FEEDING
Your Cavy
Your Cavy |
FEEDING
Your Cavy |
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Your
Piggies need: HAY - A GOOD QUALITY GP DRY MIX - VITAMIN C RICH FRESH
FOOD - & FRESH WATER.
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HAY....
and lots of it !
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Supply plenty of the best freshest greenest HAY you can find - every day, or several times a day - I feed my piggies fresh meadow hay which I buy by the bale-full. I always inspect the bale before loading into the car to make sure it is acceptable - not too many harsh stalks / prickles / dust etc - buying like this means you will generally have much fresher, fragrant and greener hay than you would get from the petshop and also it is a fraction of the price and will last completely yonks. As well as meadow hay I also occasionally treat my piggies to timothy hay [see above pics] this is different in colour and texture to the meadow hay and the piggies love it but it's a lot more expensive so it is saved for special occasions.
| Tip: When buying hay by the bale, take along an empty single duvet cover and ask the farmer to put the bale inside - keeps everything nice and neat. Store your nicely enclosed bale in a dry airy place and sniff regularly for freshness. |
Hay is vitally important for your piggy, they need it for grinding their teeth down to prevent dental problems and also to keep their digestive systems healthy - lots of lovely roughage. Do not let your piggies go without ample supplies of hay. Shake the hay before adding it the pen just to loosen out any odd grass seeds / dust that may be in there.
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My
piggies also really love Spillers' READIGRASS - this is dried grass
(different from hay) - it is meant for horses but is great for the pigs
!
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DRY
FOOD MIXES
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There are a variety of dry Guinea Pig foods available for your piggy. The ones I have used with any regularity are Gertie Guinea Pig, which is the mix shown above, who's pellets are alfalfa based and Oxbow's Cavy Cuisine, which is a timothy hay based pellet. Both of these contain Vitamin C which is a necessity for your piggy. There are various opinions between piggy owners about whether to feed mixes or pellets or alfafa based pellets or timothy based pellets - this is not an argument for either, just letting you know what we use. The main bulk of my piggies dry mix is Gertie mixed in with some Cavy Cuisine pellets - I always let the bowl go down before refilling to try and prevent too much selective feeding and to make sure they have a good old tooth-grind on the pellets.
| Note: If you decide to swap your piggies dry food - do so very gradually mixing in a little of the new food into their original mix, piggies tummies do not adjust to changes too easily and the digestive system needs time to adapt. They also may not like the new food and will simply not eat it. |
Store the dry mix in an airtight container to retain it's freshness / Vitamin C content, for the same reason don't buy too large a quantity in one go. Do not feed rabbit mixes or mixes made for other animals to your guinea pigs - they need a mix formulated for their dietery needs especially added Vitamin C. Provide a nice sturdy earthenware/pottery bowl for the mix as if you have a flimsy bowl and a big chunk like Billy comes along and falls asleep on it, you'll end up with dry mix everywhere.
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VITAMIN
C RICH FRESH VEGETABLES AND GRASS
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Unlike most animals Guinea Pigs cannot make their own Vitamin C, so they must always have a plentiful supply of Vitamin C from their diet which you must provide for them. I feed my piggies an assortment of fresh veggies each morning for breakfast and also give them fresh grass and/or dandelions when I get in from work. They get titbits of veggies as treats in the evening.
Only feed your piggies fruit & vegetables that you would consider eating yourself - ie. fresh (not yellow), no sign of mould/mildew/frost damage, well washed, not chilled (straight from the fridge) etc.
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A
good habit to get in to is to try each day [morning and evening] to feed
a Vitamin C rich veggie [for Vitamin C !] - a hard veggie [for tooth grinding]
and perhaps a little wild food eg grass/dandelion - it's easy to fall
into a pattern of feeding the same things all the time, this method makes
you think a little more about whether they're getting all they should
to satisfy their requirements. Then perhaps a little piece of fruit as
a treat.
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My piggies favourites are cauliflower leaves, carrots, curly kale, greens, celery & romaine lettuce. I very rarely feed them fruit as I'm not wanting to fill them with sugar but they do have an occasional seedless grape. Their main treat [as I don't feed them shop-bought 'treats'] is a nice juicy slice of cucumber ! They also love to go outside in their run and sit in the fresh air chomping away at the lovely green grass !
| Note: Although it's not strictly food, I often supply my piggies with a fresh branch from an 'unsprayed' apple tree. They love to nibble on these - much more successful than shop bought piggy nibble blocks. Lovely & fragrant too. |
Don't forget to remove any fresh food that isn't eaten within an hour or so it will begin to spoil and may upset your piggies tummy.
Keep a close eye on your piggies when introducing new foods & don't forget that too much fresh green foods may contribute to diahhroea. Try one new thing at a time.
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Fresh
Water
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Always ensure your piggies have ample supplies of fresh water. The main decision here is whether to use a Bottle or a Bowl - or like me... use both !
BOTTLES: are a great way to keep the water for your piggies clean - they cannot dump food / bedding / poops in it when they are carrying out their daily business around the pen. Make sure you empty and re-fill the bottle every day and check the ball bearing/valve every day, or even tap the spout to make sure it is allowing the water out several times a day as some piggies love to leave traces of what they were eating stuck on the end. Also, sometimes calcium [or is limescale ?] can build up inside the spout and cause the bearing to stick. If your piggies seem to be clanking the end of the spout a great deal but you don't see any tell-tale air bubbles rise up inside the bottle then investigate further ! It could be though, that like Billy, they just love clanking the end and spoiling your television listening enjoyment ! Bottles are very easy to attach to cages - if you have a traditional wire mesh front or 'cube' cage then the supplied bendy bit of wire attaches the bottle easily - you may need to fiddle with the height to get an acceptable level for your piggies. With a hard-sided pen, like mine, you can buy various attachments at DIY stores to screw to the side - I was overjoyed when I found my little attachment [it is a coated 1.1/2" tool clip] it fits the plastic cap of the bottle very firmly and is perfect.
| Tip: To clean the inside of your bottle ie if you have any green algae growing [tut tut!] then put about a cm of water in it, add a spoonfull of dry rice, screw the lid on, put your thumb over the end of the spout and shake bottle vigorously. Pour water & rice out into a strainer [so the rice doesn't clog your plumbing] and hey-presto a lovely clean bottle ! |
BOWLS: The main point here is use a heavy earthenware/crockery bowl with a wide heavy base that is untippable ! Make sure you empty and re-fill the bowl at least once a day as it may attract stray bedding etc. I am very fond of bowls as it seems more natural ! Some piggies like a bottle, some like bowl. Splat loves her bowl, she especially loves dunking newspaper and carboard tubes in her bowl - how could I deprive her of the hours of fun she has ? If you have a large enough piggy pen you shouldn't have too much trouble with spillage/floating bedding etc.
| Note: If you decide to swap your source of water supply for whatever reason, do so gradually and make sure all your piggies learn how to use the new bowl/bottle before you remove the original method. |
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BAD
PIGGY FOOD: Please do not feed your piggy anything grown from a bulb or
anything from an evergreen
- do not feed them
yellow, soggy, mouldy food you wouldn't give yourself in a salad !! Consult
a wild plant booklet so you know what is poisonous !! Don't give them
fresh buttercups or daisies either ! Please refer to the next 2 pages
for further info.
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Page Last Updated: 29/09/04
