Guinea pigs need a selection of important nutrients to ensure that their bodies function healthily. These nutrients need to be provided by you through a varied diet.
As a pet owner, it is up to you to ensure that you give them a varied diet. Where possible, you should try to do so in a way that gives your animals some variety, so they don't get fed up of eating the same foods every day.
1. Dried Food Mix
High street pet stores stock one or more varieties of dried food mix. This is simply a variety of various different, including fruit, nuts, and seeds. Combined, these foods give your animals the vast majority of the nutrients they need. Because of this, it is an important part of their diet.
2. Fresh Fruit and Vegetables
It's also important to feed your animals some fresh food, for example grapes, celery, and cucumber. Not only do these provide a bit of variety in their diet, they also contain nutrients that dried food mix doesn't contain. This helps to keep your animals' immune system healthy, to help them resist illness.
3. Tasty Treats
Although we don't always like to admit it, we humans have a sweet tooth, and love to munch on things like cake, biscuits, and chocolate as a special treat once in a while. Cavies are exactly the same, and because of this fact there are lots of delicious treats that you can buy, which are designed specifically for guinea pigs. These include tiny chocolates, jellied fruits, and chew bars - just make sure not to treat them too often or your pets might end up rather chubby!
Getting your animals' diet right isn't hard, but does take a certain amount of dedication. However, you will soon find that it becomes very easy to do, and it won't take long to give your animals everything they need. Your guinea pigs will certainly be very thankful for it!