We tell people all the time No Fruit and here's why:
We'll start with teeth. We do not tell people to not feed fruit because it might rot the guinea pig's teeth. Our teeth rot because they sit there in our mouths, day and night, same old teeth, exposed to bacteria and acids and whatnot. Every one of a guinea pig's teeth grow constantly, each day, for life. Ever wonder why guinea pigs have teeth that grow like this? It is because they are intended to be worn down by the grinding of lots and lots of hay or grass.
Hay/grass is comprised primarily of cellulose which is what makes grass, leaves and bark so strong and tough. This is our first (and most visible) clue to how guinea pigs differ from us and other mammals, like cats and dogs. Guinea pigs are not just herbivores – they are a very select group of herbivores called fibrevores. Their diet must be comprised of primarily fiber because their entire digestive system is meant to process it. We are talking heavy duty plant fiber here. Not what your doctor recommends you eat more of in the form of salad and bran muffins. We mean fiber that we can't even chew successfully, let alone hope to digest.
Their teeth are the first step in this process and if they didn't grow constantly they would wear away to nubs and nothingness from their coarse diet.
Once the hay goes into the guinea pig's mouth and is chewed thoroughly, the actual digestive process is hidden from us until we see the end product - poop. We are going to give you a somewhat simplified version of what happens inside your guinea pig between the hay going in and the poop coming out.
What does this have to do with fruit? We’re getting to that soon, promise.
Guinea pigs are Hindgut Fermenters. This refers to their specialized digestive system that is comparatively longer than ours and includes a very large cecum (pronounced see-come) - the blind-ended "pouch" that attaches to the intestines where the small intestine meets the large intestine. This is the location where the majority of the microflora process that hay the guinea pig ingests.
Guinea pigs can't technically digest cellulose. They have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria and microbes that digest (or ferment) the cellulose for them. Most these helpful organisms reside in the cecum. Nearly all the grass that the guinea pig chews and swallows arrives at the cecum undigested. When the cellulose/fiber reaches the cecum it is broken down into glucose which is used by the microflora for its own needs, but the "waste" those microflora produce are volatile fatty acids which are the guinea pigs energy source, giving them vigor and helping them maintain their body temperature.
These microflora are expelled from the cecum in the digestion process. That’s why guinea pigs practice cecotrophy (that is, they consume their own feces, but more specifically the expelled contents of the cecum). They eat these special poops order to re-ingest the microflora as well as to absorb the B vitamins produced by the fermentation. So they get nutrients they couldn't access before the second time around.
Although our pet guinea pigs are different from their ancestors that were taken and domesticated, they are still originally a species whose natural diet is grass. Like little horses or cows. Our domestication of them has not changed their nutritional needs and digestive processes.
They are meant to spend large portions of their day consuming high fiber grasses and their digestive system is meant to work hard and in a very specialized way to extract nutrition from those grasses.
Now we’re getting to fruit.
They are just not equipped to digest food high in sugar, starch and protein. Consumption of these foods can lead to a condition called “dysbiosis.” This is a condition caused by a microbial imbalance, also known as a "gut upset". Don't be fooled by the benign-sounding name - this condition is life threatening. Along with the population of beneficial bacteria, your guinea pig's cecum harbors some not-so-friendly bacteria. They are kept in check by a healthy fiber-rich diet and a thriving population of beneficial microflora.
Feeding foods that contain sugar - primarily fruit but also some sugary veggies like carrots and peppers - can lead to an overgrowth of bacteria like clostridium and e coli. It might not happen in a day, or a week or even a month, but repeated exposure to carbohydrates can disrupt the balance in the cecum. Not only do the carbohydrates cause excess fermentation, the foods with the higher carbohydrates typically have lower fiber content and give the beneficial microflora little or nothing to digest. Bloat can be a symptom of this condition, as well as soft stool or diarrhea. With a reduced population of beneficial microflora, the cecotrophes the guinea pig needs to eat are compromised with reduced fatty acid content and fewer microflora for your guinea pig to re-digest and complete the healthy digestion cycle.
