How To Choose Guinea Pig Food

Hi. My name's Marie. I'm the deputy manager of the Small Animal Department of Wood Green Animal Shelters in Cambridge here.

I'm going to advise you how to care for guinea pigs. I'm going to tell you how to choose guinea pig food. The most important part of your guinea pig's diet is good quality hay and they should be fresh, green and sweet-smelling hay and it should be meadow.

Hay should make up around 80% of a guinea pig's diet and it should be everywhere, completely filled in a hutch, popped on top of their houses and tunnels, in their run and even in hanging baskets and stuffed into toilet rolls. It should be everywhere and encourage them to eat it. Secondly, you'll need a small amount of dry mix.

The best mixes are to go for a plain pellet mix. There are many on the market. A lot of these cereal-based mixes are filled with colorants and these can often lead to various health issues so do avoid them and just go for your plain pellet mix.

Although they look a little bit boring, they do meet everything that guinea pigs need in their diet and they're hard so it also will wear down on the teeth. Then, you'll also want all the fresh food. Guinea pigs should be allowed to go out on the grass at least 4 to 6 hours everyday and obviously weather permitting.

They should be free to grace on different types of grasses, wild plants such as plantain. You can then also pick and grow your own vegetables and herbs as well. A selection we've got here are different types of carrots, we've got roses, just your plain garden roses, cabbages, curly cale and even wild duranium.

They shouldn't be mistaken for the common house duranium. This is great for a guinea pig who's maybe gone off his diet a little bit. They really seem to enjoy eating this.

Another fantastic type of plant is raspberries and blackberry leaves. If your guinea pig's struggling with their diet or they've got an upset belly, these often will settle it down along with good quality hay. Lastly, treats for your guinea pigs with your diet, again, keep it natural so go for your natural dried herbs such as dandelion, mint and plantain.

And again, stuff these into plant pots, into toilet rolls, even into paper bags and make it interesting for them but keep it natural. And so, that's how to choose guinea pig food. .