3 Best Homemade Guinea Pig Treats
Happy moments during your times are special times you can spend with guinea pigs. As a pet lover, you should consider guinea pigs as part of your family.
To build a strong bond and long-lasting relationship with guinea pigs, you should win their heart first so that they gain confidence and feel safe in your hands.
As the saying goes, the way to win their heart is through their stomach. Why should you not surprise them with your delicious homemade treats and thank me later?
At the end of this article, you will learn the right procedures for making 3 homemade guinea pig treats. Keep tuned in to the article for fascinating information.
3 Homemade Guinea Pig Treats You Can Make Easily
Guinea pigs need treats to either supplement their diet, for instance, if it lacks some nutrients/minerals, or to brighten their days and keep them active as well.
However, they do not love treats in their diets. So, you should provide treats occasionally so that they do not add more weight and become obese. The treats should be healthy and natural.
It is cheap and simple to make homemade treats for your guinea pigs. However, this will depend on your availability, the right ingredients, and procedures for making the treats.
The treats are highly nutritious and sweet and will help your guinea pig regain appetite while sick, boost its health, relieve boredom, have a fun experience, and form a bond with you.
Below are 3 recipe samples for homemade treats, which I am pretty sure you will find thrilling and fun to make at home.
Recipe from Hay, Oat, Apple, and Carrot
Guinea pigs are herbivores, and they love to chew or eat treats rich in hay. This helps to keep their teeth in check to prevent them from overgrowing and meet their body requirement.
A treat constituting hay, oat, apple, and carrot is simple and easy to make at home since it does not require a lot of things and complex procedures. You will take the shortest time, for instance, around one hour.
Gather Your Ingredients and Tools
Ingredients are substances that you will require to prepare as food. You need to have a couple of ingredients with you when making the treat, from hay, oat, apple, and carrot.
Ensure you have one grated carrot, one apple, two tablespoons of water, three tablespoons of Oat flakes, and one cup of Oxbow Critical Care of Timothy hay. The devices/tools to use in this task include;
- One spoon
- One toothpick
- Two pieces of strings
- Two cookie cutters star-shaped cookie cutter for this recipe)
- One large bowl
- One baking tray
- Oven
SurgeHai Star Cookie Cutter Set
Instructions
Heat your oven in advance to 1800C to ensure it’s ready once you finish preparing the dough. Measure one cup of oxbow critical care and put it in a large mixing bowl.
After that, grate one whole apple and one whole carrot and put them inside the large mixing bowl.
Add three tablespoons of oat flakes to the same mixing bowl, then put together all the ingredients and mix. However, if you feel the mixture is a bit dry while mixing, add two tablespoons of water.
This will ensure consistency. Alternatively, you can try applesauce or banana instead of water but make sure you do not add sugar in applesauce. It also makes your treats have an extra taste.
Then, put your star-shaped cookie cutter on your baking tray, form two balls of the same size, and put one into each other. After which, pack and press each treat ball down into the mold shape desired to create two treat “discs.”
Remove the cookie cutter from the treats. Use a toothpick to create a tiny hole large enough for the string to pass through. Bake in the oven at 1800C for 30minutes.
Once ready, allow the treats to cool for around 5 minutes. You can store your treats in a fridge for at most 3 days. Serve your treats to your guinea pig and enjoy watching him having fun eating your treat.
Making Baked Treats
As a pet enthusiast, you will likely buy commercial treats from pet stores to feed your pig; however, you will notice the difference in quality and even texture between the homemade and commercial treat.
In addition to keeping the diet of your piggy exciting, providing additional treats from homemade baked treats is good for their health, and you can provide them for a long period.
It is quite complex if you lack the necessary tools and ingredients. But it will take around 30 minutes to prepare.
Gather Your Ingredients and Tools
First and foremost, it’s necessary to gather all your ingredients and tools and put them where you can easily access each, without making any movement after you begin baking. The right ingredients for home-baked treats are;
- One cup of oat flour
- Six tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil
- Two tablespoons of honey
- Three teaspoons of water
- One cup guinea pig pellet
Most tools are available at your home already; you don’t need to buy brand new ones. Here is what you will need;
- One spoon
- One toothpick
- Two cookie cutters (star-shaped cookie cutter for this recipe)
- One large bowl
- One baking tray
- Oven
- Flat sheet
Wilton Easy Layers Sheet Cake Pan, 2-Piece Set, Rectangle Steel Sheet Pan
Instructions
Heat your oven in advance to 3500F. Mix a cup of guinea pig pellets, oat flour, 2/3 a cup of olive oil, and two tablespoons of honey in a large mixing bowl. Add each ingredient separately. Then, stir the mixture until dough forms.
The dough needs to be firm to roll out easily. Once it has formed, roll it out into a flat sheet. Use a cookie cutter to cut it into small shapes and sizes. Place the treats on a baking sheet.
Remember to line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Spread the treats out and evenly space them apart. Then, please place the small doughs in the oven for 20 minutes at 3500F and then allow them to cool down.
Freeze the treats, which is the proper way to store them. Always ensure the treats get to room temperature before serving them to your piggy.
