7 min read
Safe and Toxic Foods for Guinea Pigs: What to Feed and What to Avoid
From daily vegetables to dangerous toxins, a practical guide to feeding guinea pigs safely, drawn from a database of 2,000+ foods.
The foundation: hay, hay, and more hay
Around 80% of a guinea pig's diet should be grass hay, usually timothy hay for adults. Hay keeps the digestive system moving and grinds down teeth that never stop growing. Fresh water and a daily portion of fortified guinea pig pellets round out the base diet.
Vegetables and fruits: the daily fresh portion
Offer about a cup of fresh vegetables per pig per day, prioritizing vitamin C-rich choices. Introduce new foods slowly, one at a time, to avoid digestive upset.
- Great daily: bell peppers, romaine lettuce, cilantro, cucumber, zucchini
- A few times a week: kale, broccoli, carrots, parsley, spinach (in rotation, some are high in calcium or oxalates)
- Fruit is candy: small amounts of apple (no seeds), strawberry, or blueberry once or twice a week
Foods that are dangerous or toxic
When your pig ingests something from this list, contact an exotic vet promptly and note how much was eaten and when.
- Chocolate, candy, and anything with caffeine
- Onions, garlic, leeks, chives, and shallots
- Avocado
- Potato skins, green potatoes, and rhubarb
- Iceberg lettuce (mostly water, can cause diarrhea)
- Nuts, seeds, bread, dairy, meat, and any processed human food
- Apple seeds and fruit pits
- Houseplants and unknown garden plants, many common ones are toxic
Rare and occasional foods
Some foods are safe but only in small amounts or infrequently, for example, bananas (very sugary), grapes, tomatoes (acidic), and corn. The line between 'fine sometimes' and 'too much' is exactly where owners make mistakes.
The Wheeky Guide app contains a searchable database of over 2,000 foods, each rated as beneficial, toxic, or feed-rarely, with notes on portion sizes and nutrients like vitamin C. Instead of guessing in the grocery aisle, you can check any food in seconds.