Can Guinea Pigs Eat Strawberries? Benefits, Risks & How to Feed Strawberries

Summer is incomplete without juicy fruits like strawberries. The bright red berries with mesmerizing sweetness always attract humans and small creatures. The fruit has a distinct aroma of sweetness and freshness, often the reason for its traction. Who doesn’t like its pinkish shake or strawberry shake in the hot summer?
Now, when you have some pieces of strawberry, can you stop feeding it to him if your little guinea pig is staring at you? Of course not. But before feeding the fruit to them, you must know, are strawberries safe for your cavy? Can guinea pigs eat strawberries? Here you will get accurate and logical information regarding feeding strawberries to guinea pigs.
Can Guinea Pigs Eat Strawberries?
Yes, guinea pigs can eat strawberries safely, and of course, many like to eat this juicy sweet fruit. Above all, strawberries are a beneficial fruit that includes numerous noteworthy vitamins and minerals crucial for your little pet. It contains antioxidants, vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and healthy compounds.
As guinea pigs are very sensitive creatures and must be cared for very well, the fruit contained with various nutritions will help the little ones.
With the other nutritional greenery, fruits are too crucial for the small cute guinea, and strawberries could be a great treat for them. Noteworthy, you can also feed your guinea the strawberry top and leaves as it contains a good amount of potassium and fiber.
How Often Can Guinea Pigs Eat Strawberries?
You can serve your little pet a mouthful or one to two strawberries once or twice a week. Strawberries are indeed a safe fruit for little cavies. But fruit is not a staple food for them, and strawberries must also not be treated as a staple food option for guinea pigs. The little pets’ diet should include approximately 80% hay and 20% pellets. Also, fruits and veggies should be there to stay healthy, and fruits should be fed to them weekly.
As strawberry contains sugar and the little guineas’ digestive system is not designed to digest the sugar content, it may cause obesity or diabetes. Though, strawberries have less amount of sugar than other fruits. So, limited feeding of the fruit to them will not harm them.
10 Benefits of Feeding Strawberries to Guinea Pigs
Like humans, guinea pigs do also prefer fruit often. If you are considering treating your pet or making them happy with the food, strawberries could be a good choice. Now, what are the benefits of eating fruit? How does your little pet get the benefits after having this juicy red berry?
1: Antioxidants Combat the Effect of Free Radicals
Strawberries contain a bunch of antioxidants. Antioxidants are one of the crucial components for healthy organs. The compound aids in reducing inflammation. Also, it combats the effect of free radicals. Free radicals could lead to cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses. Strawberries can contribute to beating the issues in your little cavy.
2: Potassium Helps in Regulating Blood Pressure
Like bananas, strawberries also contain a good amount of potassium. 100 gm of strawberries include nearly 24 mg of potassium. The component helps in regulating the blood pressure of your cavy. If your little pet has higher blood pressure, strawberries could help lower the pressure. Also, potassium works in regulating fluid. Also, it decreases the chances of kidney stones in your small pet.
3: Vitamin C Helps to Prevent Scurvy
Like humans, guinea pigs also cannot generate vitamin C in their bodies, and they need vitamins from outside food sources. As they cannot produce the vitamin, often the deficiency causes severe illnesses like scurvy.
Scurvy is a painful condition that affects the joints and limits free movement, which is required daily. Even pirates used to face Scurvy due to a lack of fresh food during their ship journey.
Guinea pigs require an average of 30mg of Vitamin C per day from their diet, and strawberries can help them out. Surprisingly, strawberries contain about six times more vitamin C than blueberries and about 18 times more than grapes. 100 gm of strawberry contains nearly 58.8 mg of vitamin C. So, a weekly treat of the juicy red strawberry can serve enough vitamin C and prevent Scurvy within your pet. You can also offer oranges for vitamin C.
4: High Fibre Promotes Digestion
Strawberry also consists of fiber which is fantastic for your pet’s digestive system. 100 gm of strawberry carries 2g of fiber. It means more than enough fiber is there in the fruit. A limited feeding of strawberries to your cavy would provide healthy digestive health. Well-maintained digestion helps in the lively life cycle of your little pet.
5: Enough Water Content
Strawberries consist of high water content; it contains 91% of water. The increased amount of water helps in hydrating your pet as a whole. In summer, like us, pets also get exhausted and dehydrated, and they also need hydration, and strawberries can provide it.
6: Low-Calorie Will not Obese Your Pet
100 g of strawberry has 32 calories. It is a low-calorie fruit, which means a limited amount of the fruit will fill your pet’s stomach but will not increase its weight. Guineas suffer from problems roaming if they gain excessive weight. But strawberries fulfill hunger without increasing their weight.
7: Comparatively Low Sugar Will Not Lead to Diabetes
Strawberries contain a good amount of sugar, but the amount is not high as its sweetness. It tastes sweeter than the sugar level of the sugar. 100 grams of strawberries have approximately 7 to 8 grams of sugar. But the same amount of bananas has 15 to 17 grams of sugar. Strawberries contain around 5% of sugar in it. Notably, strawberries contain half the amount of sugar as blueberries.
It means the fruit with sweetness will not harm if served within the limit. Other sweet fruit could lead your pet to diabetes, but strawberry needs excessive serving to create that condition.
