Avocado is one fruit enjoyed in many ways, especially used as a spread on delicious toasts. Whichever way you eat them, they just add more vitamins and minerals to your dishes, which may look healthy for a guinea pig too. However, as a guinea pig owner, you’re not sure how safe this fruit is and you wonder, can guinea pigs have avocado?
Here’s a simple answer – NO, your guinea pigs can’t have avocado. It’s high in persin, a toxin that can make your pet seriously sick. Of course, we eat them and it doesn’t harm us, but they are very poisonous for guinea pigs.
This fruit is rich in healthy nutrients but is still high in fats and calcium that can create health issues for your furry friend.
Now that you know that guinea pigs can’t eat the whole avocado, does that mean they can’t eat a part of it? Are there parts that can be eaten or none at all? Let’s find out!
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What Parts of Avocado Can Guinea Pigs Eat?
Interestingly, your guinea pig can eat no part of an avocado. You might wonder how the tasty flesh isn’t okay for guinea pigs to eat. The main part of an avocado, the flesh that we eat the most, isn’t a healthy food for guinea pigs.
No doubt, the inner flesh has useful vitamins and minerals in it for your furry friend. However, it still has traces of a poisonous substance and is also high in compounds that can create serious health issues for them.
So, there’s no moderation on this one, especially a part having so much fat in it.
However, Let’s look at other parts, like the skin, leaves, and pit of this fruit.
Can Pigs Eat Avocado Skin?
Not at all! The amount of toxin in it is much for your guinea pigs. You’ll end up poisoning your little pet if you feed this to them. This part seems to be one of the healthy parts of most fruits.
Can Guinea Pigs Eat Avocado Leaves?
No, you shouldn’t let them eat this part. The leaves of avocados are harmful to their health. It’s among the leaves that guinea pigs can’t eat so it should be completely avoided.
The issue with these leaves is that they contain persin, a toxin, which can poison them.
Can Guinea Pigs Eat Avocado Pit?
A big NO! Avocado pits aren’t safe for your guinea pig to eat too. This part also has the same toxins other parts have and that’s poisonous for your guinea pigs.
This part is one of the parts that are high in persin, including the leaves, skin, and bark of an avocado.
Related Question:
What foods are poisonous to guinea pigs?
Besides feeding your cavy avocado that seems to be a bad idea, some other foods should be completely avoided in your guinea pigs’ diet plan. Let’s look at some of them below.
Meat (All Kinds)
You shouldn’t feed this to your cavy at all. Guinea pigs are herbivores and can only digest plants. Giving them meat that is normally food for carnivores will just make them seriously sick.
Whether it’s beef, chicken, or even fish, make sure it’s not part of their diet. You should also know that this meat has side effects that can be fatal.
Dairy Products (Milk)
You shouldn’t even try adding any dairy product to your guinea pig’s diet plan. You should know that guinea pigs are “lactose intolerant” so they would react badly to milk. However, the symptoms might take time to show, so don’t think everything is fine when you give them milk.
The side effects will definitely show up and when they do, it’s always bad. Whether it is cheese, yogurt, or just drops of milk on their food, it will create serious health problems for your cavy.
Potatoes (Not Sweet Potatoes)
Potatoes are bad for your guinea pig’s health. Moreover, you should know that these veggies have no useful nutrients and health benefits for your cavy. It can only cause serious problems like obesity, and high blood sugar owing to its high content of carbohydrates.
This nutrient is the most you’ll find in this food and it will do more harm than good to your little pet. There are toxins on the skin of potatoes that can poison your guinea pigs. So stick to feeding them just sweet potatoes.
Onion and Garlic
These two both make meals taste nice and are very healthy for us to eat. However, guinea pigs’ cases are different as they are both poisonous foods for them just like other bulb veggies. Even for larger pets like dogs, onion is a bad idea.
All this is because of the “thiosulphate” in them. This is a poisonous substance that can damage your little pet’s red blood cells. This will in turn make them weak, not breathe fine, and sometimes will lead to death.
Seeds
Seeds are hard, but it’s still easy for guinea pigs to swallow them. However, this will in turn choke your pet. However, seeds could do more than cause choking hazards as they’re too large to go down your cavy’s throat.
They are also uneasy to digest and will then create serious digestive issues for your pet. So, don’t ever give this to them.
Nuts
For guinea pigs, any kind of nut is not good for them. Just like avocados, the high amount of fats nuts have is bad for your cavy’s health. Some nuts even have certain compounds that disturb your cavy’s digestive system.
Indeed, the fat they contain might not harm larger animals. However, for a creature as small and delicate as a guinea pig, it will create serious problems for them.
Cooked or Processed Foods
Guinea pigs cannot digest cooked foods. Moreover, most foods we eat or prepare are high in certain ingredients that will cause a lot of harm to your pet.
The sugar content in foods like chocolate or cakes is so much for a delicate pet as a guinea pig. Bread also is very toxic for them and can choke them.
Moreover, boiled foods don’t have any benefit for your piggy. Instead, they’ll end up disturbing your cavies’ digestive system.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, your guinea pig can’t have avocado anytime, anywhere – Not even if you give it to them in moderation.
The foods, including avocado, listed in this article are not safe for your cavies. Guinea pigs are just so weak to have them, especially some compounds in them.
So, if you don’t want to be seeing your vet anytime soon, just avoid this fruit. However, you should know that most cases can lead to death and certainly your cute little cavy isn’t worth the risk.
However, read more of our blogs for fruits and veggies that are safe for your cavy to eat.
Hopefully, you learned a lot from reading this article. Don’t forget to share it with your guinea pig lover friends!
