can guinea pigs eat too much grass

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Too Much Grass?

Have you ever left your guinea pigs out eating grass for a long period of time?

I’ve done this on several occasions expecting them to enjoy their time out on the grass.

I know the grass is good for them to eat and there are no pesticides on it so I am completely happy for them to do so.

Letting guinea pigs out onto grass

Whenever I do this and let them out onto the grass, they go absolutely mad initially and eat every blade of grass in sight.

They will do this for a time and then chill out after their feed.

However, one thing I have noticed is that when they do eat a lot of fresh grass, their poo gets rather gooey.

I’ve noticed this several times, the poop get’s longer and then messier (i’ve become a bit knowledgeable on guinea pig poop!).

The more messy their poo is the more upset their stomach is. Usually it is shorter and drier.

They also tend to hold back in eating the grass after some of the time.

Piggies are also pretty good at sensing when they have had enough food.

So can guinea pigs eat too much grass?

What’s happened is that my piggies are not used to eating fresh grass a lot. So when they eat lots of it, they get a slight upset stomach.

Their diet mainly consists of dry meadow or timothy hay, guinea pig pellets and some choice vegetables and so are not used to eating the fresher grass on my lawn.

Image wikipedia

So I have some choices;

  1. Increase their time out one grass to get their bodies used to eating fresh grass.
  2. I could give them fresh grass in their pen on a daily basis.
  3. I could limit their time out on the grass because it gives them gooey poop.

I’ve opted for first option, much their pleasure and is the cause of much increased wheeking whenever they sense it is coming.

Fresh grass is still great for them to eat and they absolutely love it.

So, in answer to the question, guinea pigs can eat too much grass if they are not used to eating it.

But even with this, it’s not the end of the world if their poop is a little bigger than usual or a bit more gooey.

Their bodies are just getting used to eating fresh grass.

Just make sure grass is pesticide free and doesn’t contain any excrement from any other pets.

One thought on “Can Guinea Pigs Eat Too Much Grass?

  1. My guinea pig also loves fresh grass and is picky on the dry timothy hay pulls out half of it without eating it. He also loves absolutelyloves dandilions.

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