8: The Chemical Compounds Lower The Risk of Heart-Diseases
There are two chemical elements in strawberries, anthocyanin, and quercetin. The elements help reduce your guinea pig’s cholesterol and even reduce the growth of cancer cells. In a nutshell, the fruit prevents heart disease and contributes to its well-being.
9: Magnesium Promotes Muscle & Nerve Health
Strawberries also contain a solid amount of magnesium. Mammals require magnesium to promote muscle and nerve health and energy production, and magnesium ensures adequate functionality of muscles and nerves of your cavy.
10: Folate Works in Forming Red Blood Cell
One of the B vitamins, folate, is vital for red blood cell formation and maintenance. Without folate, guineas could suffer from complicated diseases. Alongside this, folate is a crucial element during mammal pregnancies.
5 Risk of Feeding Strawberries to Guinea Pigs
Strawberries are safe fruits for guinea pigs, filled with various beneficial compounds that help differently, as mentioned above. But excessive feeding of the fruit might lead to some risky consequences. So, if you limitedly feed it to your cavy, it will never harm.
1: Excessive Feeding Causes Obesity
Strawberries indeed contain lower sugar in comparison to their sweetness and other fruits. But excessive consumption of the fruit will not stop harming your little pet. If you exceed the feeding limit, the limited sugar could even be dangerous for your cavy, and it may lead to obesity and diabetes.
Also, guineas cannot digest so much sugar and might get into trouble, like diarrhea. Notably, strawberries’ stems, tops, and leaves are lower in sugar. So you can feed it to them safely.
2: High Calcium May Cause Kidney Stones
Again, only excessive feeding of strawberries could lead your guinea to that severe condition. 100 g strawberries contain nearly 16 mg of calcium. If they cross the eating limit, the calcium intake would increase and cause issues like kidney or bladder stones. As the little pet’s kidney will be unable to filter the calcium, it will accumulate, resulting in kidney stones.
3: Allergies Might Cause Severe Illness
Guinea pigs are susceptible to food allergies. They could also get allergies after eating strawberries if they cannot tolerate the fruit. So, before introducing the whole fruit to your cavy, let’s start with a nibble. After consuming, if your pet acts abnormally or feels uncomfortable, it might be the allergy effect. In that situation, you must stop feeding the fruit immediately.
But if your pet feels normal and begs for the fruit, let him eat happily as a weekly treat.
4: Avoid Strawberries During Beta-Blocker Treatment
If your guinea pig is treated with beta-blockers, strawberries would be risky. Beta-blockers help in reducing blood pressure when other medications do not work. During that treatment, your cavy cannot process the potassium intake. It would lead to several illnesses. So, during the treatment, avoid the fruit.
5: Acidic Content Causes Mouth Sore
Strawberries contain some acidic elements, which can cause mouth sores if your cavy intakes too much. Moreover, the fruits grow on the ground and contain dirt and other harmful compounds. So, limited eating and cleaning before feeding will be the best choice.
How to Feed Strawberries to Guinea Pigs?
Purchase Fresh Organic Strawberries
As your little pet cannot tolerate even a little bit of a harmful ingredient, you must choose fresh and organic fruit. So, get some fresh organic strawberries to lower the chances of having pesticides. Pesticides are one of the harmful compounds leading to severe illness in your pet. So, being careful is your duty!
Wash Them With Clean Water
After getting the fruits, do not forget to clean them fruit well. Wash the juicy red fruits thoroughly with clean water. If there are any harmful pesticides, they will get cleaned after washing.
Cut The Fruits into Small Slices
As guinea pigs are very small, their size of nibble is smaller. So, after washing well, cut the fruits into thin slices so your pet will not get choked.
No Need to Remove the Seeds
Strawberry seeds are very tiny and placed on the surface of the fruit instead of inside. The seeds are edible and safe for your cavy, and the sources are not like orange or watermelon seeds and are tinier than them.
Conclusion
So, the final answer to the question, can guinea pigs eat strawberries, is yes, but in moderation. A moderate or occasional feeding of strawberries is safe for cavies. Although, there are some restrictions in certain situations. Like, during beta-blocker treatment, you should never feed strawberries to your pet. Also, you should always maintain limited feeding.
Moreover, if your pet does not like the fruit’s taste, avoid it. Some guineas do not like sweet fruit; instead, they choose to have grass or hay. So, feed as per their preference. Forceful feeding also causes health issues for pets.
Other Preferred Foods for Guinea Pigs Diet
FAQs
Do guinea pigs like to eat strawberries?
Yes, most guinea pigs like to eat strawberries. However, some cavies do not prefer fruit at all.
How many strawberries can I give my guinea pig?
One to two fruits weekly is fine for a matured guinea pig, and you can reduce the amount if your pet is too young.
Can guinea pigs eat the whole strawberry?
It is better to serve sliced strawberries for the risk of choking hazards.
Can guinea pigs eat strawberry leaves?
Yes, strawberry leaves are edible and safe to feed to your guinea pig.
Can my guinea pig eat strawberry tops?
Yes, strawberry tops are safe, and guinea pigs often like to eat them. Also, the top contains more potassium and fiber than the fruit.