The internet has a lot of opinions about what foods are best for guinea pigs and what to avoid, so PETA is helping guardians determine what to feed their guinea pigs, how much, and how often.
Charles Long Photography
What Can Guinea Pigs Eat?
The bulk of a guinea pig’s diet should be high-quality grass hay, such as timothy or orchard, and timothy hay–based food pellets with no added seeds or colored pieces. Young guinea pigs should be offered alfalfa hay in addition to grass hay. Around 4 to 6 months of age, they can be weaned off the alfalfa hay slowly to give their digestive systems time to adjust. Young pigs should also have alfalfa-based pellets and can be weaned off those at the same time.
Since guinea pigs can’t store vitamin C, they have to get it from their daily diets. Guardians should make sure that the food pellets they choose are fortified and that pigs are also getting added vitamin C through vegetable treats. Often, that’s still not enough, so PETA recommends purchasing guinea pig–specific vitamins.
What Are Good Treats for Guinea Pigs?
Guinea pigs love fresh salads, vegetables, herbs, and fruits. You can experiment to find your animals’ favorites, and they may enjoy eating them from your hand or lap. Lettuces such as green leaf, red leaf, romaine, and Bibb are great daily choices. They can also have fresh, hand-cut grass that hasn’t been fertilized, sprayed with pesticides, or cut with a mower. Some pigs enjoy foraging in the yard (always under the care and supervision of a guardian) and may also find tasty weeds such as dandelion leaves and flowers, plantain, red deadnettle, chickweed, mallow, chamomile, cleavers, and chicory.
Other healthy vegetables and herbs can be offered in small portions a few times per week, including bell peppers, cilantro, carrots and carrot tops, zucchini and other summer squashes, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, kale, fennel, radicchio, endive, cucumbers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, basil, and mint. Most guinea pigs love corn, especially the husks and silks. Just remove the outermost leaves, as they may have been sprayed with pesticides. Tomatoes, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, papayas, kiwis, bananas, and cantaloupes are great fruit treats to offer a few times a week.
The total amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in their diet shouldn’t exceed one cup per day, although guinea pigs can have more grass than that as long as they’re used to eating it.
What Foods Shouldn’t Guinea Pigs Have?
Other vegetables, herbs, and fruits are too high in sugar, calcium, or oxalates for guinea pigs to eat them weekly. They should only be offered in small portions two or three times per month. These include parsley, purslane, spinach, watercress, arugula, and beet greens.
They should never have meat, dairy, onions, leeks, potatoes, tomato vines or leaves, nuts, dried beans, candy, iceberg lettuce, rhubarb, bread, buttercups, or most vines, such as periwinkle and ivy.
Your exotic-animal veterinarian can answer any other questions about specific foods, guinea pig nutrition and exercise, and helping your pigs maintain a healthy weight. For more information, see PETA’s comprehensive guinea pig care guide here.
How Can We Save the Earth? One Simple Action Will Make a Difference
The Planet Needs You to Ditch Leather—Here’s Why
The Earth Can’t Wait: Why You Need to Ditch Leather Now
We know the Earth is in trouble. But there’s one often overlooked, simple action that will make a difference: Ditch leather.
Killing animals for their skin comes with the same environmental baggage as killing them for their flesh. If you care about saving the planet, here’s one thing you need to do.
Japan-based conglomerate Ajinomoto Co. Inc.—the world’s largest manufacturer of the controversial food flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) and owner of packaged frozen-food brands Tai Pei, Ling Ling, and José Olé—has been tormenting thousands of pigs, dogs, rabbits, gerbils, guinea pigs, mice, rats, and fish in horrific and deadly tests for its ingredients since the 1950s. PETA is waging a campaign to end these worthless experiments—and you can help.
PETA Asia’s Mobile Billboard Delivers a Message to Ajinomoto
April 7, 2022
Because other companies throughout Japan are running circles around Ajinomoto by dropping cruel animal tests not required by law, PETA Asia encircled the company’s headquarters and other offices with a mobile billboard featuring an outspoken mouse, repeatedly blasting the message, “Ajinomoto! Stop Testing on Animals!” (in Japanese). PETA Asia’s campaigners also gave leaflets to staff at their offices and warehouses across Tokyo as they entered work, a strategy designed to pressure executives to explain to their own staff why they’re testing on animals.
A ‘Rat’ in Downtown Tokyo Urges Ajinomoto to End Animal Testing
March 23, 2022
A video of a “rat” who stood in a busy Tokyo crosswalk holding a sign that read, “Ajinomoto: Stop Animal Testing” (in Japanese), has gone viral, with more than 1 million views so far! The “rat” was part of a PETA Asia protest against MSG giant Ajinomoto’s use of mice and other animals in cruel and deadly experiments to make dubious health claims for marketing its products.
Ajinomoto Misleads About Deadly Animal Tests, Unlike Competitors
November 18, 2021
In response to Ajinomoto’s statement made during its recent annual meeting that it would not test on animals, PETA issued the following statement:
Despite assurances that Ajinomoto Co., Inc., the world’s leading maker of MSG, made during a recent annual meeting that it would not test on animals for nonmedicinal foods, three new studies prove that it continues to support horrific, animal-killing experiments indiscriminately.
