Guinea pigs love their food and a healthy diet means a healthy, happy guinea pig. This article looks at the balanced diet we should be aiming to provide our piggies, despite their insistence they deserve more!

An overview of a guinea pig’s diet

Guinea pig diet is a hot topic of conversation with differing opinions about a lot of different components. This has led to a lot of different resources on the internet making it sometimes impossible to get a straight answer as to what should be fed – and how much – so let’s break it down a little more.

 There are four main components to think about for a guinea pig’s diet:

• Hay
• Fresh food and forage
• Pellets
• Water

Hay is the most important food component and should make up at least 80% of your Guinea Pig’s diet. Guinea Pigs need to eat constantly for good gut health and so hay needs to be constantly available in big piles so it is easily accessible.

Fresh, clean water should be available 24 hours a day and should be easily accessible to all piggies. This is often supplied in a bottle which should be changed daily but some Guinea Pigs do prefer water bowls, though these will need more frequent changing. Try both a bottle and a bowl to see what your guinea pigs prefer. 

The last 5% should be made up of a good quality pellet that ensures a healthy balance of vitamins and minerals are eaten daily. We recommend Supreme Petfoods Grain Free Guinea Pig food which can be bought here. 

Fresh food and forage should make up 15 % of your Guinea Pig’s diet, and it is an important source of Vitamin C which Guinea Pig’s can’t make for themselves. It also adds variety to your Piggie’s diet and is often their favourite part, though it is important that they are not over fed this portion. 

Hay for guinea pigs

The importance of Hay

Hay is the most important part of a guinea pig’s diet, greatly contributing to the prevention of a number of health issues. Guinea pigs need to constantly eat hay for a number of reasons including gut health and teeth health. The digestive tract of a guinea pig needs to be constantly moving and so needs a steady stream of good quality hay going through it. Long stranded hay is also important to keep teeth that constantly grow at a suitable length. Dental issues will impact the amount a guinea pig eats which will impact their digestive system and vice versa so it is really important that hay is available at all times to prevent these issues.

Despite the importance of hay as a dietary requirement it is important to not just think of hay as a food source but also as an enrichment source for your guinea pigs. Guinea pigs will naturally want to burrow in hay piles creating tunnels and cosy spaces perfect for keeping them nice and warm. It is also a foraging opportunity for guinea pigs as they search to find their favourite bits alongside their friends. Where guinea pigs eat they will often toilet also which is why it is important to keep offering clean and dry hay often. 

Identifying good quality hay

In general, hay should be dry, green in colour and smell sweet as well as not being too dusty due to guinea pig’s sensitive respiratory systems. Ideally it should be mostly made of long, soft strands of hay and could also include different seed heads for added variety. Timothy hay and Meadow hay are good options for healthy adult guinea pigs. 

While alfalfa is recommended for young guinea pigs (under 6 months of age) due to high calcium levels which is helpful for growing pups, it can lead to bladder stones in older guinea pigs and so is only recommended as an occasional treat for them. 

Oat hay is also often enjoyed by guinea pigs of all ages but is quite high in calories so should be fed a limited amount to healthy piggies. However due to the calorie content this can be a good option for piggies that are unwell and need a little extra help gaining some weight. 

Hay should be stored in a dry and well ventilated space to avoid dust and mould. Guinea pigs can NOT have fermented grass products and this should never be fed to them under any circumstances.

Fresh Food and Forage

Fresh food and forage gives your guinea pigs variety in their diet and provides much needed essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C however it is important that this is balanced with things such as calcium which can cause bladder stones and water content which can cause diarrhoea. It is important to introduce fresh food slowly to those guinea pigs that have not had it before as it can cause stomach upsets initially.

Volume and variety in a guinea pig’s diet

As described previously, fresh food and forage should make up around 15% of a piggies overall food intake. This generally equates to a recommended 1 cup or 240 mls per pig per day which can be given once daily or spread over a couple of times a day. 

It is essential that a third of the cup is green, yellow or orange bell pepper as this has a good significant amount of vitamin C levels as well as a good vitamin C to calcium ratio which is equally as important. The other two thirds of the cup can be made up of other fresh food and forage as indicated below. Different vegetables, herbs, fresh leaves and fruits are recommended at different frequencies as a balance between different components including vitamin C levels, calcium levels, water content, sugar content and general overall safety of feeding. For example, peppers have a high level of vitamin C and low calcium so is essential daily, however, spinach has a similar level of vitamin C but has high calcium and is considered to be gassy, potentially causing bloat so is therefore recommended much less frequently. The previous example shows why it is important to balance the pros and cons with different fresh food for our guinea pigs when considering what to give them and how frequently this should be.  A wide variety is also generally easier to provide to larger groups of piggies though it is definitely possible for pairs with careful choices.

