All guinea pigs need water to survive. Though they can obtain a large portion of their water from fresh fruits, vegetables and greens,
they will still require water from a water bottle The water should be changed daily. Distilled water is not recommended
Be aware that some guinea pigs like to "play" with their water bottle, leaking out large amounts of water by holding the steel ball up in the tube. Others like to try and blow water back up into the bottle, All this meand dirty water so daily cleang is required
Hay: the basic food
Hay is the main thing every guinea pig should eat Though guinea pig pellets do contain hay, it is not in sufficient quantity to keep your guinea pig healthy. You guinea pig must have a fresh supply of hay every day in order to keep its digestive system working, you should allow your guinea pig to have as much hay as it will eat.
Meadow hay is the best type of hay to feed, though any grass hay will do. Most pet stores carry dried meadow hay in large and small bags, but it is far better to purchase your hay fresh from a feed and garden store, or directly from a farmer. Buying hay by the bale is especially economical, as a bale of hay will last for months, and will stay fresh as long as it is stored properly. Store in a dry cool place.
Guinea pig pellets
Guinea pig pellets will provide your guinea pig with the proper balance of vitamins (save for Vitamin C), minerals and other nutrients. Although it's not necessary to feed pellets to your guinea pigs, it is certainly recommended that they be your primary feed, after hay. Guinea pig pellets are, in particular, a prime source of protein; obtaining the necessary amounts of this and other nutrients will require careful dietary planning if you choose not to use pellets.
As a general rule of thumb, adult guinea pigs will eat between one and two ounces of pellets each day. Nursing and pregnant sows may demand a little more than this, and animals that are given plenty of hay and some fresh vegetables each day might eat a little less. It will be easy to tell if you are feeding too much or too little: if there are leftover pellets, then you are giving them too much. If the bowl is empty and they seem to be foraging for food, then you aren't feeding them enough.Try to feed at the same hour each day (or hours, if you opt to feed twice a day), as guinea pigs like a routine and predictable life. When choosing your pellets, be sure to avoid the guinea pig "mixes" that contain nuts, seeds and dried fruits. These mixes are high in fats and oils, which can lead to excessive weight gain. Additionally, many of these mixes contain sunflower seeds in their shells. Guinea pigs should never be fed nuts or seeds that are still in their shells (peanuts, sunflower seeds, etc.):
One thing that should be mentioned is guinea pigs should be fed guinea pig pellets, not rabbit pellets Guinea pig pellets are nutritionally balanced for guinea pigs, and feeding them pellets for other animals can result in serious health problems.
Vitamin C requirements
It is extremely important that your guinea pigs receive enough vitamin C each day to prevent scurvy. Guinea pigs cannot manufacture or store vitamin C, so they must obtain it from their diet on a daily basis. Adult guinea pigs will require 10mg of vitamin C each day, and nursing and pregnant sows will require twice that amount (20mg). The caveat: vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, breaks down very quickly, so it must be supplied fresh. Although many pellet manufacturers will claim that their feed contains the required amount of vitamin C, you should not trust this. Vitamin C in pellets breaks down during storage, and after about 90 days, there won't be enough vitamin C in the feed to keep your guinea pigs healthy.Since pellets are generally an inadequate source of vitamin C, most owners will either feed sufficient quantities of fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C each day, or provide vitamin C in the form of supplements added to the guinea pigs' food or drinking water.
Vitamin supplements come in many forms: you can either buy pre-packaged vitamin supplements for guinea pigs from your pet store, or grind up vitamin C tablets on your own. In either case, most people prefer to add the vitamins to the animal's drinking water, as that is the only way to guarantee that it will be ingested daily. If you do choose to go the supplement route, here are a few pointers:
If you choose instead to supply their vitamin C through fresh greens, fruits and vegetables, then you need to make sure you are feeding the right amounts of each food. The next section discusses this, and other topics, in detail.
Fresh fruits and Vegetables
Being vegetarians, guinea pigs will eat many kinds of fruits, vegetables and fresh greens. By supplementing your pig's diet with them, you will keep your guinea pig happy, as they may become bored with eating only pellets and hay. And, many fruits and vegetables are sources of vitamin C, providing a natural way to meet your guinea pig's daily requirement.
