Guinea pigs are cute little pets, and their owners more often than not worry about what to feed them. Can guinea pigs eat celery? is a good question as a guinea pig’s diet is quite limited.
Guinea pigs are herbivorous animals. Guinea pig’ s diet revolves around vegetables such as celery, carrots, timothy hay, fruits, and plants. Guinea pigs enjoys eating, so you have to be careful about what you feed your guinea pig.
Yes, Guinea pigs can eat celery and carrots too. Guinea pig owners particularly love to feed what they eat to their guinea pigs too, celery is not an exception. Before feeding your guinea pig any food, you have to ensure that it is of benefit to the guinea pig.
You also have to ensure that it is not toxic or harmful to the guinea pig as there are some foods that are bad for guinea pigs. Celery, like other vegetables, is of great benefit to guinea.
Celery contains a lot of vitamins especially vitamin c and other nutrients that makes celery good for guinea pig. These leafy greens are chewy for guinea pigs. Guinea pigs love chewing.
Celery helps guinea pigs to keep their teeth pruned and short due to the fact that a guinea pig’s teeth do not stop growing. Celery stalks and celery leaves are particularly helpful in this aspect. Guinea pigs can eat celery leaves. It is also beneficial to a guinea pig’s diet.
Some of the benefits of celery to guinea pigs are:
When guinea pigs eat celery, they are able to derive vitamin C, which is a necessary element for the proper growth and development of guinea pigs. Vitamin C is very important to a guinea pig. Guinea pigs are unable to produce vitamin C on their own. This is a major problem for guinea pigs as a lack of vitamin C in a guinea pig’s body system is dangerous and can lead to some diseases, especially scurvy. So when guinea pigs eat celery or some other vegetables rich in vitamin C too, they are able to overcome this problem of their inability to generate vitamin C as celery serves as a source of vitamin c to your guinea pig.
When guinea pigs eat celery, it helps improve their health system. Celery contains several vitamins such as vitamins A, C, K, etc, and minerals which provide for the healthy living of guinea pigs. Celery helps improve guinea pigs’ immune systems in response to diseases. It is a healthy vegetable to feed your guinea. Celery is also a low-calorie vegetable, which is another benefit to a guinea pig.
Celery also improves the digestive system of guinea pigs. The presence of fiber in celery helps guinea pigs to digest food properly. Celery stems, celery stalks, and celery leaves are also edible to a guinea pig. A guinea pig will eat all especially celery leaves, celery leaves are chewy and good for the teeth of a guinea pig.
All these health benefits of celery to guinea pigs help ensure that guinea pigs live a healthy life. However, it is necessary to note that you should only feed celery to your guinea pigs in moderate quantities.
Although guinea pigs can eat celery, complications can arise when guinea pigs eat celery in large quantities. Overfeeding celery to your guinea pigs or feeding celery to your guinea pig everyday will rather cause complications to it. Thus, it is imperative that you give your guinea pig celery in moderate quantities.
Celery is high in oxalates and calcium, which is quite harmful to guinea pigs. Oxalates and calcium can cause urinary problems for guinea pigs. It can lead to bladder stones.
Several reports have shown that oxalates and calcium will make your guinea pigs prone to having bladder stones, which is dangerous to guinea pigs’ health. It is usually very painful, and it can cause guinea pigs to be dull and inactive. Sodium is another mineral that causes problems for guinea pigs; just like calcium, it causes problems to the urinary tract of a guinea pig.
Thus, you should be very careful when you feed your guinea pigs celery. You can give your guinea pigs a piece of celery about twice or thrice a week. Just don’t make it an everyday diet. Also, be sure to wash the celery before feeding it to your guinea pigs.
When guinea pigs overfeed on celery, complications may develop, which can likely lead to death.
Too much celery can result in bladder stones, which can be fatal for guinea pigs. Also, ensure that your guinea pig has no underlying bladder or urinary problems before feeding celery to it. Else, it can complicate it, which can be fatal to your guinea pig.
A guinea pig’s diet is limited by its herbivorous nature; thus, it eats only vegetables, plants, fruits, and hay. Thus, there are a host of things guinea pigs cannot eat, some of which include: meat, dairy products, azalea, bread, potatoes, avocado, chocolate, peanut butter etc.
Also, note that on no occasion should you feed cooked food to your guinea pig. Fresh vegetables are a very good idea. For instance, fresh celery is good for a guinea pig to eat.
No, although it is good for guinea pigs to eat celery, it is bad for guinea pigs to eat celery every day. It contains some minerals which are toxic to guinea pigs, such as oxalates and calcium. Make sure that you do not feed your guinea pig too much celery, two times in a week is advisable.
Celery helps prevent scurvy in guinea pigs as celery contains vitamin C. Scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C in guinea pigs. When guinea pigs eat celery, they won’t have a case of scurvy. Celery is good for guinea pigs.
Yes, it is also advisable that you only feed your guinea pig raw celery. Cooked celery can cause complications to guinea pigs.
Guinea pigs, particularly like leafy greens, guinea pig loves to eat celery leaves too. Celery is also of great health benefits to guinea pigs when eaten in the right quantities.
Many people love to feed foods they eat to their guinea pigs too. This is good, but make sure that the food is not harmful to the guinea pig. Also, make sure that you feed it to the guinea pig in the right quantity, two or three times a week is good for your guinea pig. Anything above two or three times a week can cause complications to your guinea pig which makes celery bad for guinea pig.
