Thursday, December 6, 2012

A Matter of Taste

Peas & carrots, Critical Care, and pureed spinach
Critical Care seems to be a love or hate thing with guinea pigs.  I've seen this myself and heard it from others.  Willow could never get enough of it.  Bertie would be happy if she never touched it again.  In an effort to make the Critical Care more palatable, I've tried mixing it with baby food.  I thought banana would be a hit, but Bertie wasn't impressed.  However, peas and carrots seemed to be at least somewhat edible.

Whenever I've fed Bertie, I would let Pinniped slurp up whatever Bertie wouldn't eat.  Pinni would often try to pull the syringe out of my hand because she wasn't getting it fast enough.  But the first time I tried feeding her the leftover peas and carrots mixture?  Pinni took one whiff and gave me a look like I was trying to poison her.  What the heck is this stuff?

Well, I guess it's all Bertie's, now.

Last week I had pureed some spinach to mix in with the critical care.  What an intense shade of green!  Bertie wasn't as impressed as I was, but decided it still tasted better than straight Critical Care.  I guess I need to buy some more peas and carrots baby food.  Pinni, on the other hand, rated the spinach much better than peas and carrots.  It's interesting to see how each guinea pig has very strong and differing opinions on what tastes good and what doesn't!


4 comments :

  1. Those are some interesting combinations, I've never thought of pureeing greens in with the Critical Care.

    Recently I spotted someone with a wheatgrass shot and wondered if mixing it in would make the Critical Care more appealing. I might have to give it a try the next time one of my girls needs force feeding.

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  2. That's very interesting. I have a pig that loves EVERYTHING we give him and another one that is so picky she won't even eat carrots and never feed her anything twice in a row, or you will hear about it forever! I've had to print out a full list of foods that are pig friendly and we are trying new things until we come up with a suitable food list for her.

    Crazy!

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  3. I never had a problem feeding my 10 week old baby CC. Her Father would slurp up the leftovers. But, I am definitely going to try pureeing spinach next time. I was adding Gerber pureed Apples/Banana but I was worried about too much sugar. Did you use fresh, frozen, or canned?

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    1. I had tried the spinach mostly because Bertie was anemic (and then I discovered that the iron in spinach isn't easily absorbed). I would be careful about spinach if your pigs are prone to sludge or bladder stones. I used fresh (I wouldn't used canned because it's been cooked). Generally speaking squash is a good thing to add, since it's high in fiber, but it all depends on what your pigs will eat!

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