In addition to providing vitamin C and variance in your cavy's diet, fresh greens and fruits contain a significant amount of water. Feeding "wet foods" will aid nursing sows in lactating, and will reduce the amount of water that the average guinea pig will drink from the water bottle. It is especially useful to take lettuce, green peppers and other watery greens with you on trips to provide moisture for your guinea pigs while in the car, since water bottles will leak heavily as the bumps in the road rattle the ball in the drinking tube.
If you ever opt to reduce or completely eliminate pellets from your guinea pig's diet, they can survive on water, hay and fresh fruits and vegetables. However, this will require very careful dietary planning on your part, to make sure that they receive the necessary nutrients in the proper amounts.
Also, be aware that many fresh greens are laxative in action, which means that you run the risk of giving your guinea pigs loose bowels, or even diarrhea, if you feed them too much at one time. If you notice runny droppings, immediately cut fresh greens out of their diet and feed dry foods until the feces returns to normal. Vegetables that are not laxative (such as carrots) may still be fed.
Fresh food
apples, bananas, bread (slightly stale & crunchy, but not moldy), broccoli, carrot greens, carrots and baby carrots, celery (cut into small pieces first), cilantro, cucumber, dandelion greens, grass, green & red bell peppers, green leaf & romaine lettuce, kale, kiwi, mustard greens, oats, oranges, parsley, raspberries, spinach, tomatoes
When feeding "wild" greens, such as grass and dandelion greens, make sure they have not been sprayed with chemicals, or contaminated by droppings or urine from other animals, such as cats, dogs and birds. The dangers of pesticides are obvious, and feces can carry any number of parasites which can be transmitted to cavies eating contaminated greens. Even if dogs and cats are dewormed regularly, their feces can contain protozoa/bacteria which can cause debilitating diarrhea in a guinea pig. Never collect wild greens from the road sides.
Some foods to avoid are listed below:
long celery stalks (the "strings" in celery are difficult to digest); cut them into small pieces
iceberg lettuce (high in nitrates, no nutritional value)
any shelled nuts or seeds (guinea pigs can choke on the shell fragments)
raw beans (poisonous)
rhubarb (extremely poisonous)
Treats
There are several commercially available treats on the market that are aimed at guinea pigs. Berry flavored "crunchies" and flavored chew sticks are popular among some owners and guinea pigs, and are generally safe. Some owners also have experimented with vegetarian dog biscuits and dry cereals such as Cheerio's.
However, you should be wary of the guinea pig "treat sticks", which are also available commercially. These sticks are essentially seeds and nuts that are held together with honey. Most of the treat sticks on the market contain sunflower seeds that are still in their shells, which is a big no-no for guinea pigs due to the choking hazards.
GROOMING
Routine Grooming
Brushing, skin and coat inspections, and baths are all a part of the routine grooming of your guinea pig. Long-haired cavies will require special care to keep their hair in good condition.
SHORT HAIRED PIGGIES
For short-haired cavies, you will want to brush them with a stiff brush, probably once a week. This will brush out any large particles of dirt, as well as prevent the hair from matting. you will also want to inspect your guinea pig for lice: they show up as tiny, grey-brown worm-like parasites that crawl through the hair very near the surface of the skin.
LONG HAIRED PIGGIES
As with short-haired cavies, the long-haired varieties will need to be brushed and inspected for lice. You also have to decide what to do about the length of their hair: you can opt to either trim the hair or groom to keep the hair in good condition. The hair of a peruvian or a silky grows at the rate of about one inch per month. If you opt to trim, you will want to cut to remove mats that have formed in the hair, usually about once every month or two, and keep it at a length short enough so that the guinea pig isn't stepping on its own hairAs a general rule, bathing should only be done when necessary. In the case of guinea pigs, "necessary" means:
A medical reason, such as lice, as directed by your veterinarian.
If your guinea pig manages to get into something particularly smelly or dirty, such as mud.
Baths are typically stressful events for a cavy, and stressed guinea pigs are more susceptible to bacterial and viral infections. Unless your guinea pig simply loves to be bathed (some of them do), you should not do so regularly. Some alternatives to a full bath are presented below:
Powder baths are very popular. Dusting powders are available for rabbits and guinea pigs, and can pretty much be used for both. Almost all powder bath products are used the same way: you sprinkle the powder onto the hair, and then brush it out completely with a stiff, wire brush. As you brush the powder out, it should pick up any dirt particles and condition the coat.
