I was at the store and I saw that Rabbit food is ALOT cheaper than guinea pig food. I looked on the back of both bags and most of the ingrediants are simular. I was just wondering is this healthy enough for my guinea pi

-- Aubrey (Aubbygal@AOL.com), March 26, 2002

Answers

Yes, just buy the cheaper one and supplement with scrabs from the table and kitchen, they love vegestables and bread. They are just tailess rats. Good luck. Godspeed. Ralph.

-- Ralph Roces (rroces1@yahoo.com), March 26, 2002.

There is one very important difference between rabbit food and guinea pig food. GP food contains vitamin C, which GPs must have in their diet. Primates and GPs are the only animals that are not capable of making their own vitamin C. If you feed rabbit food, please be sure to provide an alternate source of vitamin C. Orange juice, oranges, Tang, or other supplemented juice will work, or you may be able to find a vitamin supplement specificallly designed for GPs. Be sure to keep it fresh. I have seen GPs affected with "scurvy" and it is not pretty!

-- Sandy in KS (scwilson@mindspring.com), March 26, 2002.

Sandy is right about the Vitamin C. Please don't just feed rabbit food! Kale is a great source of Vit C & they usually love it. Make sure it's fresh, though, otherwise there isn't much C left in it. Amy

-- Amy (kimico@aol.com), March 26, 2002.

I fed just rabbit feed when I had gunie pigs...Note the word had. We learn from our animals when they die.

On other words DON"T FEED JUST RABBIT FEED...THEY DIE !!!!!

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), March 26, 2002.

Guinea pigs are not just tail-less rats. Their biology is quite different, much closer to that of a horse. I would be wary of substituting rabbit pellets for guinea pig pellets. Of course, depending on what pellets you have been feeding and the ones you are now looking at may make a difference as well. If the primary ingredient is alfalfa, you can get too much calcium in the diet, which can cause obesity and possibly bladder stones. Timothy based pellets are better for adult guinea pigs who are not pregnant or nursing.

If it is alfalfa based, offer free-choice clean timothy hay every day as well to balance it out will help, as well as provide needed dietary fiber. Most rabbit rations are sold to feed up rabbits quickly to slaughter weight and are not for long-term guinea pig care.

As noted, they will need additional vitamin C in their diet. The most common way to administer it is in the drinking water and change it daily as it breaks down rapidly in contact with moisture. Mine won't eat oranges, nor any of the high vitamin C fresh produce reliably, so I go with the water bottle method to ensure that they don't get scurvy. Some pigs enjoy orange juice, some don't.

However, skip the Tang. It is high in sugar (or aspartame if you use the sugarless variety), contains BHA, too much calcium, and the concentration of Vit. C in the powder is at too low a rate to be an effective source.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 26, 2002.