vit c in a hurry?

 

[akane]

Probably but pills have a lot of junk added to keep them together and stable. You might have trouble finding ways to get them down the pigs if they don't like them and long term you'd have to figure out dosage. Short term I just load them down with vit c to recover from poor diet or keep them healthy until I can put together a better method. Macrodosing even water soluble vitamins has it's problems over time.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

with my guinea pigs I usually fed rabbit pellets, forage/veg, and chopped a couple fruity viy c chewables and put it over the food. problem with that is you can never be sure ALL the guinea pigs are eating some of it. and you cant be sure that each is getting enough. although I did the math and added enough of the chewables for a good amount of it spread between the amount of piggies I had so I could b sure if they all got it equally it should have been enough.. but I could never be sure.. and I did have issues with them so I am guessing I was really really inaccurate way to go.

I would like to get into GPs again but before I do I will have my pens setup good and have some of those vit c crystals bought already.

 

[akane]

Yeah, it just isn't as accurate. Some guinea pigs could drink more water than other guinea pigs but it's pretty standard for any given size and age group. There aren't chunks they can take off with or get the food pieces with more powder on them. The crystals are pretty much flavorless unlike some other sources of vit c. Plenty of people do make various other methods work but this way has been proven by local and a few online show breeders I've talked to for many guinea pig generations.

 

[gash]

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... ig+pellets

I buy a lot of my stuff from amazon. If you don't have a prime membership, you can still get free shipping on certain items after spending $25, I believe. I have found amazing deals on quality stuff for my animals there. I would encourage you to take a gander.

Good luck!

 

[akane]

You can get pellets about $1/lb if you get 50lb bags from kmshayloft.com (there also used to be a ups shipping discount at 200lbs) or one of the oxbowhay.com sources even with shipping and 100x the quality of those other brands on amazon. That's still incredibly expensive if you have a lot of guinea pigs. $50 versus $12-15 for 50lbs of rabbit pellets.

 

[The_Dutchess]

I found a company that just came to Family Farm and Home near me. $10 for a 20 lbs. bag. Not bad, and I looked at the ingredients, protein, fat, fiber, and Vit C content and it looks good! They are happily eating it. As of right now I just have 2 pet guinea pigs in a 2x4 C&C cage (they are spoiled, can you tell?) but am planning on raising show Teddies in bin cages once I'm more financially stable.

 

[ladysown]

Mine do well on

- rabbit pellets
- hay (every other day)
- vitamin C chewable tablets, every other day.

I get the orange flavoured ones.
I break them up into pieces.
and spread them around.

All my piggies thrive, to the point of having too many youngsters at times... Pregnant and/or nursing sows get vitamin C tabs daily.

Occasionally rescues come in and they struggle to learn the new regime.... at this point I haven't lost one, but I've had the odd one get thin and lose a touch of hair until they cottoned on to "eat the vitamin pills" (in dire straits I put the pill in the water and they get used to the taste and then gobble them up).