Guinea Pigs

[Tinks]

How often and what should I be feeding my guinea pigs?

I feed my dog and cat twice a day so have been feeding the guineas the same but they seem to be getting way too fat.

I give them a bowl of guinea pig food and carrots (1 each) in the morning and celery in the evening. IS this too much? I've tried cutting it down but they squawk lol

[Eenee]

Is one getting fatter then the other? Lol maybe they're different sex's

I had guinea pigs when I was young, I only fed them once a day from what I remember, but gave them heaps of grass for throughout the day- carrots are high n sugar so maybe not a good idea to give it to them all the time, more as a treat. Maybe try half a carrot each, pick a heap of grass and put that in their cage if they don't have access to grass all the time. They're like rabbits they just want to eat all the time!

[Tinks]

THanks for that. I was told to give them carrots becuase they don't produce vitamin d...or was it c? lol I might limit the carrots and see how they go.

[Raupe]

If they are fussing a lot when you reduce their food, you could try and get them to exercise a bit (haha...Having a funny vision in my head of Guinea Pigs with sweat bands on exercise machines... )

Sounds weird, but let them run around the house or garden (under supervision of course) to run off the extra baggage.

Good Luck

[Miss.September]

We had them as kids too and grass and guniea pig food was the way we went with the occassional carrot. The grains were given once a day. We put chicken wire on the bottom of the cage so they could easily graze when we were at school and moved the cages around daily. Worked a treat! They're funky little things!

[wysiwyg]

Yes is vitamin C they are one of the few mammals along with us and certain monkeys that don't produce vitamin c. We had loads as kids we were meant to have two girls but they are quite difficult to sex when young. At one point we had 16 babies at once, a boy mated his mum and three sisters and all gave birth at once you have to separate out boy babies real quick to avoid those issues. Ours were free range in garden so ate alot of grass and exercise but we did supplement with carrot cucumber lettuce but prob not every day in addition to the dry food.

[Twin Sister]

I have had guinea pigs for the past 10 years or so, I just love them. I currently have 3 of them but was up to 7 at one time. It actually sounds to me like you are not feeding them enough, or at least not enough of the right stuff. Guinea pigs need to eat constantly to keep their guts moving. The most important item in their diet is hay (prefreably timothy hay) and they should have unlimited access to it. Secondly they need a wider range of fruits and veggies in their diets than just carrots. Green and red peppers are an excellent source of vitamin C as well and not so much sugar. They can have leafy green like romaine lettuce (never iceburg it's too watery), parsely, cilantro, cucumbers, apples....I have a REALLY long list somehwere of what they can and can't have if you like.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the normal shape of a guinea pig is kind of chubby to begin with. Some people think mine are fat too and they are not.

[Visitor5]

I've tried cutting it down but they squawk lol

sorry tinks!

[Glamoreyez]

Twin sister - could I get that list??