By the time you see soft stool or diarrhea, your piggy might already have a serious imbalance in their cecum and just cutting out the sugar for a day or two might not correct the condition completely. Motility, or the natural movement/flow of the digestive system, can be slowed or stopped by an imbalance in the bacteria.
Here are some objections we usually get when we tell people not to feed fruit, along with answers.
“But I feed my guinea pig fruit/carrots/peppers all the time and they are fat and healthy!”
We aren't saying that feeding fruit/sugary veggies to your guinea pig is the same as poison. What we are saying is it's the wrong food for them and it is risky.
It's really cute to watch a guinea pig devour a cherry or blueberry but we don't feel like the cute factor outweighs the fact that it is the wrong food for them.
“But they need a vitamin C source and I'm trying to give it to them in a natural way.”
Nothing about a pet guinea pig is natural. They don't even exist in the wild as they exist in our homes, in coroplast-bottom cages, with fluffy fleece bedding or shaved wood or poofy paper for bedding, eating extruded pellets and hay from boxes and bags, living in little fleece and wooden houses. But they DO have their original anatomy, more or less, and their teeth and guts demand fiber. Not sugar. That’s why for vitamin C we recommend the Oxbow cookies or a tiny piece of a children's chewable vitamin c tablet where the sugar in minimal.
"But they only get fruit occasionally."
Maybe it won't hurt them. But maybe it will. It isn't worth the risk.
“But they will be sad if they don't get their fruit!”
This is the objection we hear the most and the short answer is: Tough luck, guinea pigs. They should be wildly excited for their hay and pellets every day and not looking at these things secondarily to fruity treats. If you have a piggy that is refusing their pellets and eating minimal hay then you need to get your piggy back on track and eating those things asap. Guinea pigs, like all pets, lack the agency to determine what is most healthy and will eat fruit all day because its yummy. They look to us to make good decisions for them.
(Some Sources:
http://m.physrev.physiology.org/content/78/2/393.full
http://biology.stackexchange.com/…/is-there-nutrient-absorp… )
We'll start with teeth. We do not tell people to not feed fruit because it might rot the guinea pig's teeth. Our teeth rot because they sit there in our mouths, day and night, same old teeth, exposed to bacteria and acids and whatnot. Every one of a guinea pig's teeth grow constantly, each day, for life. Ever wonder why guinea pigs have teeth that grow like this? It is because they are intended to be worn down by the grinding of lots and lots of hay or grass.
Hay/grass is comprised primarily of cellulose which is what makes grass, leaves and bark so strong and tough. This is our first (and most visible) clue to how guinea pigs differ from us and other mammals, like cats and dogs. Guinea pigs are not just herbivores – they are a very select group of herbivores called fibrevores. Their diet must be comprised of primarily fiber because their entire digestive system is meant to process it. We are talking heavy duty plant fiber here. Not what your doctor recommends you eat more of in the form of salad and bran muffins. We mean fiber that we can't even chew successfully, let alone hope to digest.
Their teeth are the first step in this process and if they didn't grow constantly they would wear away to nubs and nothingness from their coarse diet.
Once the hay goes into the guinea pig's mouth and is chewed thoroughly, the actual digestive process is hidden from us until we see the end product - poop. We are going to give you a somewhat simplified version of what happens inside your guinea pig between the hay going in and the poop coming out.
What does this have to do with fruit? We’re getting to that soon, promise.
Guinea pigs are Hindgut Fermenters. This refers to their specialized digestive system that is comparatively longer than ours and includes a very large cecum (pronounced see-come) - the blind-ended "pouch" that attaches to the intestines where the small intestine meets the large intestine. This is the location where the majority of the microflora process that hay the guinea pig ingests.
Guinea pigs can't technically digest cellulose. They have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria and microbes that digest (or ferment) the cellulose for them. Most these helpful organisms reside in the cecum. Nearly all the grass that the guinea pig chews and swallows arrives at the cecum undigested. When the cellulose/fiber reaches the cecum it is broken down into glucose which is used by the microflora for its own needs, but the "waste" those microflora produce are volatile fatty acids which are the guinea pigs energy source, giving them vigor and helping them maintain their body temperature.
