guinea pig food plz answer =]?

Question

how many mg of vitamin c do i have to give my 1 year old guinea pig daily? how much do you give yours? any info would be great thx

Answer 1

Its really best if your piggie gets the Vitamin C from fresh veggies and pellets. However, you can supplement your piggie with Vitamin C yourself if you are worried about not getting enough. NEVER use those vitamin drops or put anything in your piggie's water. The pig will drink less water because the drops make it taste nasty.

The average sized piggie should have approximately 25 mg of Vit. C each day and up to 50 mg. for pregnant or sick piggies.

Go to the health food store and purchase human grade chewable Vit. C tablets in 100 mg. strength. Do NOT get anything but Vit. C (no other vitamins should be included in the tablet!) Cut each tablet into quarters (four equal sized pieces for each tablet). Give your pig one each day. Some pigs like it & some don't. Be patient & keep offering it & your piggie may decide to eat it. If your piggie just won't eat it, crush it up with the back of a spoon & sprinkle it over wet lettuce.

High quality guinea pig pellets containing stabilized Vit. C are another good source. Purchase your pellets online through http://www.kmshayloft.com/ or http://www.oxbowhay.com/Shop/showProduct.sp?PRODUCT_NO=47 to get the best and freshest pellets available on the market. The junk available in the pet store usually has very little Vit. C left in it. You have no idea how old the product is when you buy it. Vit. C will degrade with heat, light, and time, so its important that you purchase fresh pellets and store them in a dark, cool place. I put mine in the freezer.

See this link for a list of fresh veggies that are high in Vit. C.
http://www.guinealynx.info/charts.html

Its great you're asking questions! Good luck!

Answer 2

Guinea pigs should get a minimum of 10mg, although 25mg is the preferred dosage. You do not need to worry about "over dosing" on vitamin c as any unneeded vitamin c is excreted through the urine.

Vitamin C can be obtained through the different vegetables you give your pigger, the following site should help with this:
http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_order-c.html

Unless you are not providing vitamin c enriched vegetables you should have no need for any vitamin c supplements, unless a medical reason is involved, if you do need a supplement avoid the drops you put in water, instead use either chewable tablets or the syrup made for kids.

I feed all 3 girls a vitamin c enriched diet, so there is no need for me to supplement there diet with more vitamin c (except for Toffee when she was unwell), they get about 25mg a day.

Answer 3

I have always supplemented my guinea pigs with vitamin C, no matter what vegies and fruits they got. Most people don't feed enough fresh foods daily to provide adequate vit. C. They need a minimum of 25mg per day. I use the childrens flavored syrup--it usually comes 500mg/teaspoonful. Your pig needs 0.25mls orally once a day. They learn to love the taste and will come running to grab the syringe from your fingers. Any pharmacy or vet can give you syringes for this. As a tech who works for a vet that treats pocket pets, I'll tell you that Vit. C deficiency is the biggest problem we see--it leads to all kinds of other health problems.

BTW, vit.C in pellets is only potent for about 90 days--no telling how long that bag has been on the shelf, so don't count on the pellets being a good source--they aren't.

Answer 4

Guinea pig pellets usually contain quite a bit of vitamin C. You could also feed him fruits that contain vitamin C. I tried the vitamin drops in my guinea pigs water and they hated it.

Answer 5

If you are using a good guinea pig food, you don't have to worry about supplemental vitamins. There will be vitamin C in the food. Fresh fruits and veggies in addition to the prepared food are always good for the guinea pigs and appreciated by them though!

Answer 6

We didn't give our guinea pigs vitamins at all. we gave them fresh veggies and a little dry food with water. Also our piggies lived outside on the grass in a rabbit hatch where they were very happy.

Answer 7

Do not put it in their water like John B said. They don't actually get their vitamin C from the water.

There are chewable tablets at petstores for them. My piggies love them. But most importantly, the main source of vitamin C is from vegetables and fruits. Give them a cup full of produce a day. A few things you can give them includes: bell peppers, carrots and tomatoes everyday. Broccoli leafs and stems, parsley, banana (round pieces), blue berries, straw berries, oranges, grapes or raisins (not both), and watermelon are good occasional choices.

Of course, hay is essential to a Piggies diet, as well as fresh grass.

Answer 8

The best source of vitamin C is the green forage, otherwise it will be necessary to add the vitamin in the daily diet, in the water or food. The requeriment of vitamin C per day is of 5mg/lb of weight.

Answer 9

Hello... Just to answer your Q... I wash my GP water bottle using a baby bottle brush, I do not use soap so there will be no residue. As far as there food blow I have two so when one is in the dishwasher the other is clean and ready to use.. Feeding GP need about a cup of veggies daily. As far as the calories I'm not shure about that... Fruit should be given in small amounts.. I give my boys fruit about every other day to every 3 days, one of my GP gets loose stool so I have to be careful with fruit.. When cleaning my GP C&C cage, I shake off the poo daily, I have several fleece baby blankets so if the top blanket is bad I will remove it and put a clean one in, I take apart there cage once a week and wash all bedding.. When washing there cage I use white vinegar in the bottom of the corplast I poor a little in the bottom of the cage let it sit about 10 min rinse, I let it dry in the sun, when my boys are in there play yard.. I don't use any soap or harsh cleaners in my GP cage.. My boys will not play with toys..

Answer 10

It should be in their food, then you don't have to supplement it. Buy Guinea Pig pellets all by themself. Check the ingredients it should have vitamin C in it.

If you want to put it in their water we usually put a pea sized amount of Vit. C powder from trader joe's in ever 32 oz water bottle...