[Gpdd] [CARE] Food Questions

[Penny Charlesworth]

I am so glad that George is staying with you.

As well as GuineaLynx, which is great, have a look at petergurney.com for 
lots more useful info.

Like ourselves, guinea pigs cannot manufacture their own Vitamin C and this 
is absolutely vital to their diet. My herd munch their way through piles of 
fresh veggies every day. They start the day with a chunk of carrot and a 
slice of cucumber, then, when the pens have been cleaned out, they all get a 
pile of fresh grass, which is their natural food. Make sure that the grass 
is freshly picked as if it is left laying around it will ferment.

It is easy to divide a cucumber among 26 piggies so as you only have George 
you can share salad veg with him when you are preparing it for yourselves. 
My piggies also enjoy celery ( including the leaves ), tomato and lettuce in 
the salad range. They like apple ( cut it in small pieces to avoid trouble 
with mouth sores ) and adore all types of melon, including the rind ( wash 
it well ).

In the summer, my piggies have string beans from the garden. They love the 
pods and leave a neat pile of beans when they have finished.

They always have a bowl of dry food in their pens and all the best quality 
hay that they can eat. This is vital for their digestion. Always put fresh 
water in George's bowl daily but don't worry if he doesn't drink it. A lot 
of my piggies get all the moisture that they need from their fruit and 
veggies.

I also give my little ones lots of food foraged from the garden but you may 
be unsure of what is safe to feed so that can be added to George's diet 
later if you like. Introduce him to new foods one at a time so that you can 
be sure that it agrees with him.

You may have heard "popcorn" mentioned in relation to piggies. A definite 
no-no as regards food but people refer to "popcorning" when little piggies 
bounce around ( like popcorn when it is cooking ). Corn on the cob, however, 
is favoured by some piggies. ( I'm assuming that you are in the US - do you 
call it corn on the cob? The yellow stuff!! ) The vit C content rapidly 
deteriorates, so my piggies only have this when it is freshly picked from 
the garden.

Everyone has different ideas about feeding and some folk don't feed greens 
but my herd love cauliflower leaves ( not the white curd ) and occasionally 
they will have kale ( not too often as this is high in oxalates ). They love 
broccoli, some eat pears, the occasional piggy will eat some orange and I 
once had a piggy who would eat banana. Some like chicory, some hate it. They 
are all different, just like us. I hate bell peppers and have never met a 
piggy who liked them either but lots of people in this group give them to 
their piggies. They are high in Vit C. so give it a try.

You have different veggies to try in the US. Lots of people say that their 
piggies like cilantro but in Europe we are still trying to work out what it 
is as it doesn't seem to be the same thing as coriander although Google 
tells us that it is!!

You will get lots of different answers about what to feed! You could treat 
yourself to a good gp book. I always recommend Peter Gurney's Proper Care of 
Guinea Pigs to new slaves. If you have a question, do ask, and you will get 
many different replies, but we are all here to help!!

Keep away from some of the so-called gp treats which pet stores sell as most 
of them in the UK are just empty calories. Hay, grass, veggies, fruit and 
pellets and you won't go far wrong.

The Piggyfriends send their love to George.

Best wishes from Penny.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Muddy Rats" <muddy.rats at gmail.com>
To: <gpdd at gpdd.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 3:29 AM
Subject: [Gpdd] [CARE] Food Questions


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> Hi everyone,
>
> My ex-husband has always been the family garbage can.  He cleans out my
> frig usually once a week... but now that I've got George, I want to see
> what goodies I can share with him... besides the fact that George is 
> cuter.
>
> I have some raw pumpkin seeds that I bought by mistake in the health
> food store.  They're not salted, not sugared, nothing on them, just
> plain raw (as in not roasted) shelled pumpkin seeds..  Is this ok to
> feed a piggy?
>
> What about plain, unsalted, shelled sunflower seeds?
>
> Next to ask about, raisins?  They're organic.  I have a large container
> of them since my daughter stopped eating them.
>
> I also have dried sweetened cranberries.  Are those ok?  They only other
> ingredient besides the cranberries is sugar.
>
> I've read that some people give their piggies popcorn.  Salted?
> Buttered?  Plain?  I've got the microwave kind with salt and butter
> flavored crud that Dani eats.  I don't think I want to feed that to 
> George.
>
> Is a piece of a pear or banana ok?  Cucumbers?  Zucchini?  Green/String
> beans?  Peas?
>
> I gather piggies pass gas and/or get discomfort from it, since I've read
> no to cabbage, nothing about cauliflower, and conflicting things about
> broccoli.
>
> From the few days of reading the list, I know endive is a great
> choice.  I have to say I've watched a lot of cooking shows and haven't a
> clue about endive.  Unfortunately, the local market didn't have any.
> I'll have to check the health food store for some.
>
> I tried some kale this past week, but I know this isn't for everyday
> eating because it was high in something.  Kiwi wasn't a hit with George,
> or Dani.  Today I bought some spinach to share with George, and some red
> leaf lettuce.  I also bought a bell pepper for some crunch.  George will
> also be sharing some sweet cherry tomatoes with Dani this week.
>
> Unfortunately the pet store only puts out oranges, and occasionally
> carrots for the piggies.  George loves his carrots and oranges.  I know
> he shouldn't be eating too much fruit... and he wasn't supposed to eat
> too many carrots in a day.
>
> Soooo if anyone has any good food suggestions for George, besides a
> vegetarian biscuit recipe I found online this week that I'll be baking
> sometime this week, do let me know.  I'm used to having parrots that I
> cooked for, the hamsters who eat just about anything in their dish or
> ours, and now George, who can eat like a pig!
>
> Thanks!
>
> Regards,
> Lori, Dani & George
>
>
>
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