Can Guinea Pigs Eat Arugula?

Humans, we haven't tried any new foods in weeks! I mean, unless you count those novelty hays. And the treats. But that's it! Where are the new fruits and vegetables? We realize you're busy, but you've got to have priorities. Ideally, we'd like some sort of new fruit or vegetable every single day.

What's that, you say? You got us some arugula for us to try? Well, it's about time!

Arugula can be fed to us 2-4 times per week.

Yum!

Hey! What are you doing here? We know you're more interested in us than the food!

Fine. If you eat that little piece over there and leave us alone, you can stay.

Broccoli, of course, didn't just eat his piece and leave us alone. He kept trying to sneak up behind us during our meal, ruining our dining experience. We won't hold it against the arugula, though; it gets 5/5 stars.

Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Mint

As we mentioned recently, we're still waiting for our Kleenmama hay to arrive, so we're trying a couple new types of hay in the meantime. The first one was Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Marigolds. Today, we're going to try Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Mint.

I don't know about this...

Last year, we tried mint leaves and hated them, so we weren't thrilled about trying this type of hay.

Yum!

Minty fresh!

Surprisingly, the hay with mint wasn't bad. We'll give it 4/5 stars.

Guinea Pig Ate Lily - What To Do

Lola here. I've had a particularly rough week. It started on Tuesday, when I rattled my cage bars until one of the humans let me out. Nice, I thought. An excuse to run around and have some floor time.

The human was busy cleaning and had placed one of those yummy looking houseplants they have on the floor for a moment to dust the small table they usually keep it on. I've been wanting to try that plant for the longest time, but those stingy humans don't want to share, so they keep it high above the floor when me and the other guinea pigs can't get to it.

Lilies

I waited until the human's back was turned and ran over to the plant. I quickly devoured one of the leaves, but before I could eat any more, the human saw me and ran towards me screaming. What's your problem, human? Why are you freaking out-

Oh. Ugh. Wait a minute.

I don't feel so well.

Maybe there's a reason the humans have been keeping me away from house plants. The human scooped me up and put me back in my cage, gave me fresh water, and immediately called the vet.

From what I could gather, I had eaten a poisonous houseplant called a Calla Lily. The vet suggested that the human call the ASPCA's animal poison control number (888-426-4435) to try to determine how bad my situation was. The phone consultation cost $65 and they told the human that based on a variety of factors (my age, weight, symptoms, amount of lily I had consumed) I would probably be okay. They told the human to watch me for the next 24 hours and if I showed any signs (diarrhea, not eating, not drinking water, drinking water constantly, winching in pain when belly is touched, or becoming lethargic), they should take me to the vet ASAP. They also said that a small amount of yogurt (1/4 teaspoon) would help relieve my oral discomfort but that yogurt should not be a regular food since it's not all that good for us.

Calla Lilies can be deadly to guinea pigs.

I coughed a bit and stuck my tongue out a few times but otherwise had no symptoms. Within a day, I was back to normal. The humans took me to the vet just in case but as far as they could tell, I got lucky and will be fine.

Humans, please learn from my stupid human's mistake: Lily houseplants, such as Calla Lilies and Peace Lily, can be deadly to guinea pigs. If you accidentally see us eating it, you need to call the animal poison number listed above to determine your course of action. Never, ever let us near any house plants unless you know they are safe. Even though I'm feeling better, I still risked kidney damage and death by nibbling on that calla lily.

Product Review: Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Marigolds

Our humans were a little late ordering hay this time (bad humans!), so they had to go to the pet store and get some hay to tide us over until the new shipment of Kleenmama hay arrives. They found some interesting new varieties of hay for sale, so they brought home a couple for us to try. The first one we tried was Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Marigolds.

Does that hay have little orange flowers in it? Let me try it!

The hay is not bad. I don't know about the flowers, though.

Broccoli seems to agree. He's eating the fat seed heads and ignoring the flowers.

It was a nice idea to get a little bonus with our hay, but we didn't care for it in practice. None of us ate the flowers. We'll give it 2.5/5 stars for the decent hay and creativity.

Product Review: Kaytee Fiesta Healthy Toppings Mixed Fruit

Today we're going to review Kaytee's Fiesta Healthy Toppings Mixed Fruit. Here are the ingredients in these treats: Raisins, Dehydrated Apple, Dried Cranberries, Dried Blueberry. Some people say that dried fruits are too high in sugar to feed to guinea pigs, although our favorite food chart says raisins can be fed 1-2 times per month. In either case, calling these treats "Healthy Toppings" isn't really accurate. This is really piggy junk food that you should only give us very sparingly.

Not the worst thing you could buy us, but not the best, either. 

Nom nom nom.

Yuck. I need to drink some water to get the taste out of my mouth.

Yum, I like it. I don't know what you girls are thinking.

Lola liked these treats at first, but then discovered it was possible for treats to be too sugary and abandoned them for her water bottle. I got bored of them, too, although Broccoli seemed to eat all of his. Since we didn't all love it to the last bite and since they're not all that healthy (despite their name), we're only going to give Kaytee Fiesta Healthy Toppings Mixed Fruit 2/5 stars.