Is there a list of good and poisonous foods for a guinea pig?

Question

All the lists I've found are very disorganized and require a lot of digging and research. I just need a list of good fruits/veggies, bad fruits/veggies and good forages/bad forages.

Answer 1

I don't have much on the bad but I have plenty on the good:

http://www.petinfopackets.com/guineapigs...

http://www.guinealynx.info/fave.html

http://www.guinealynx.info/charts.html

http://www.guinealynx.info/forages.html

Answer 2

Fresh Food

I am no expert when it comes to what vitamins are in which vegetables. So I am going to give you a rough guide going on what I have been feeding my Guinea Pig's.

Daily my Guinea Pigs will get a random mix from the following list:

Cucumber: If you own a Guinea Pig then you must have 'Plenty Of Cucumber!'

They love it! All four pig's with a plate in front of them with EVERY THING you can imagine on will always pick cucumber first!. When I got Kornage I hadn't kept Guinea Pigs before and didn't really know a lot about them. I did notice he didn't drink as much as my hamster so I was concerned. I fed him cucumber initially because I felt it meant he was definitely getting some kind of water intake. I have since noticed that Guinea Pig's do not drink a lot. Millie however is an exception to this and can drink a bottle of water in 24 hours. She seems to always be at the water bottle. I was worried she wasn't able to use the bottle but the fact that air bubble rise when she drinks is an indication that it works fine.

First thing in the morning I always give my piggie's a slice of cucumber each. When I come downstairs and go in the kitchen to make a cup of tea as soon as I open my fridge they will start mweeping to remind me not to forget them. It's the most awful feeling to hear them mweeping when you have run out of cucumber! This is why I buy plenty, at present a weeks shopping consists of at least 4 cucumbers. That's a cucumber per piggy, however I normally start to run out towards the end of the week and have to get more.

I give my piggie's about 4 slices each per day of cucumber. It really depends, if it's a hot day I feed them cucumber that's been in the fridge and is chilled. I think it must be refreshing for them and help to cool them down even if only for 5 min's. I also keep one out on the side so it ripens more. When they are ripe they become very juicy and I feel are a good source of water on days when they could become dehydrated.

As much as they love cucumber it however does not contain any goodness for them as its made up of water. Cucumber should not be given as a source of vitamin C It is more of a treat for them.

Carrots: I would say they are not over keen on carrots. However I find out of most of the fresh vegetables these do tend to keep well in the fridge. When you can buy carrots with the leaves still attached you should because they like the leaves too.

Celery: All of the celery is good. I used to buy celery with no leaves. Now I buy the most leafy bunch I can.

Peppers: These are very full of vitamin C and very good for Guinea Pigs. I have read online that 1/7th of a green bell pepper is enough vitamin C for a piggy a day. I tend to buy lots of different coloured ones and give a different kind each day. I cut up half of one to share out between them. Clean out all of the seeds when you give them to your Guinea Pig. I have read time and time again that no kind of seeds should be fed to Guinea Pigs. I am not sure if its because they can be toxic or fattening. However seeds is something I avoid giving them.

Parsley: This is a great source of vitamin C and they love it. Also you can grow it very easily in your garden. Supermarkets sell this fresh and its very cheap.

Baby Sweet Corn: My Guinea Pig's love baby sweet corn when it is still fresh and crunchy. Be warned if they are sat on you when they eat this it makes a real mess!

Fresh corn on the cob: When you can buy these fresh in season (Not the frozen type) I buy one and put it in the cage. The pigs are not over keen on this but do like to drag it in to a hidey hole and sit and munch on it.

Apple: My piggie's only like certain kinds of apple. I buy old fashioned english apples, the yellowish with red splashes on. I do not feed them this often as I have read that apples can cause blistering around the Guinea Pig's mouth from the acid in them. I have never experienced this but have noted this and only feed apple about twice a week.

I think the green crunchy apples are more acidic than the old english and never feed them that kind.

Melon: My lot like to eat the skin of honey due melons. They are not so keen on the other kinds. I give them chilled melon on hot days when I have one.