Oat flour improves the flavor of guinea pig pellet, making it more interesting for the pig to eat. It is a nutrient-dense ingredient.
Fruit Salad
Yum! Guinea pigs require diets rich in Vitamin C or supplements of vitamin C in their body since they cannot make their own Vitamin C. To bridge the gap, fruit salad is the suitable way to go.
It’s easy and simple to make, as it does not require many procedures. To make fruit salad, you can take less than 15 minutes. But you should introduce it gradually to avoid diarrhea in your guinea pig.
Gather Your Ingredients and Tools
Most importantly, you should get the right and fresh ingredients available in the market for the fruit salad you are making for your piggy, e.g., fresh greens and leafy vegetables like broccoli, kale, or parsley
In addition, you can add the following; cilantro or green or red pepper, fresh fruits such as carrots, sweet potato, zucchini, apple, oranges, cucumber, and tomato.
To make fruit salad does not require complicated and expensive tools. Below are the few tools you’ll need:
- Cutting plate or board
- Knife
- Large mixing bowl
Instructions
Rinse the veggies and fruits to remove any pesticide remains. Then, pick some fresh veggies like kales (or any of your choice and within your reach), place them over the cutting board, and then chop them into pieces.
Put your chopped veggies in the bowl, then redo the same for fruits, e.g., cucumber and tomato (or any of your choice and within your reach) then, mix till they are uniform. After that, you can serve it to your piggy.
Safety Rules When Making Guinea Pig Treats at Home
Guinea pigs are very sensitive to food entering their digestive system, and bad foods that they do not like will cause them stomachache, stomach upset, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal tract infections.
Therefore, you should arm yourself with safety rules while making treats for your piggy so that he feels comfortable with your treatment, has good health, and is joyful.
Most importantly, have close contact with your vet so that he advises about the Dos and Don’ts and the right ingredients, tools, and procedures.
Rinse All Food Thoroughly
Wash the fruits and veggies under running water to remove pesticide residues, bacteria, and other harmful/toxic substances as well.
To be safe, you should wash car exhaust and other particles in the air that can build up on vegetation.
You should wash the vegetables you are growing at home. Keep in mind to keep the food wet since it gives your piggy more freshwater.
Remove Seeds
Some fruits like cucumber, pepper, and tomatoes contain soft seeds that guinea pigs can chew perfectly. There is no need to remove them. However, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, sesame seeds, etc., are hard seeds.
Hard seeds are dangerous since they get stuck between guinea pig teeth, causing pain and discomfort. They can also make the pig choke.
Likely, some seeds are highly rich in fats, while others are full of poisons that are hazardous to your piggy.
Add-In Other Vegetables
You are free to add more pieces like zucchini, carrots, or parsley as toppings. But they should not form the bulk of the diet, only occasionally in a week.
Offering a variety of vegetables allows your guinea pig to obtain different nutrients from a diet. Mix dense nutrient veggies with shallow nutrient veggies.
Don’t Offer Them Avocado or Coconut
Avocado and coconut are good foods loaded with nutrients, but they are not ideal for guinea pigs. Avocado contains a persin compound in its flesh, skin, seed, and leaves that are toxic to guinea pigs.
Consuming high persin content exposes a guinea pig to myocardial necrosis, diarrhea, or death. Another reason guinea pigs shouldn’t eat avocado is due to its high-fat content.
Likewise, coconut is extremely high in fat and therefore not good for guinea pigs. It’s not a toxic food, but the high-fat content threatens these pets, especially if fed regularly. Too much fat causes problems like stomach upset, obesity, etc.
Avoid Meat
Guinea pigs are herbivores; hence their body will not process the meat. Their digestive system is adapted to absorb and process plants like hay or grasses.
Unfortunately, guinea pigs will not digest it well since it contains animal proteins. This applies as well to other dairy products. Should they eat by mistake, keep a close look and consult your vet as it may kill him.
Don’t Feed Them Nuts and Seeds.
Despite the tendency of guinea pigs to enjoy eating nuts and seeds, tiny sharp objects like seeds have a high chance of causing cuts or choking hazards. Avoid seeds with husks like sunflower seeds.
In addition, nuts and seeds are unsafe for your piggy since they are rich in fats, and your piggy will require to clock additional time on their wheel.Ā
Always Check with Your Pet Vet If You’re Not Sure
To know whether a certain treatment is suitable and fit for your guinea pig, you should contact your vet to know which one is safe or unsafe.
This is because feeding poor quality treats or missing an ingredient, and a procedure will have adverse effects for your piggy, e.g., stomach upset, diarrhea, etc.Ā
Summary
To sum up, guinea pigs are very expressive and social animals that love human interactions. Understanding their needs and well-being, especially food, is vital to keeping them healthy.
As shown above, making homemade treats is simple, and it requires having passion and following the right procedures and your vet’s advice.
I hope you will enjoy the session we had for the recipes, and on a positive note, you will always alternate the ingredients used above to create a variety of treats you desire for your guinea pigs.
Keep in mind that the bulk of the diet should be grasses/hay and rich in vitamin C; hence, you should provide the treats occasionally, at least two to three times a week.
