Posts Tagged: nutrition

Guinea pigs develop dietary preferences early in life and do not adapt readily to changes in type, appearance, or presentation of their food or water.  The optimum diet for a guinea pig should contain guinea pig pellets, grass hay and supplemented with fresh vegetables.  Guinea pigs are completely herbivorous and enjoy a variety of leafy greens.  All fresh vegetables should only be left in the cage for a few hours and only a small amount of fruits should be offered.  Good quality hay should be available at all times and pellets can be given free choice as well.  Guinea pigs require a dietary source of Vitamin C and should be offered in the way of green leafy vegetables (kale, parsley, beet greens, chicory, spinach), red and green peppers, broccoli, tomatoes or small amount of kiwi and oranges.  Make sure to speak to your veterinarian if you have questions about your guinea pig’s diet.

Feeding your ferret a proper diet is extremely important.  Ferrets, like cats, are strict carnivores that are designed to eat whole, small prey animals.  In nature, ferrets would only encounter carbohydrates in the partially digested stomach contents of their prey.  The most common diet fed to pet ferrets in the United States is dry kibble, however these diets still contain high levels of grain.  The most important thing to look at when choosing a food for you ferret is the label.  The optimal diet contains 30-35% crude protein (high-quality meat sources) and 15-20% fat content.  The first three ingredients of a ferret diet should be meat products.  Dry diets can also be supplemented with:  fresh raw organ or muscle meat and raw egg.  Fruits should be avoided and fresh water should always be available either in a sipper bottle or a heavy crock-type bowl.  If a bowl is used it should not be easy to overturn.  Supplements should never be added to the ferrets’ water because they will degrade quickly.  Make sure to speak to your veterinarian if you have any questions about your ferret’s diet.