Timothy hay-based pellet food fortified with stabilized vitamin C, which guinea pigs cannot make themselves.
Sold through veterinary channels
Added Vitamin C
Timothy hay based
No artificial flavors
Can be dusty
Some piggies picky
Pellets crumble
Nutrition: 10/10 · Ingredient Quality: 9/10 · Value for Money: 9/10 · Palatability: 8/10
These are our own scores for the things that can be judged from the specification, the materials and how the product is built. They are not Amazon's customer rating.
The most common guinea pig feeding mistake is treating pellets as the meal and hay as the bedding. It is the wrong way round, and it causes the two conditions that most often bring guinea pigs to the vet.
Unlimited grass hay should be the great majority of what a guinea pig eats. It wears the continuously growing teeth at the rate they grow — without it, molars form sharp spurs that cut the cheek and tongue — and it keeps the gut moving, which in a hindgut fermenter is not optional.
A guinea pig that fills up on pellets eats less hay, and both problems follow.
The usual guidance is a measured portion of pellets once a day, alongside unlimited hay and a daily portion of fresh vegetables. Free-feeding pellets from a permanently full bowl is how guinea pigs get fat and how they stop eating hay.
Guinea pigs, like humans and unlike almost every other pet, cannot synthesise vitamin C. They must get it from the diet every day.
Deficiency causes scurvy: lethargy, a rough staring coat, painful swollen joints, reluctance to move, poor wound healing, and eventually death. It is entirely preventable and still turns up regularly.
Two practical points that matter more than the brand:
Stabilised vitamin C degrades. Even the stabilised form loses potency over months, and heat and light accelerate it. Buy a bag size you will finish within a few months, store it sealed and cool, and check the date. A bag that has been open a year is not delivering what the label says.
Do not rely on drops in the water bottle. Vitamin C degrades quickly in water, and flavoured water puts many guinea pigs off drinking — which is worse than the problem it was meant to solve.
Fresh vegetables are the other daily source. Bell pepper is unusually high in vitamin C and most guinea pigs love it.
This is a timothy hay-based pellet rather than an alfalfa-based one, and the distinction matters for adults.
Alfalfa is much higher in calcium. Excess dietary calcium is associated with urinary sludge and bladder stones in guinea pigs, which are painful and sometimes need surgery. Alfalfa-based food is appropriate for young, growing, pregnant or nursing animals and is the wrong staple for a healthy adult.
If your adult guinea pig is on an alfalfa-based pellet, that is worth reviewing.
Any pellet food, this one included, has one advantage over the colourful mixes with seeds, corn flakes and coloured pieces: it cannot be picked apart.
Guinea pigs offered a mix selectively eat the sweet, fatty, palatable components and leave the fibrous pellet. That is selective feeding, it produces an unbalanced diet, and it is why veterinary and welfare guidance consistently recommends a uniform pellet over a muesli mix. Every piece being identical is the feature.
Pellet foods generate fines. It is not harmful and the animals generally will not eat it, so it is simply waste. Tipping rather than shaking, and not emptying the last dusty portion into the bowl, is all that is needed.
If a guinea pig is sneezing, has nasal or eye discharge, or is breathing noisily, that is a vet visit — respiratory infection in guinea pigs progresses quickly and is serious.
Guinea pigs are conservative eaters and a sudden change can cause them to stop eating, which in a hindgut fermenter is dangerous. Transition over one to two weeks, mixing an increasing proportion.
A guinea pig that has stopped eating, or is producing fewer or smaller droppings, needs a vet promptly rather than being waited out.
A measured portion once a day, alongside unlimited grass hay and a daily portion of fresh vegetables. Free-feeding pellets from a permanently full bowl is how guinea pigs get fat and how they stop eating the hay their teeth and gut depend on.
They cannot make it themselves and must get it daily from the diet. Deficiency causes scurvy — lethargy, a rough coat, painful swollen joints and poor healing. Fortified pellets plus fresh vegetables such as bell pepper cover it. Avoid vitamin drops in the water bottle: they degrade fast and put many guinea pigs off drinking.
Yes, even the stabilised form loses potency over months, and heat and light speed it up. Buy a bag you will finish within a few months, store it sealed and cool, and do not rely on a bag that has been open a year.
They encourage selective feeding — guinea pigs eat the sweet, fatty pieces and leave the fibrous ones, producing an unbalanced diet. Veterinary and welfare guidance consistently favours a uniform pellet, precisely because every piece is the same and cannot be picked apart.
Timothy for healthy adults. Alfalfa is much higher in calcium, which is associated with urinary sludge and bladder stones, and is appropriate for young, growing, pregnant or nursing guinea pigs rather than as an adult staple.