Feeding Guinea Pigs
A typical selection of fruit and veggies for piggies
Guinea pigs, like humans, need a varied diet daily and this must include fruit and vegetables. Cultivated and wild plants (as long as you are 100% sure they are safe to feed), fruit, vegetables, hay and dry mix should be offered daily but not in excess. Remember to only feed food that you yourself would eat, therefore nothing mouldy or unripe. Just like us guinea pigs are unable to store vitamin C sufficiently within their bodies and so it need to be provided within the diet daily in the form of fruit and vegetables, without which they will quickly become ill and it may even be fatal.
Suitable Fresh Food Includes
- Carrots including the green tops, turnips, swedes
- Sweetcorn on the cob with the green leaves and the strings
- Green vegetables: broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflour leaves, curly kale, celery, purple sprouting broccoli
and spring greens
- Fruit: apples, watermelon, honeydew melon, cucumber, pear, banana, kiwi fruit, tomato, grapes
- Grass although must not be mown grass clippings. You can buy readigrass which is dried grass and available in
most pet shops and farm shops
- Suitable wild plants: chickweed (early spring and summer), clover (not pink clover), cow parsley, dandelion (not too
much as it is a laxative), dock, groundsel, plantains, sow thistle and vetches. These are seasonal and so may not be
available all year round.
POISONOUS PLANTS: These must NEVER be fed to guinea pigs: Anemone, belladonna, bindweed, boxwood, buttercup, celedine, foxglove, hemlock, rhubarb (wild or cultivated) and potato leaves. IF NOT SURE...LEAVE AND DO NOT FEED!!
Guinea pigs should always have a fresh supply of good quality hay available to nibble all day. A good quality complimentary dry mix should also be available alongside the fresh food however it must be specially formulated for guinea pigs to ensure it contains vitamin C. Never feed rabbit food as it usually contains a chemical that is toxic to guinea pigs and may be fatal. Always ensure that your guinea pigs have access to fresh, clean water, best offered in a drip-feed water bottle attached to the side of the hutch or cage.
Remember that every pig is an individual and just like us may prefer one type of food over another. When you first bring your guinea pig home it can be trial and error to find out what they like and don't like! Be persistant! Just like us they can become addicted to 'junk' food and so only feed them the food they are supposed to eat!
Suitable Fresh Food Includes
- Carrots including the green tops, turnips, swedes
- Sweetcorn on the cob with the green leaves and the strings
- Green vegetables: broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflour leaves, curly kale, celery, purple sprouting broccoli
and spring greens
- Fruit: apples, watermelon, honeydew melon, cucumber, pear, banana, kiwi fruit, tomato, grapes
- Grass although must not be mown grass clippings. You can buy readigrass which is dried grass and available in
most pet shops and farm shops
- Suitable wild plants: chickweed (early spring and summer), clover (not pink clover), cow parsley, dandelion (not too
much as it is a laxative), dock, groundsel, plantains, sow thistle and vetches. These are seasonal and so may not be
available all year round.
POISONOUS PLANTS: These must NEVER be fed to guinea pigs: Anemone, belladonna, bindweed, boxwood, buttercup, celedine, foxglove, hemlock, rhubarb (wild or cultivated) and potato leaves. IF NOT SURE...LEAVE AND DO NOT FEED!!
Guinea pigs should always have a fresh supply of good quality hay available to nibble all day. A good quality complimentary dry mix should also be available alongside the fresh food however it must be specially formulated for guinea pigs to ensure it contains vitamin C. Never feed rabbit food as it usually contains a chemical that is toxic to guinea pigs and may be fatal. Always ensure that your guinea pigs have access to fresh, clean water, best offered in a drip-feed water bottle attached to the side of the hutch or cage.
Remember that every pig is an individual and just like us may prefer one type of food over another. When you first bring your guinea pig home it can be trial and error to find out what they like and don't like! Be persistant! Just like us they can become addicted to 'junk' food and so only feed them the food they are supposed to eat!