Table of recommendations for fresh guinea pig food

Frequency of feeding	Recommended fresh food and forage
Essential daily (must make up ⅓ of cup offered)	Green, yellow, orange bell pepper
Safe daily choices	Celery, Coriander, mint, courgette
Once or twice a week	Parsley, basil, lettuce, dandelion, spinach, kale(due to calcium levels)
Once a week	Safe fruits, Carrot, baby corn, red pepper (due to sugar content)
Maybe once a month	Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage (including spring greens)(due to risk of bloat)
DO NOT FEED	Iceberg lettuce, potatoes, onion, garlic, leeks, mushrooms, seeds, meat, dairy, nuts

Vitamin C

Guinea pigs have evolved to not be able to produce their own vitamin C due to the prevalence of it in their natural diet and so we must ensure to supplement this within their diet. They require this in their diet daily to prevent scurvy. Young and ill piggies may require extra vitamin C which might have to be supplemented. In general they should be able to get enough of their daily needs from fresh food and pellets so long as they get peppers daily. It is not advised to add vitamin C to water as it degrades rapidly.

Calcium content

While guinea pig’s do need some calcium in their diet for good bone health too much can cause bladder stones to form which often needs surgical intervention. To avoid this we can look at feeding fresh food with lower levels of calcium. Unfortunately, a lot of the vegetables that are high in vitamin C also contain high levels of calcium so this does need balancing out; hence those that are high in both vitamin C and calcium are recommended as once or twice a week foods.

Guinea pigs who are prone to bladder stones may need to go onto a special low calcium diet. 

Sugar content

A lot of guinea pigs have a sweet tooth but unfortunately for them high sugar items should only be offered once a week as an occasional treat. The high sugar content can contribute to obesity as well as the bacterial balance of the digestive system. This is why carrots and red peppers are included in the same category as safe fruits such as strawberries, apples, various melons, raspberries and others. 

Brassicas and bloat

The brassica family includes vegetables such as cabbage, kale, spinach, brussel sprouts and broccoli. These vegetables can cause gas in guinea pigs resulting in bloat which can be very serious and even lead to death. This often outweighs the vitamin C content of these vegetables as to how often they are given and if your guinea pig is prone to bloat then they should be avoided completely. 

Water content

The overall water content of fresh food should be considered as too much can cause diarrhoea and suggests that the nutritional quality of the item is poor (for example – iceberg lettuce), However, safe fresh foods such as cucumber and watermelon can provide good options for hydrating piggies on particularly hot days. Cucumber is also great to give when moving piggies as a hydration opportunity. 

Forage

We can offer fresh forage or dried forage each of which has their own advantages and disadvantages. 

What is fresh forage? Exactly what it sounds like – freshly picked and given straight to our piggies (after a good rinse) this can include things such as dandelions, hazel and bramble leaves, grass, clover, mallow, plantain and even bamboo leaves. When picking fresh forage ensure you are confident in the identification of the plants you are picking as well as the environment they are from has not been contaminated by things such as chemicals, animal waste or traffic fumes. These still come into a guinea pig’s fresh food portion.

Dried forage is a great enrichment for piggies’ to try and find through their hay pile and is often a favourite! You can buy dried forage from a variety of places online although we highly recommend The Nibble Nook.

Recommended guinea pig pellets

The 5% of pellets ensure that we give our guinea pigs good, balanced levels of vitamins and minerals and so it is important to find a high quality pellet that will provide this for them. Good quality pellets will have hay as their base ingredient and should have good levels of vitamin C. Muesli type cereals are not suitable as they promote selective feeding and of general poor quality.  We recommend Supreme Petfoods Selective Natural Grain Free guinea pig food.

What treats are safe for guinea pigs?

Unfortunately there are no regulations when it comes to what can be marketed towards guinea pigs and so a lot of the treats on the market are either not suitable for our piggies at all or are quite poor quality. Treats that contain nuts, seeds, honey and dairy should never be fed. None of these ingredients can be digested by guinea pigs appropriately and nuts and seeds are a potential choking hazard. A lot of other treats have fillers in them such as legumes or are very high in sugar so are not recommended.

Why not try using pellets, fresh food such as fruit or forage items (including the infamous pea flake) as a healthier choice for treating.