welcome | facts | choosing | feeding | looking after | care | links | leaflets

What Do Guinea Pigs Eat?

Click on a link below to find out more about what Guinea Pigs eat:

• What to feed your Guinea Pig
• Course Mixes – Pros / Cons
• Preventing Selective Feeding
• Mono Component Diets – Pros / Cons
• Changing Your Guinea Pig
• Treats
• Drinking Bottle

In their natural habitat guinea pigs eat a range of grasses, seeds, weeds, bugs, grubs and fruit. Guinea pigs are often mistaken as herbivores, but they are omnivores and do need protein in their diet to keep them healthy.

They also have continuously-growing teeth so need the opportunity to eat fibrous material to help wear down their teeth. Guinea Pigs also need Vitamin C daily as they can’t produce their own and will fall ill without it.

What to Feed Your Guinea Pig

Guinea pigs need feeding twice a day, every day (in the morning and in the evening). A good quality, heavy, earthenware food bowl is essential to keep the food dry and clean, and prevent the guinea pig from tipping the food on to the floor of the hutch. Their bowls must be cleaned after every use.

Guinea pigs need fresh vegetables and hay daily to provide them with the fibre, vitamins and minerals they require to keep fit and healthy; the hay also helps to wear down their teeth.

back to top

Course Mixes – Pros / Cons

Rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas are known as foragers and grazers therefore feeding a coarse mix, with it’s variety of ingredients, would greatly enhance their ability to perform natural behavioural patterns, by allowing the animal to decide what it eats and when.

However, when feeding a course mix, it is essential that all the ingredients are consumed for the animal to receive a balanced diet. If the animal is provided too much food, it may be able to satisfy its hunger by only consuming its favourable ingredients. This may lead to the animal’s nutritional intake suffering.

back to top

Preventing Selective Feeding

If feeding a coarse mix and the animal is selectively feeding, there are several ways in which this can be controlled. The animal’s diet can be reduced gradually to encourage them to consume more of the ingredients. If the animal is set in their ways and continues to selectively feed then feeding the animal half the required amount twice a day will prolong the overall feeding time, therefore encouraging the animal to consume more of the diet.

If after all these steps have been taken, the animal continues to selectively feed, it would be advisable to change the diet to a mono component diet in order to ensure that the animal receives a balanced diet.

back to top

Mono Component Diets – Pros / Cons

Mono component diets are specifically designed to prevent an animal from selectively feeding. All of the extrusions are of identical nutritional composition and similar shape and size. Therefore the ability for the animal to selectively feed is eliminated.

It could be argued that providing a naturally foraging animal with a mono component diet is reducing its ability to perform natural behaviour. However, if the animal persistently selectively feeds, in order to ensure good nutrition and to promote efficient gut function and dental wear, taking away the animals opportunity of being fed a course mix is the best option for animal and owner.

To Summarise:
Some animals are naturally very fussy eaters, and if all efforts to encourage them to consume a coarse mix fail, then providing a mono component diet is the best option.
It is always easier to encourage an animal to eat a good diet from birth. Therefore, if the animal is introduced to different ingredients correctly at a young age, then the likelihood of it selectively feeding later in life is reduced.

To find out more about high quality, nutritionally complete Guinea Pig food, click here

back to top

Changing your Guinea Pig’s Diet

When changing your Guinea Pigs diet, its vital that you introduce the new food gradually. Mix about one quarter of the new food with three quarters of the old food on the first day and then gradually increase the new food and decrease the old food over a 10-day period. This should make sure that your guinea pig has no tummy upsets.

back to top

Treats

Treats are so called because that’s just what they should be – a “treat”. If fed correctly they are not detrimental to a guinea pig and they will love them. However, treats are designed to be an extremely small element of the animal’s diet, and overfeeding may lead to health problems such as obesity, dental problems and heart disease.

Too much green food will cause diarrhoea. If you feed your guinea pig human food, remember to avoid foods that are high in calories, sugary or contain too much fat. To help keep your guinea pig’s teeth healthy, you need to provide lots of hay and perhaps a gnawing block and safe twigs to chew, such as apple, hazel or willow.

You can also feed special treats from your garden such as fresh grass, parsley, dandelion, carrot, apple, kiwi, alfalfa sprouts, celery, broccoli, sprouts, cauliflower, kale, spinach, cabbage leaves, peas, swede, tomatoes and raspberries. Many plants in your garden can upset your Guinea Pig, to find out more, visit the Is My Guinea Pig Well? section.

A number of specially made Guinea Pig treats are also available from your local pet shop.

back to top

Drinking Bottle

The best way to provide fresh drinking water is to use a gravity-fed water bottle, attached to the front of the hutch. Use one of the large ballpoint bottles to prevent dripping and ensure a constant supply is available. Water bowls are not suitable as they are easily tipped over and can get contaminated. Ensure there is fresh drinking water available at all times.

back to top | previous page