Fruit and veg only diet (and hay) ????

[eblimegreen]

hi everyone.

Since Trio gave us the most awful scare last christmas we have fed them on only fruit, veg and hay in accordance with the vets advice.

she had a bladder stone the size or an orange pip and as rough as gravel....no wonder my baby was in pain.

they LOVE their new diet, they have breakfast and tea with all the hay they can eat all the time. i was wondering how many other members fed their piggys on this type of diet?

[Bob - Hugs Cavies]

They do need pellets as well to get a proper round diet.

Ours always get veg and hay as well as pellets.

[eblimegreen]

thanks for your opinion. but this diet has been throughly recommended and disscussed at great lenghts with 3 different vets so its what im goning to stick to.

i was just interested to know if anyone else did the same?

[Bob - Hugs Cavies]

Can you give more specifics on the amounts that you feed - a typical days diet would be good?

[eblimegreen]

a typical day is hard coz they have a wide variety....but the main bit is made up of leafy greens. with other veggies and fruit accompanying it such as oranges, tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, blueberries, peppers, celery, grapes ,baby corn and many others....obviously not all everyday.....although they wouldnt complain.

some fruits are just treats such as melon, bananna etc and are fed not too often.

[PigPog]

Some people don't give their pigs any dry mix at all, so it is possible to provide them with a good diet without dry feed. The main purpose of dry feed is to provide them with vitamin c and something hard in their diets, but it also has the added benefits of wearing down teeth (especially with biscuit/pellets) and keeping them occupied.

Personally I recommend that dry mix is given as an essential part of any guinea pig diet, but as your vet has given you instructions to the contrary and they appear to have no ill effects, then obviously that's what you should be doing.

To make up for the lack of vitamin c that would have been gained through dry feed, offer them more in the way of vitamin c rich vegetables such as carrot and dark green leaves like cabbage. Be careful to maintain a balance though and try not to feed too many vegetables that can cause pigs to become gassy (see the vegetables list on the feeding board for ideas).

If I were taking dry feed away from their diet I would be giving mine more vegetables to make up for it, which it sounds like you're doing already.

The hay will be providing them with the roughage they need to keep their guts ticking over and hay is another source of vitamin c. You could also supplement them with fresh grass from a reliable area (from a clean part of the garden and not next to roads, for example).

I hope this helps.

[eppingstrider]

My boys get a heck of a lot of fresh veg in the summer, but they have access to pellets and muesli too (gourmet piggies). They weren't eating an awful lot of the pellets though, except that Georgie had a big appetite over the last month which was fine by me as he had been ill.

They're going to get less fresh veg (from the garden) as winter comes in so I'll carry on with the dry food then, but I might follow your lead and not put out so much dry food next summer when veg is plentiful.

[lisa]

I have heard of this diet too and I am still looking into it as it is working for a lot of people especially if they have plenty of dried or fresh grass too. To be honest the pellets don't really get eaten if they have plenty of the other good stuff and they still maintain a healthy weight, lovely coats and happy pigs

[lisajaneh]

hmmm. Horses for courses and all that.
I'm curious as to why the vets have recommended no pellets. Do they say that pellets are the cause of the bladder stone?

[Hugs-Cavies (Doris)]

Some brands of dry feed do have a high calcium content, and some have colours that can contribute to bladder stones. These are generally the museli type feeds which is one of the reasons we switched to a nugget/pellet type feed.

[eblimegreen]

calcium content was one reason and the other being the water intake which would come with the fruit and veg. would help flush the system.

my piggys also have fruit tree wood to chew on at least twice a week to help keep their teeth down

[pamperedpiggycavie]

Hi,
Never tried it, but it's good to know if my food doesn't arrive on time I could give them a few days of veg and hay. Can I ask how much it costs you and how many piggies you have?

Amanda

[eblimegreen]

i have 3 piggys (sadley lost my Roo recently) and i would say about £10 a week

[pamperedpiggycavie]

Bit too pricey for me I'm afraid......got around (under I think) 50!!

"let them eat pellets!!" LOL! and lots of veg and hay.

Amanda