For dirty bottom just give a bottom half bath over the sink.
For stains in the coat, you can give a "sponge bath", using either a soapy washcloth or a towelette.
Bathing
For a bath, fill a large washing up bowl with an inch of water, and place a cloth on the bottom so that your guinea pig has something to grip onto . The water should be slightly warm, but not hot.
Piggies have very sensitive skin, so powerful shampoos can be harmful. Use a baby shampoo for general baths. If you are using a medicated shampoo (for killing parasites), then pick a shampoo that is safe for kittens (not cats, kittens!) or birds.
Lather your guinea pig from the rump up to the back of the neck. Do not get any soap around the face. Be careful when rinsing to make sure no soap runs over their head and into their eyes or face.
Dry them gently with a towel, and then let them air-dry the rest of the way. As a general rule, it's bad to blow-dry a guinea pig, as the heat from the dryer can burn their skin. Take care to make sure there are absolutely no drafts where they are drying to prevent chills.Its best to keep them inside until there dry.
Try to limit the number of baths you give.
Never use a medicated/chemical shampoo on a nursing mother or on babies under two months of age. Also, don't use these shampoos on pregnant sows unless under the direction of your veterinarian.
Nail trimming
In the wild, the guinea pig's toenails are kept short through wear and tear. But as a domesticated animal, there is nothing to naturally wear them down, and over time, they will get too long. As such, you will need to regularly trim their nails, to prevent them from growing and curving too far inward, which can lead to painful breaks. If you have never clipped a guinea pig's toenails before, you may want to have your vet, or an experienced piggie owner show you how it's done. There are two factors that make nail trimming challenging for new owners:
Guinea pigs have blood vessels in their toenails, referred to as the "quick". In clear nails, the quick is fairly obvious: it is the pinkish portion that extends from the bone of the toe into the nail. In black nails, however, spotting the quick is next to impossible, making trimming difficult.
Guinea pigs don't like to be restrained, so it may reqire two people
This actually be solved fairly easily: many owners will wrap their guinea pigs in a towel, letting their legs hang out, so that they can trim the nails without a fuss. This is especially easy if you have one person restraining the guinea pig, and a second trimming the nails. For owners that have to trim the nails "solo", some use the "tennis racket" approach: put the guinea pig on a tennis racket, so that their toenails poke down through the gaps between the strings. Either method will work; pick the one that is most convenient for you and your piggie.
The first problem, however, is more difficult to solve. The toenail must be trimmed above the quick; cutting into the blood vessel will not only be very painful for the cavy, but will also cause bleeding, In guinea pigs with clear toenails, this isn't that hard to do: simply locate the quick, and cut a little bitt ahead of it. But if your guinea pig has black toenails, knowing where the quick begins is almost an art if in dought just take the tips off.
If you still end up cutting the quick, either because you overshoot on a nail or your guinea pig moves while you snip, then you will need to stop the bleeding, which can be fairly heavy. Some pet stores sell a powder called "quick-stop", which is designed to be dabbed on the end of the bleeding toenail to help form a clot. If you don't have quick-stop. apply some iodine, instead.
One trick that you can use to reduce the frequency of nail-trimming is to provide a "natural" way for your guinea pigs to wear down their claws. Rough stones, bricks and other abrasive surfaces can be put in the cage for your guinea pigs to perch on and step over.
Teeth Inspections
From time to time, you will need to inspect your guinea pig's teeth . Like the teeth of many members of the rodent family, the guinea pig's front teeth are two pairs of opposing, constantly growing incisors. Eating hard foods keep these teeth worn down to their proper length, so you should supply your guinea pig with chew sticks, apple or fruit tree branches, hay cubes or toasted bread. Periodically check the incisors to make sure they are wearing properly. If they to grow too long, they will start to curve inward, making it impossible for the guinea pig to eat. If they have got very long then let the vet trim them back.
Broken tips can be caused by falls or brittle teeth (which, in turn, can be caused by vitamin deficiencies). If a tooth breaks off, then you will want to take your piggie to your vet.
