Guinea Pig Food

Wild guinea pigs forage on grasses, plants, vegetables and crops – and our pet guinea pigs benefit from eating a similar diet. To help your cavy chums stay healthy and happy, the best foods for guinea pigs are those which mimic what they would eat naturally.

Your guinea pigs will thrive on a feeding plan that comprises:

• 85-90% unlimited grazed grass (not grass cuttings) or high-quality feeding hay(not bedding hay, which may have poor nutritional value). As a guide, provide each piggy with at least their own body size in fresh feeding hay every day.
• Pelleted guinea pig food–a small amount of nuggets every day.. Guinea pig nuggets help ensure your piggies get all the vital vitamins and minerals they need. You can split their daily ration between morning and evening feeds.
• A small handful of guinea pig-safe leafy greens, vegetables and herbs – around a teacup-sized amount a day per guinea pig. Greens and veg high in vitamin C are especially good.

Fresh water – your guinea pigs must also have access to plenty of fresh water at all times, supplied in pet drinking bottles which feature a solid sipper tube.

You can also include some yummy, healthy guinea pig treats with your guinea pigs’ food to add enrichment. Nutritious and delicious, these are good food for guinea pigs – and are great for hand feeding, helping you to build your bond with your piggy pals. Healthy snacks such as Herby Hearts, Meadow Munchies, Hay Bars and Wildflower Forage help to prevent boredom and promote emotional health.

As well as helping them get plenty of vitamin C, fresh fruits, herbs and vegetables add variety and interest making them good food for guinea pigs.

• There are all sorts of safe veggies, including baby corn on the cob, bell peppers, carrot tops, cauliflower leaves and stalks, celery leaves, courgette (and flowers), green beans, peas (leaves and pods), rocket, savoy cabbage, spring greens, watercress and tomato – but NOT the leaves/vine as these are poisonous. ThePDSA has a comprehensive list of recommended vegetables that can be included when feeding your guinea pigs.
• Safe herbs include basil, coriander, dill, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme. Wild plants you can forage forinclude dandelion leaves, plantain, herb robert and cow parsley.
• Guinea pigs don’t naturally eat fruit, but you can give small amounts as an occasional treat. Fruit is high in sugar, which can cause obesity. Grapes, for example, have a very high sugar content – and can also be a choking hazard. Safe fruits for guinea pigsinclude apples (not the pips because they’re poisonous), bananas, blueberries, cherries, kiwis, melon, pears, plums, squash and strawberries.

TOP TIP! Guinea pigs love to search out titbits, so rather than putting their guinea pig food in a bowl, place it around their enclosure, in their tunnels, in paper bags, cardboard loo rolls or under some hay, to encourage their natural urge to forage for food.

Providing your small pets with the best guinea pig food is vital. The right balance of fresh, nutritious hay, high-fibre nuggets and a little fresh food is key to ensuring your guinea pigs are healthy and happy.

• Entirely vegetarian, these small herbivores need high levels of fibre in their diet to keep their gut moving. Feeding lots of high-quality feeding hay is the best way to ensure your pet guinea pigs are getting enough fibre in their diet. Munching on tasty hay also helps to keep their continuously growing teeth in good shape.
• Just like us, guinea pigs aren’t able to make their own vitamin C, and need to get a daily dose in their guinea pig food or they can suffer all sorts of serious health issues. Providing them with guinea pig nuggets that contain vitamin C, along with a small portion of guinea pig-safe fresh greens, will keep their vitamin C levels topped up.

Burgess Excel Guinea Pig Nuggets have been formulated by vets and nutritionists to ensure they contain the right balance of vitamins and minerals. Our nuggets support healthy skin and a glossy coat, with antioxidants such as vitamin E assisting a healthy immune system along with prebiotics and beneficial fibre to maintain healthy digestion.

Constantly   is important for your guinea pigs – and it’s due to the way their digestive system works.

Guinea pigs need to keep their digestive systems busy with a mix of two kinds of fibre moving through their gut at all times. These types of fibre are called digestible fibre and indigestible fibre. They get this fibre mainly from quality feeding hay.

These small pets perform a digestive process that might seem rather odd to us humans, but for guinea pigs, it’s perfectly natural. Called caecotrophy, it’s their way of extracting as much goodness as possible from their guinea pig food. Simply put – they eat their droppings (caecotrophs), allowing many important nutrients to be reingested.

