The short answer is yes, guinea pigs are perfectly able to consume celery! However, there’s more that you need to know before you go running to your local grocery store or farmer’s market.
It’s important that you do your research on what ailments and diseases that your piggies are prone to, as well as the ways you can not only treat them, but prevent them from happening in the first place. Their diet is one of the best places to start!
Guinea pigs can be just as prone to scurvy as their humans are. The consumption of celery can help prevent the contraction of the disease, and also help balance their diet in other ways. We've also got a Vegetable Master List that lists common veggies that your piggy can and can't eat!
What vitamins do celery contain?
Vitamin A
Guinea pigs need lots of Vitamin A compared to other animals. However, it’s difficult for their little bodies to efficiently utilize it in the way they need. Their livers are only able to store small amounts at a time, so they need to consume lots of different foods throughout their diet daily in order to get the proper amount of vitamin A that they need.
Increased consumption of the vitamin helps maintain their organs, such as the lungs and heart with normal function, their immune system, and their vision. Studies also show that Vitamin A helps maintain their growth, as well as aids the immune system alongside vitamin C.
Vitamin C
As previously mentioned, guinea pigs are prone to scurvy if they don’t consume enough Vitamin C in their diet. Scurvy can cause some pretty negative impacts on their overall quality of life, so it’s important that we help prevent that by ensuring that guinea pigs have plenty of vitamin C in their diet.
While it can be easy just to feed your piggy a Vitamin C tablet, you can also just supplement their diet with moderate amounts of celery as a healthy snack, and they’ll enjoy it more that way too! Guinea pig immune systems are also very reliant on vitamin C. Guinea pigs are prone to infection, so the immune system needs all the help it can get in order to fight them off and ensure a full recovery.
Vitamin K
While celery is a good source of vitamin K, guinea pigs are rarely ever deficient in it. This is because so much of their diet provides plenty of the vitamin, usually in the form of other vegetables that you may already feed your piggy.
Vitamin K is important for your guinea pig’s blood to be able to clot properly, as well as building and forming new bones. Blood clotting is more important than you may think.
If your guinea pig suffers from a skin injury that bleeds, it’s important that their blood clots so the wound can scab and the body can generate new skin cells to heal it. This is especially important if you think about how susceptible guinea pigs are to infections, and how fungal infections involve skin wounds from scratching and things like mites and fleas consuming guinea pig skin. Their blood needs to be able to clot over these wounds for proper recovery as well.
What other benefits does celery provide for your piggy?
To many humans, celery is just crunchy water, and it’s the same thing for your guinea pig! Consumption of water-rich vegetables and fruits is a great way to keep your piggy hydrated through other sources aside from simply drinking water.
What are the downsides about celery for guinea pigs?
Unfortunately, there are some cons when it comes to including celery in your guinea pig’s diet. Guinea pigs are prone to urinary tract problems, as well as bladder stones if too much calcium is consumed. If these two are already pre-existing conditions that your guinea pig is living with, overconsumption of calcium will make them worse.
Guinea pigs can eat celery, but do they like it?
Regardless of the guinea pig breed–American, Abyssinian, Skinny pigs–all of them love eating celery.
How should you go about feeding your guinea pig celery?
The first thing you should know is that all parts, from the celery roots and stalks to its leaves, all are safe for piggy consumption. However, you should limit the consumption of celery to only a few times per week, and treat it as a snack.
The best way to prepare celery for them is to cut it into small pieces. Don’t give them the whole stalk, but rather a small portion of it, or even a small amount of the leaves on their own. Celery can be fed to your piggies couple times a week in small amounts!
One very important thing to remember is not to feed your guinea pigs cooked celery. The reason is simple! Cooked foods have less nutrients for your guinea pig, and it is harder for them to digest. In the wild, animals don’t encounter cooked vegetation—everything is raw and natural, and it’s important to maintain that for your pet guinea pig at home as well.
Overall, it is OK to feed your guinea pigs celery!
In the end, the goal is to keep your guinea pig happy and healthy, and the way you can ensure that is by doing research on what is not only safe for your piggy to eat, but effective and nutritious.
What else can guinea pigs eat?
Check out our Vegetable Master List for an extensive list of vegetables for guinea pigs!
