Feeding your Guinea Pig
In the old days a bowl of rabbit pellets and some lets over lettuce leaves used to work. However today things have changed and it is a lot easier, the cost of imported Guinea Pig food is not a cheap exercise in any country, making feeding a Guinea Pig PROPERLY a rather hefty expense.
There is so much debate over this topic... The one thing we can be sure of! Hay is Boss... the percentages of pellets versus dark greens versus treat veggies... Well many experts on line who all disagree, so its safe to say that there is as little agreement on the piggies diet as there is on human diets.
I want to say that we cannot discount that guinea pigs do differ in size and in preference in diet needs.
Let me share my experiences with you regarding how my feeding has evolved. One of the first imported Guinea Pig foods that was made available. Imported from Belgium from a company Versele Laga. Initially the food was in a pellet form. However lately it has taken on and evolved into the Muesli form, then back to a pellet then both are available. I fed this product for most my years of breeding and can say I never had a days issue, healthy babies and healthy pigs.
Gerty Guinea Pig a similar looking muesli food was imported from United Kingdom, both these products are available from most pet shops and some supermarkets.
I fed Versele Laga until I was briefly sponsored by Burgees, and that is when I changed, imported from the UK. This is a non muesli product, and is quiet advanced in the production and make up of the actual pellet, leaving you with a very healthy Guinea Pig.
There is so much debate over this topic... The one thing we can be sure of! Hay is Boss... the percentages of pellets versus dark greens versus treat veggies... Well many experts on line who all disagree, so its safe to say that there is as little agreement on the piggies diet as there is on human diets.
I want to say that we cannot discount that guinea pigs do differ in size and in preference in diet needs.
Let me share my experiences with you regarding how my feeding has evolved. One of the first imported Guinea Pig foods that was made available. Imported from Belgium from a company Versele Laga. Initially the food was in a pellet form. However lately it has taken on and evolved into the Muesli form, then back to a pellet then both are available. I fed this product for most my years of breeding and can say I never had a days issue, healthy babies and healthy pigs.
Gerty Guinea Pig a similar looking muesli food was imported from United Kingdom, both these products are available from most pet shops and some supermarkets.
I fed Versele Laga until I was briefly sponsored by Burgees, and that is when I changed, imported from the UK. This is a non muesli product, and is quiet advanced in the production and make up of the actual pellet, leaving you with a very healthy Guinea Pig.
This food is costly however is fed less in quantities.
Moving to the Northern Hemisphere I have changed to a product that has a high Vit C content and I love feeding, the smell and affordability is wonderful, and the result happy, healthy pigs. Country Fun & Fruity Mix is the current brand I feed. Would take a lot to get me to change. The two most important feeding needs for Guinea Pigs is firstly fresh water, and the second is hay. There are many options available, like Timothy, Mountain Dew hay, Cut Green Grass, We have local hays like Eragrostis, Teff, Oat Hay and Lucern, all of these available from most large animal distributors. |