This is how the process works:

• Indigestible fibre is moved through their digestive system and excreted as separate, rounded, hard droppings. This type of fibre keeps the digestive system moving and their appetite stimulated.
• Digestible fibre is moved up into an organ called the caecum – which is like a giant appendix. Good bacteria in the caecum ferment the fibre, making it easy to digest. This emerges in the form of clumps of sticky droppings, known as caecotrophs. Guinea pigs re-eat the caecotrophs directly from their bottom. This enables essential nutrients to be absorbed when the digestible fibre passes through for the second time.

So, if your guinea pigs are constantly chowing down on their fresh, nutritious meadow hay, high-fibre nuggets, fresh food and naturally healthy snacks, it’s a good sign!

Read about training a guinea pig and understanding guinea pig behaviour.

No. Food designed for rabbits does not contain the required level of vitamin C that guinea pigs need. Using rabbit food as guinea pig food can lead to scurvy, which is a serious disease caused by vitamin C deficiency.

Unlike herbivore guinea pigs who need a high-fibre diet, hamsters are omnivores who require protein and lower levels of fibre in their food. Always provide your guinea pigs with the best food that’s designed just for them and meets their specific nutritional needs.

“The guinea pigs love it. Excel-lent. :)”

“My 4 boys love this food especially when I mix it with other Burgess products.”

“The piggies love these nuggets. I’ve finally found some they like!”

“I have 8 rescue girls – they love it.”

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Guinea pigs are constant grazers and their digestive tract should never be empty and should always contain food. If your guinea pigs go more than six to eight hours without eating, you should contact your vet immediately as this could signal they are suffering from gut stasis.

Gut stasis in guinea pigs is a serious, life-threatening condition caused by lack of fibre, a sudden change in diet, an obstruction in the gut, dental disease or stress. When it occurs, the gastrointestinal tract slows down and stops digesting food and moving fluid throughout the body. Without urgent veterinary treatment, gut stasis can be fatal.

You can safely transition your guinea pigs’ food over 7-10 days by gradually reducing the old food and replacing it with Burgess Excel Guinea Pig Food.

In the first few days, measure your guinea pigs’ normal food intake for the day. Take out a small amount and replace it with the same amount of the new nuggets. Mix them so your guineas eat a combination of the two. Each day, slightly reduce their old food and replace it with slightly more of their new food. At the end of the transition period, your guinea pigs should be eating their new nuggets happily with no issues!

If your guinea pigs haven’t eaten Burgess Excel Guinea Pig Food before, they’re in for a treat! As well as a choice of yummy Nuggets with Mint or Blackcurrant & Oregano, there’s also a variety specially for indoor guinea pigs.

Check out what some of our happy customers have told us:

“My guinea pig is a fussy little man. When he arrived, he’d never clear his bowl, and he’d waste a lot of food picking through what he wanted. Until I tried this! He loves it! Empty bowl every day, no wastage and excellent price using subscription service. Food is excellent quality too.”

Order online and have your Burgess Excel guinea pig nuggets delivered straight to your door.

Subscribe & Save 10% on every order of Burgess Excel feeding hays

Anything you’re not sure about is best avoided, but here are some foods that are definitely not recommended for guinea pigs:

• GUINEA PIG MUESLI – Muesli-based diets encourage selective feeding, where guinea pigs eat high starch/sugar components of the muesli while rejecting the more fibrous pellets. This means they won’t be getting all the nutrition they need.
• SWEET TREATS – Colourful guinea pig treats are often very high in sugar, and bad for your guinea pigs’ teeth and tummy.
• HUMAN FOOD – High-carb bread, pasta and crackers can cause digestive problems. Chocolate and dairy products are particularly dangerous, and citrus fruit can upset their sensitive tummies.
• GRASS CUTTINGS – Guinea pigs should be given unlimited access to graze on fresh grass, just as they would in the wild. But don’t feed them a pile of grass cuttings as that can be very harmful to them.
• TOXIC FLOWERS – Avoid buttercups, daffodils, poppies and tulips.
• UNSUITABLE FRUIT AND VEG – Vegetables to avoid, as they are poisonous to guinea pigs, include potatoes and potato skin, onion and related vegetables, garlic, mushrooms, chives and avocado. Light-coloured lettuce varieties are high in water, have little nutritional value and will just give your guinea pigs the runs. Also, steer clear of rhubarb – it’s poisonous to animals if eaten raw.
• NUTS AND SEEDS – All nuts are high in fat, not fibre and will give your guinea pigs extremely uncomfortable indigestion.