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If you have just added a guinea pig to your family, or maybe you have been caring for a guinea pig and would like more information. This will help you to understand your guinea pig’s housing needs. Nurture your relationship by learning about your guinea pig’s personality. Educate yourself on guinea pig nutrition and improve your knowledge with special considerations.


Our goal is to help you enjoy years of
rewarding companionship full of good health and happiness.


Personality


Guinea pigs are docile, friendly animals that enjoy attention and social interaction. Their popularity continues to rise, as families without adequate garden or housing space for a dog find companionship with guinea pigs. Guinea pigs require a lot of responsibility, including cage management, measured daily feeding, and adequate attention. They become part of the family, and should never be the sole responsibility of a child.


Housing


Your guinea pig’s Caging should be large enough to accommodate food bowls and some "cage furniture," which can be as simple as a cardboard box and a piece of PVC tubing. This allows your guinea pig to explore and find seclusion. Cage flooring should be solid metal or plastic, which is easy to clean. Avoid wire grating that can be rough on the bottoms of guinea pigs' feet and can potentially catch their small feet and toenails. Guinea pigs are sensitive to overheating, and ammonia from urine can cause respiratory problems. For these reasons, it is important that the cage provides adequate ventilation and be cleaned at least twice a week. Oxbow’s EcoStraw is the preferred bedding material for your guinea pig. EcoStraw uses special technology to compress high-fibre wheat straw into a pellet that is twice as absorbent as newspaper-based litter. Hay can also be used as bedding. Bedding can be shredded paper (avoid shiny ads that can contain toxic substances), hardwood shavings, or composite recycled newspaper pellets. Cedar and pine shavings are not recommended, because they contain resins that can be irritating to your guinea pig's skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Cat litter contains clays that are not safe to ingest, and cause respiratory ailments. Guinea pigs enjoy the opportunity to run outside the cage. Placing them on a vinyl floor makes clean-up easier and gives your guinea pig a chance for extended exercise. Guinea pigs also enjoy being outside in the grass, but they need to be closely supervised. Lack of exercise, and over consumption of food, commonly results in obesity and a shortened lifespan. Guinea pigs love to burrow. For enrichment, fill a plastic toddler pool with Oat Hay and watch them wheak and whistle as they tunnel.


Nutritional Needs


Fresh, clean water is a must for your pet guinea pig. A water bottle with a sipper tube works better than a water bowl, which can be tipped over or contaminated with waste and bedding. Hanging the water bottle on the outside of the cage so just the tip of the spout is inside discourages chewing of the sipper tube. Water needs to be changed daily, and the sipper tube should be cleaned weekly. Guinea pigs are not able to produce their own vitamin C, a peculiarity they share with humans and other primates. The daily requirement of vitamin C for a guinea pig is 35 mg. In order to prevent vitamin C deficiency and subsequent scurvy, Oxbow recommends feeding your guinea pig Cavy Cuisine, a pellet diet containing stabilized vitamin C. To ensure adequate levels of vitamin C, Oxbow's GTN-50C tabs can be offered on a daily basis. Cavy Cuisine not only contains the vitamin C needed, it also contains all needed daily nutrients and antioxidants for immune health. Converting to this highly palatable diet from another food source is usually simple, but a gradual conversion (1-2 weeks) is recommended. Pellets can be fed in a sturdy crock bowl, which should be cleaned daily.

Product Suggestions

Growing Guinea Pigs: (under 6 months)
Cavy Performance in unlimited amounts, daily amounts of alfalfa, free choice grass hay.


Mature Guinea Pigs: (over 6 months year)

Cavy Performance 1/8 cup in addition to unlimited grass hay


Or…at one year of age

Cavy Cuisine 1/8-1/4 cup with free choice grass hay


Gestating and Lactating Guinea Pigs:

Cavy Performance in unlimited amounts, daily amounts of alfalfa, and unlimited grass hay.


Free-choice grass hay is another essential part of your guinea pig's diet. Hay provides essential fibre, which helps maintain intestinal and dental health. Always feed your guinea pig unlimited quantities of timothy, brome, orchard, or oat hay. Variety is best. Feeding only one type of grass hay leads to pickiness and boredom. Hay is a product of nature that changes due to weather patterns and baling conditions. Animals that learn to accept several types of grass hay as youngsters become the most adaptable to any changes in hay throughout their life. Hay also helps prevent boredom by satisfying the guinea pig's innate desire to chew, and serves an important means of dental health maintenance.
Most colored fresh fruit and vegetables are high in carbohydrates (sugar/starch), phosphorus, and calories. A high phosphorus diet can contribute to brittle bones and bladder sludge. Avoid gas-forming vegetables such as broccoli or cauliflower, and high sugar produce such as bananas, raisins and apples. Obesity is common, and guinea pigs beg well! If desired as treats, try to give less than a teaspoon a day. Leafy greens are good low calorie items that can provide further vitamin C. If desired, offer ½ cup of Romaine, Bibb, or Red Leaf lettuce twice a day. Adding a sprig or two of fresh herbs, oregano, basil, or mint is an enriching way to add something healthy and aromatic with very few calories.

Special Considerations


Guinea pigs have continually growing teeth. In captivity, they are prone to dental problems such as malocclusion and molar spur formation. While dental disease may be genetic, often times it is due to improper wearing of teeth resulting from a soft or low-fibre diet. Guinea pigs will eat twice their body size amount of hay daily. However, if adequate calories are provided through fruits, seeds, and other treats, hay consumption will decrease.

Improper wearing of teeth secondary to improper diet and a lack of hay can result in sharp points on the upper and lower molars, which can be painful to the cheek and tongue. A guinea pig with a dental problem will often have a depressed appetite and food may drop while eating. Often signs go unnoticed, but eye irritation, nasal discharge, or a wet chin may also indicate dental problems. A visit to the vet is in order if you see these abnormal signs. Provide plenty of hay for chewing to help prevent this painful condition.

Bladder stone formation is relatively common in guinea pigs. These stones may form secondary to urinary tract infection, decreased water intake (sometimes as a result of adding vitamin C to the water), high oxalate intake, or an imbalance of calcium and phosphorus in the diet. Imbalanced dietary levels of vitamin D and magnesium may also contribute. Oxbow's Cavy Cuisine, made with timothy hay, is designed to provide the mature guinea pig with the nutritionally appropriate calcium: phosphorus ratio as well as appropriate levels of magnesium and vitamin D.