These microflora are expelled from the cecum in the digestion process. That’s why guinea pigs practice cecotrophy (that is, they consume their own feces, but more specifically the expelled contents of the cecum). They eat these special poops order to re-ingest the microflora as well as to absorb the B vitamins produced by the fermentation. So they get nutrients they couldn't access before the second time around.
Although our pet guinea pigs are different from their ancestors that were taken and domesticated, they are still originally a species whose natural diet is grass. Like little horses or cows. Our domestication of them has not changed their nutritional needs and digestive processes.
They are meant to spend large portions of their day consuming high fiber grasses and their digestive system is meant to work hard and in a very specialized way to extract nutrition from those grasses.
Now we’re getting to fruit.
They are just not equipped to digest food high in sugar, starch and protein. Consumption of these foods can lead to a condition called “dysbiosis.” This is a condition caused by a microbial imbalance, also known as a "gut upset". Don't be fooled by the benign-sounding name - this condition is life threatening. Along with the population of beneficial bacteria, your guinea pig's cecum harbors some not-so-friendly bacteria. They are kept in check by a healthy fiber-rich diet and a thriving population of beneficial microflora.
Feeding foods that contain sugar - primarily fruit but also some sugary veggies like carrots and peppers - can lead to an overgrowth of bacteria like clostridium and e coli. It might not happen in a day, or a week or even a month, but repeated exposure to carbohydrates can disrupt the balance in the cecum. Not only do the carbohydrates cause excess fermentation, the foods with the higher carbohydrates typically have lower fiber content and give the beneficial microflora little or nothing to digest. Bloat can be a symptom of this condition, as well as soft stool or diarrhea. With a reduced population of beneficial microflora, the cecotrophes the guinea pig needs to eat are compromised with reduced fatty acid content and fewer microflora for your guinea pig to re-digest and complete the healthy digestion cycle.
By the time you see soft stool or diarrhea, your piggy might already have a serious imbalance in their cecum and just cutting out the sugar for a day or two might not correct the condition completely. Motility, or the natural movement/flow of the digestive system, can be slowed or stopped by an imbalance in the bacteria.
Here are some objections we usually get when we tell people not to feed fruit, along with answers.
“But I feed my guinea pig fruit/carrots/peppers all the time and they are fat and healthy!”
We aren't saying that feeding fruit/sugary veggies to your guinea pig is the same as poison. What we are saying is it's the wrong food for them and it is risky.
It's really cute to watch a guinea pig devour a cherry or blueberry but we don't feel like the cute factor outweighs the fact that it is the wrong food for them.
“But they need a vitamin C source and I'm trying to give it to them in a natural way.”
Nothing about a pet guinea pig is natural. They don't even exist in the wild as they exist in our homes, in coroplast-bottom cages, with fluffy fleece bedding or shaved wood or poofy paper for bedding, eating extruded pellets and hay from boxes and bags, living in little fleece and wooden houses. But they DO have their original anatomy, more or less, and their teeth and guts demand fiber. Not sugar. That’s why for vitamin C we recommend the Oxbow cookies or a tiny piece of a children's chewable vitamin c tablet where the sugar in minimal.
"But they only get fruit occasionally."
Maybe it won't hurt them. But maybe it will. It isn't worth the risk.
“But they will be sad if they don't get their fruit!”
This is the objection we hear the most and the short answer is: Tough luck, guinea pigs. They should be wildly excited for their hay and pellets every day and not looking at these things secondarily to fruity treats. If you have a piggy that is refusing their pellets and eating minimal hay then you need to get your piggy back on track and eating those things asap. Guinea pigs, like all pets, lack the agency to determine what is most healthy and will eat fruit all day because its yummy. They look to us to make good decisions for them.
(Some Sources:
http://m.physrev.physiology.org/content/78/2/393.full
http://biology.stackexchange.com/…/is-there-nutrient-absorp… )
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