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can guinea pigs drink cranberry juice

Can Guinea Pigs Drink Cranberry Juice?

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When it comes to drinking liquids there tends to be one thing that guinea pigs can drink and that’s water but there are certain drinks that they can dabble in if you are careful.
The thing with liquids is that there can’t be any sugars, additives or preservatives added to it like those that humans often drink. It must be naturally pure, if it does contain a hint of additives or preservatives then it’s out.
Can guinea pigs drink cranberry juice?
So when it comes to juices, can Guinea pigs drink cranberry juice?
Cranberries are great for Guinea pigs to eat and are known to be quite medicinal for them. Many guinea pigs have given guinea pigs cranberry juice to help them.
So if you do want to feed your guinea pigs cranberry juice then it needs to be 100% cranberry juice without any additives.
It also needs to be diluted, about a quarter cranberry juice, if not less, and three-quarters water.
Don’t feed it to them too often, once a week should suffice which is about as often as they should eat cranberries.
The rest of the time they should drink water.
For more food and drink that guinea pigs can and can’t have, check out our guinea pig food list.
can guinea pigs eat cranberries

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Cranberries?

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Around October to December is the time of year when everyone starts to remember Cranberries and start to use them again.

Cranberries are red-ruby coloured berries that grow wild on shrubs throughout Europe and north america.

can guinea pigs eat cranberriesCranberries come into their own around Christmas but are good for much more than accompanying the turkey. Their sour flavour lends itself well to both sweet and savoury dishes, as well as drinks.

With the thanksgiving festivities almost upon us and Christmas looming in the distance, its a good time to look at whether guinea pigs can eat cranberries as well.

image flickr

So lets take a look further at its nutritional data to find out more about it.

Cranberries, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 46 kcal (190 kJ)
Carbohydrates 12.2 g
– Sugars 4.04 g
– Dietary fiber 4.6 g
Fat 0.13 g
Protein 0.39 g
Water 87.13 g
Vitamin A equiv. 3 μg (0%)
– beta-carotene 36 μg (0%)
– lutein and zeaxanthin 91 μg
Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.012 mg (1%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.02 mg (2%)
Niacin (vit. B3) 0.101 mg (1%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.295 mg (6%)
Vitamin B6 0.057 mg (4%)
Folate (vit. B9) 1 μg (0%)
Vitamin C 13.3 mg (16%)
Vitamin E 1.2 mg (8%)
Vitamin K 5.1 μg (5%)
Calcium 8 mg (1%)
Iron 0.25 mg (2%)
Magnesium 6 mg (2%)
Manganese 0.36 mg (17%)
Phosphorus 13 mg (2%)
Potassium 85 mg (2%)
Sodium 2 mg (0%)
Zinc 0.1 mg (1%)

source: wikipedia

So what we’re looking for is a minimal amount of calcium, phosphorus, oxelate acid and sugar, plus a  nice bonus of  vitamin c and vitamin a.

Looking at the data above, it seems to tick all the boxes but with it having some of the above, I wouldn’t feed it to them daily. 2-3 times a week should do nicely!

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Dried Cranberries?

They do contain quite a bit of sugar, so feed them to your piggies sparingly, but yes they can eat them.

Can Guinea Pigs have Cranberry Juice?

Yes they can. Some piggie owners have diluted it in water. This thread on the guinea lynx forum is helpful about it, here. Just be careful about how much sugar it contains.

For more foods that guinea pigs can and can’t eat check out our guinea pig foods section.