Saturday, January 5, 2013

Ask a Guinea Pig: Can Guinea Pigs Have Juice?

Myshala Forster asks: "hi, what juice can my lil piggy Topdeck [have], [he's] starting to get a little bored of his water, even if it just something I can water down just to give him a taste in his water, thanks xx"

Fruit in our water bottle? What an intriguing idea!
Answer: Under a very specific set of conditions, you can give us juice. We were surprised that we can have juice at all, given the high sugar content.

Guinea pig can have unsweetened apple juice and unsweetened cranberry juice. We really need to emphasize the unsweetened part because fruit juices are already naturally sweet, and you don't want to give your piggy too much sugar. In fact, even unsweetened juices need to be diluted before you let them drink it. Their bottle should have no more than half juice, and the rest should be clean water.

You should let them have this no more than once a week because of the sugar, even when watered down like this. Make sure you give your piggies less fruit if you're going to give them juice that week. In addition, you should refrigerate any remaining juice overnight at the end of the first day, and discard any remaining juice after the second day to avoid bacteria.

Cranberry juice may actually help prevent urinary tract infections, so it's probably the better choice if your guinea pig likes it (not to mention the recent study finding trace amounts of arsenic in many brands of apple juice!). Just make sure the label says 100% cranberry juice on it. If it just says "100% juice", it may be juice from a variety of different fruits, and if it uses words like fruit "beverage," "drink," or "cocktail," it's probably not 100% juice.

Even with this in mind, deciphering labels can be complicated, so you should probably buy the juice from a health food store like Whole Foods to be on the safe side. Lakewood Organic appears to be a good brand.

10 comments:

  1. If piggies will sometimes go on strike and refuse to eat the actual pellets if little treats are mixed in, will they refuse to drink regular water if they decide they like the juice?

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    1. No.They will still drink water(in my experiences) but if they don't just stop giving them the juice and they might be stubborn but they will drink water again (note: do not depend on this as this is my own experience your piggies might be different)

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  2. Topdeck is very much enjoying his wednesday juice mornings :) i also mixed up your ice idea and instead of just blending fruit together i diced it up really small and got star shaped ice cube trays filled them with fruit than just put enough water to hold them together and froze it, his loving them majorly and its helping his teeth too cause he nibbles on the ice, thank you guys sooo much xx

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  3. I give my piggies fresh foods everday. i also put things in their water like cucumber slices. makes it refreshing and healthy. could also use strawberries. just a few slices adds enuff flavor to excite the piggies. just be sure to only kp it there for a few hours, then empty, rinse and clean n refill with plain water.

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  4. I give my piggies fresh foods everday. i also put things in their water like cucumber slices. makes it refreshing and healthy. could also use strawberries. just a few slices adds enuff flavor to excite the piggies. just be sure to only kp it there for a few hours, then empty, rinse and clean n refill with plain water.

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  5. Can guinea pigs drink apple cider?

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  6. Can guinea pigs drink apple cider?

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  7. my piggies don't drink water at all is it some thing dangerous

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  8. once I have them mix fruit juice they drank it but still they don't drink water at all please guide me what to do

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  9. Hi I have a guinea pig named Frankie he is a very picky pig and i have tried getting him eat fruit/vegetable that I know he should have but no luck I even tried mixing in to his pellets I know that he is a healthy pig but the only thing he likes is Timothy hay 2 time a day once in the morning and once in the evening

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