broccoli for guinea pigs - yea or nay?

[phdlife]

A couple of people I've spoken to said 'no', because gp's can't fart and therefore cabbage, broccoli etc make them uncomfortable.

otoh, none of the books I've had have said this, and the vet looked at me like I was bonkers.

mine are on permanent, well very regular, dandelion leaves. the rest of the time celery, the leaves particularly, kale, carrotts tops occasionally, hunks of swede, carrot peel. broclli stalk

On that logic potato peels & plants would an obvious huge part of their "natural" diet. They are of course, one of the most domesticated species going, quite adapted to living on kitchen scraps. I always wonder in South America if their owners (harvesters) bring cut grass in the kitchen for them to eat, or if they are put outside in little pens to graze. I imagine the later, and in all weathers, too!

Must confess I don't worry about apple bits or the odd little sliver of avocado. Avocado is too expensive to be used as pet food, imho, anyway.

There's probably alot of native plants in S.America that aren't in UK.
I've seen pictures of GPs wandering round kitchens. And some 'factory farmed' in massive pens. Literally scores of them. Someone came along with dried food, they swarmed forward. But no fresh food in evidence (might have been eaten)

But native GP are slim,rangey animals, not like the chubby little pets. And I don't suppose their life expectancy is long.

I used to give my childhood GP whole apple slices (with seeds) they ate the lot .
My current pair just leave what they don't want.

I think the general rule is:

If a human can't eat it raw, neither can a gp - eg rhubarb and potatoes.
If its a bulb vegetable, they can't eat it - eg onions.
If its got small seeds like berries, its not advisable.

The other ones to watch out for are making sure you chop celery and they can struggle with the strings and choke.

The darker the greens are the more calcium they have - too much calcium is bad for gp. They should only have in moderation. Spinach is particularly bad.

Iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value and is isn't good for them.

Some GP are not good with acidic fruit like apples and oranges as it can give them sores around their mouth. Again moderation.

Beyond that, pretty much anything is ok, in moderation. GP generally won't touch things that aren't good for them anyway. Give them a variety of things and they should be fine.

Brocolli is fine, just dont overdo it!