Last Updated on January 3, 2023 by israel
Hi guys, many of you have been asking the question “Can Guinea Pigs Eat Pineapples?” In this blog post, I will be telling you if guinea pigs can eat pineapples, I will also be telling you how to prepare pineapples for your guinea pigs.
What Are Pineapples?
The pineapple is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuries.
Wikipedia
Can Guinea Pigs Eat Pineapples?
Yes, guinea pigs can eat pineapples, pineapples are rich in vitamins e.g vitamin C and Vitamin A, which are beneficial to guinea pigs. It is also essential to know that excess consumption of pineapples can harm your guinea pig since pineapples are rich in sugar and fruity acid.
Apart from the fact that pineapples contain a lot of vitamins and provide a lot of nutrition to guinea pigs, it is also important to know that guinea pigs enjoy eating pineapples.
Pineapples can serve as a great side dish for your guinea pigs, they would love it but you should be careful not to feed them too much.
READ: Can Rabbits Eat Blackberries?
Can Guinea Pigs Eat Pineapple Peels (Back of Pineapples)?
No, guinea pigs shouldn’t eat the back/peel of pineapples. It is dangerous to the state of health of your guinea pigs and it doesn’t offer any nutritional value to your guinea pigs, also the back/peels of pineapples have been exposed to a lot of chemicals e.g pesticides. The peels (back) of pineapples may contain lots of chemicals, as some companies use chemicals to preserve fruits.
It has thorns which are not good for guinea pigs. Especially their digestive system. It’s rough and bitter.
READ: Can Rabbits Eat Mangoes?
Can Guinea Pigs Eat Pineapple Leaves?
It is not recommended to feed pineapple leaves to your guinea pigs. Some people however do allow their guinea pigs to eat the leaves of pineapples but it isn’t recommended/advised by vet doctors.
READ: See Snake Poop Pictures
What Nutrients Do Pineapples Contain?
Pineapples offer a variety of nutrients and vitamins to both humans and animals here are a few of the nutrients that can be found in 100g of pineapples.
- Vitamin C (47.8mg)
- Fat (0.1g)
- Vitamin A (3μg)
- Vitamin K (0.7μg)
- Potassium (109mg)
- Phosphorous (8mg)
- Calcium (13mg)
There are many more vitamins and nutrients in pineapples the above list is just a few of them.
READ: See Birds With Red Beaks
Advantages Of Feeding Pineapples To Your Guinea Pigs (Health Benefits)
There are many health benefits of feeding pineapples to your guinea pigs, here are some of the major health benefits of feeding pineapples to your guinea pigs.
- Stronger Muscles: Pineapples are rich in vitamins and they help build and develop stronger muscles for guinea pigs and humans in general.
- Stronger Bones: Pineapples contain a fair portion of calcium, calcium helps build the bones. so pineapples do help in strengthening the bones of humans and guinea pigs.
- Longer Life: Fruits, pineapples in particular can increase the life span of guinea pigs because of the additional vitamins that pineapples provide.
- Prevents Constipation: It helps to prevent constipation, because of the water and fiber content.
Pineapple juice is believed to break down furballs that may have built up in guinea pigs’ intestines. Though, not always advisable because it contains more toxicity than good.
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22339951]
READ: Can Cats Have Whipped Cream
Disadvantages of OverFeeding Pineapples To Your Guinea Pigs
In as much as pineapples provide a lot of vitamins and nutrients to guinea pigs, it is very very dangerous to feed a lot of pineapples to your guinea pigs, here are some of the disadvantages of feeding your guinea pigs too many pineapples.
- Stomach Upset: Pineapples contain too much sugar and citric acid which can cause stomach upset when consumed in much/large quantities.
- Stooling: Your guinea pigs can start stooling frequently whenever it consumes too many pineapples.
There are many other disadvantages of overfeeding your guinea pig’s pineapples.
The calorie and sugar content is too high for tolerance. Pineapples contain an approximate 10g of natural sugar in every 100g and guinea pigs do not need more than 2 grams of sugar in their daily diet. Exceeding this can cause obesity in them which shortens their lifespan.
They can get diarrhea, diabetes, bloating, or gastrointestinal distress.
READ: Can Chinchillas Eat Oranges?
Preparation Of Pineapples For Guinea Pigs
You can use the following guide to prepare pineapples for your guinea pigs.
- Select good riped, pineapples.
- Wash the pineapples with clean water.
- Peel the back of the pineapples as this part is not recommended to be given (fed) to guinea pigs.
- Dice pineapples, you can dice the pineapples in small bits or chips
Never give your guinea pigs processed pineapple.
READ: What Does Frog Poop Look Like?
How Often Should I Feed My Guinea Pigs Pineapples?
For Adult Guinea Pigs:
You can give an adult guinea pig a maximum of one pineapple in a week, It shouldn’t exceed this number to reduce the risk of overfeeding.
For Young Guinea pigs:
You shouldn’t feed young or baby guinea pigs pineapples so as not to cause stomach upset for them.
READ: What Happens If Cats Are Left In A Dark House?
What Fruits Can I Feed My Guinea Pigs?
Guinea Pigs can eat a variety of fruits, these fruits should be consumed moderately and not too much, some of the fruits your guinea pigs can eat include
- Apples
- grapes
- strawberries
- Celery
- bananas e.t.c
Conclusion On Can Guinea Pigs Eat Pineapples?
From this blog post, we can say that the answer to the question “Can Guinea Pigs Eat Pineapples?” is
Yes, Guinea Pigs can eat pineapples, pineapples are rich in vitamins e.g vitamin C and Vitamin A, which are beneficial to guinea pigs. It is also essential to know that excess consumption of pineapples can harm your guinea pigs since pineapples are rich in sugar and fruity acid.
Pineapples provide lots of nutrients and vitamins but should be fed moderately to your guinea pigs
This post was written by Gbemisola and Israel for Animals district.
