Guinea pigs are strictly herbivores, which means they feed chiefly on plants.
Guinea pigs eat a pelleted diet, it should be their primary source of nutrition as it contains the proper balance of vitamins (except for vitamin C), and minerals that your cavy needs. Most adult cavies will eat betwwen one or two ounces of pellets a day. Avoid guinea pig foods that contain nuts and corn. Your guinea pig can choke very easily on these things!Hay is a necessary form of roughage, providing essential fiber in your guinea pigs diet. Fiber helps maintain proper intestinal and dental health. You should feed your pigger unlimited amounts of grass hay, such as timothy, brome, oat, and orchard hay. Guinea pigs under a year old should also be fed a daily amount of alfalfa to provide them with extra calcium. Avoid excess amounts of alfalfa with adults, the calcium it contains can cause bladder stones.
Hay also helps prevent boredom by satisfying the guinea pig's innate desire to chew, which is an important means of dental health maintenance.
Fresh fruits and veggies should be provided everyday. They help to maintain a healthy intestinal tract, while providing plenty of vitamins and minerals. You should feed one cup of fruits and veggies rich in vitamin C everyday. Some cavies can be picky so you will need to do a little experimenting to find what he likes. Most guinea pigs love these vitamin C fortified fruits and veggies: parsley, cilantro, celery, mustard, collard and dandelion greens, red, boston, and romaine lettuce, red and green cabbage, strawberries, mango, orange, honeydew, cantaloupe, and kiwi.
Guinea pigs, like humans and other primates cannot make their own vitamin C, so therefore you will need to supplement it in their diet. You will need to provide them with 15-20mg of vitamin C every day. You can do this by providing a cup of fruits and vegetables with a high vitamin C content everyday or you can use a prepackaged supplement from a vet or pet store. You will find several types of supplements at pet stores, a liquid kind which is added to their drinking water, a powdered kind which can be sprinkled on their pellets oe veggies, and one in the form of an orange drop. Supplements added to their water aren't always too effective. Some guinea pigs don't drink enough water to get an adequate amount of vitamin C a day. Giving a guinea pig orange drops isn't always your best bet either. They ussually contain high amounts os sugar, which can do more trouble than good.
Last but not least is water! You should provide fresh water everyday in a sipper tube. You shouldn't give your guinea pig water in a bowl. It will quickly become contaminated with bedding and feces, and more than likely it will end up being spilled anyway. Change the water in the tube everyday even if there is some left in the tube. Scrub the tube thoroughly once a week!
