Feeding
Make sure you purchase fresh, high-quality, clean hay that is dry, sweet-smelling and free of mold. A high-quality meadow hay such as Timothy hay is a great choice. Pellets: Commercial is specially formulated to provide balanced nutrition with the ideal dosage of Vitamin C and other essential nutrients. We recommend the higher quality brands such as Oxbow pellets vs the “snack” blends. Avoid feeding any muesli-type mixtures because you will end up with lots of bits left over. Your pets will eat the tastier bits, usually the sweeter ones and leave anything they don’t like, these are usually the healthy bits that are full of fibre. A lack of fibre in a guinea pigs’ diet leads to painful dental diseases.

Five Things Your Guinea Pigs Need

1. Your pets need constant access to good quality grass or hay and this means both day and night. In order to maintain a healthy digestive system and strong healthy teeth, guinea pigs need to be chewing on either or both of these whenever they want to.  Timothy hay is recommended.
2. You need to offer about a teacup of fresh greens to each of your guinea pigs every day – so they get all the nutrients and vitamins out of them.
3. You need to feed your guinea pigs some good quality guinea pig nuggets – make sure you follow the guidelines on the packet as to how much to feed them on a daily basis.
4. A constant fresh source of water (preferably filtered but NOT distilled) clean, room- temperature water is an absolute must. Water bottles need to be emptied and refilled daily.
5. Vitamin C – One of the most important things for a guinea pig’s diet is vitamin C. Like humans, they can’t manufacture this themselves and so they need to eat enough of this every day in order to stave off infection and remain fit and healthy.

Guinea Pig Food List

Common Foods
Artichoke
Beetroot (skinned)
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower leaves
Cucumber
Celery
Kale
Kohlrabi
Parsnips
Peppers (red and green, without seeds)
Romaine Lettuce
Sprout stalks
Sweetcorn
Swede
Turnips

Common Foods To Be Eaten In Moderation

For guinea pigs, some foods are fine but should only really be eaten in moderation. Fruit, for example, is quite sugary and acidic, and can result in painful little sores around the guinea pigs’ mouths if fed to them too often

Apples
Bananas
Kiwi Fruit
Lettuce (contains a sedative)
Melon
Oranges
Pears
Raspberries
Spinach (contains oxalic acid so a maximum of two leaves a week)
Strawberries
Tomatoes

Four Things Your Guinea Pigs Need

1. Your pets need constant access to good quality grass or hay and this means both day and night. In order to maintain a healthy digestive system and strong healthy teeth, guinea pigs need to be chewing on either or both of these whenever they want to – Timothy hay is recommended.
2. You need to offer about a teacup of fresh greens to each of your guinea pigs every day – so they get all the nutrients and vitamins out of them.
3. You need to feed your guinea pigs some good quality guinea pig nuggets – make sure you follow the guidelines on the packet as to how much to feed them on a daily basis.
4. A constant fresh source of water (preferably filtered but NOT distilled) clean, room- temperature water is an absolute must. Water bottles need to be emptied and refilled daily.

Recommended Care Items:
Toys are a great way to help your guinea pigs get the exercise they need to stay fit and healthy. Investing in a puzzle or tunnel can be just what your pet needs – a little more incentive to keep moving and remain active, which can be useful since they are indoors and when you go out of the home. We suggest a soft paper bedding – cleaned out 2x a week – for maximum comfort.

Suggested items :
Guinea pig igloos, hideaways, chews, hay balls and tunnels. Some guinea pigs like special licks that you can purchase and tie to the side of your guinea pigs’ run.