Cauliflower leaves: It occurred to me when throwing away the leaves on a cauliflower that my pig's may actually like them. They do like the leafy part but not the stalk. They do not like the flower of it.

Broccoli: This is a good source of vitamin C but sometimes my pig's eat it and others they wont touch it.

Grapes: You can give Guinea Pig's a grape occasionally but they must be seedless. I haven't read anything about it but I do assume that if you gave a Guinea Pig too many of these it would surely upset their stomachs. So I would make this a treat now and then rather than part of their diet. If anybody knows different then do contact me and put me straight.

Spring Onion: I have no idea if they are allowed these but my piggie's like the very dark green end of them. I do not feed often but if I am cutting some up will give them the leafy end rather than bin it.

Cranberry Juice: My pigs like this sometimes. It's a very high source of vitamin C and can be fed to them with a syringe. I have found my piggie's like cranberry and raspberry juice but I assume if I give them too much it will upset their stomach.

Romain Lettuce

I have been advised to include this in the list of things that should be fed to Guinea Pigs on a regular basis. It is said to give them strong teeth and a shiny coat. The lady who wrote to me said she gave her Guinea Pigs 3 heads a day to eat in thier diet.

Iceburg lettuce should not be given due to toxin which cause an upset stomach.

I have found that my pigs definitely do not like strawberries, oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes.

What not to feed a Guinea Pig!!

Ice-burg lettuce is not suposed to be fed to Guinea Pig's because it contains toxins, however dark leaved lettuce is a good source of vitamins.

Cakes, biscuits, chocolate and dairy products should never be given to Guinea Pigs. It is very important to a Guinea Pigs digestive system that you do not incorporate this in to their diet.

Meat should never be fed to Guinea Pigs, they are 100% vegetarian.

Dark green leaved vegetables. I am not going to suggest you feed your Cavy on any of these. After a discussion with the vet about them I have decided to withdraw them from their diet. I had been told that spinach was something you could give to them rarely and they do love it but too much can cause an upset stomach. Green beans are also included in this list. I wanted the vet's advice and he said he wouldn't give a Guinea Pig this and in fact he felt all of the real dark green leaved vegetables were no good in their diet.

Potatoes should never be offered to them, I read online that Guinea Pigs tend to know what they can and can't eat from it's taste. When I first got Kornage I read that you could feed them potatoes and he didn't eat it, also when they are in the garden they taste weeds before eating them and there are type they wont eat. I have since read on many sites that you should never feed a Guinea Pig potatoes so I kind of figure the theory about they know what to eat is right from the way Kornage turned his nose up at them.

I could go on listing food here all night. However I think if you just do some research on food before you give it to them to make sure you its ok and try and find a good balance of vitamin C with out too much calcium then your piggie should stay in good health.

Answer 3

they can eat grass dandelions carrots lettuce cucumber strawberrys apple and loads of other fruits hay guinea pig food and others

they cant eat daisys and other plants tomatoes potatoes pinapple

hope this helps

Answer 4

good

fruits, they are no "bad" fruits for guinea pigs

vegetables, especially the ones that you have to pull out of the ground like carrots or even patatoes. and greens.

for forrage I know you can give it grass that had no pesticide or herbicide and stuff, and dandelion leafs.

bad

there are no bad fruits

non green vegetable & that grows out of the ground like a tomato

ALOT of forages, just don't give any exept for the two above.

other

the other thing that you don't do is stay the plant food in there cage to long, no more then 15 mins. unless like grass it's still in the ground and you put the cage over it outside. And don't give stuff that your guinea pig doesn't like, usually onions and spicy stuff.

Answer 5

Some foods to avoid are listed below:

long celery stalks (the "strings" in celery are difficult to digest); cut them into small pieces

iceberg lettuce (high in nitrates, no nutritional value)

any shelled nuts or seeds (guinea pigs can choke on the shell fragments)

raw beans (poisonous)

rhubarb (extremely poisonous)

Answer 6

Guinea pigs will eat anything the only thing to be aware of is that they need a daily dose of vitamin C. Hay and dried food are also very important, they need plenty of vitamin c to keep healthy.