The company conducted an experiment testing essential amino acids—which are present in just about any food, medicinal or not—in which experimenters drilled holes into the skulls of genetically altered mice, injected viral substances into their brains, force-fed them amino acids, took their blood, and killed and dissected them. Ajinomoto also contributed materials to another test in which experimenters repeatedly deprived mice of water overnight, fed them common food substances such as miso and MSG, cut open their faces to expose a nerve, inserted electrodes into their faces, killed them, and cut off their tongues. In yet another test to which Ajinomoto donated materials, experimenters mated pigs, fed the mothers common amino acids, cut them open and took their uteri and babies, and then killed and dissected the babies.
These animals endured horrendous torment so that Ajinomoto could enhance its bottom line. They suffered and died for nothing more than profit, in tests not even required by law. Ajinomoto, a company with a long history of harming dogs and other animals, must immediately get on the right side of history and listen to the more than 230,000 people who have called on it to join the dozens of global food companies—including MSG competitors like McCormick & Company and B&G Foods—that have banned animal tests after discussions with PETA.
PETA Protests Tokyo Olympics Sponsor Ajinomoto Over Animal Testing
August 3, 2021
Shockingly, Ajinomoto Co. Inc. not only still conducts horrific and worthless tests on animals but also is an official partner of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a regular sponsor of the Tokyo Stadium, also known as the Ajinomoto Stadium. That’s why PETA Asia’s “rat” mascot, Rei, stood outside the facility today to call for Ajinomoto’s name to be kept off it.
Olympics Composer’s Bullying Is Not the Only Abuse Scandal Plaguing the Games
July 19, 2021
In response to an additional abuse allegation plaguing the Tokyo Olympic Games in the wake of Keigo Oyamada’s resignation over bullying, PETA issued the following statement:
Ajinomoto Co., Inc., sponsor of the Olympic National Training Center and the world’s leading maker of MSG, forces animals to run on treadmills at high speeds until they become exhausted, swim for their lives in near-drowning tests, fight strangers, and leap away from electric shocks in pseudo-scientific tests that resemble nothing so much as a depraved version of Olympic Trials. But in Ajinomoto’s “games,” all the participants are killed and dissected in the end—simply so that the company can make dubious marketing claims about the human health effects of its products.
There is no excuse for Ajinomoto to continue these misguided animal tests, which are curiosity-driven and not required by law. More than 144,000 people have called on the company to join the ranks of the dozens of global food companies that have banned animal tests after discussions with PETA.
MSG Maker’s Deadly Tests on Animals to Bring Heat From PETA at Annual Meeting
June 22, 2021
“Will Ajinomoto commit to banning all animal testing that is not explicitly required by law, as dozens of other global food and beverage companies have already done?” That’s the question a PETA representative asked executives of Japanese conglomerate Ajinomoto Co. Inc. at its annual meeting. PETA purchased stock in the company last year to urge shareholders to end its experiments on animals.
Sexually Abusing and Bleeding Cows in Milk Test: Penn State, MSG Giant Slammed by PETA
June 9, 2021
In response to an animal experiment coauthored by Ajinomoto and Pennsylvania State University, PETA issued the following statement:
The world’s leading maker of MSG has harmed dogs and other animals for years—and now it’s using cows in experiments that are more like sexual abuse than science. In a recently published experiment at The Pennsylvania State University, sensitive cows were subjected to cruel tests to determine whether they could produce more milk if fed an Ajinomoto product. Specifically, experimenters fed cows feathers, blood, and the company’s test amino acid product; repeatedly milked them; repeatedly poked their anuses and vulvae; and repeatedly took their blood. There is no excuse for Ajinomoto to continue these misguided animal tests, which are curiosity-driven and not required by law. More than 144,000 people have called on Ajinomoto to join the ranks of the dozens of global food companies that have banned animal tests after discussions with PETA.
PETA Criticizes Monell Center and Ajinomoto for Cruel Experiment on Mice
May 10, 2021
In response to a recent animal experiment coauthored by Ajinomoto, PETA issued the following statement:
The world’s leading MSG maker, Ajinomoto, has been tormenting thousands of dogs and other animals in laboratories since the 1950s. In a recently published experiment in collaboration with the Monell Center, sensitive mice were subjected to cruel and deadly tests simply to determine whether they prefer sugar water or regular water. Specifically, experimenters dripped sugar water on the animals’ tongues and measured electrical responses from their nerves, which the experimenters cut open and exposed. They also repeatedly injected the mice with glucose and insulin, took their blood, and killed and dissected them. There is no excuse for Ajinomoto to continue these misguided animal tests, which are curiosity-driven, not required by law, and irrelevant to the company’s business. Ajinomoto should join the ranks of the dozens of global food companies that have banned animal tests after discussions with PETA, including Takasago International Corporation and McCormick & Company, Inc., which are corporate sponsors of the Monell Center but have prohibited their funding from being used for animal tests.
PETA Supporters Hound Ajinomoto With ‘Dog’ Delivery
April 29, 2021
PETA demonstrators carted a life-size dog statue—bearing more than 142,000 petition signatures—to an Ajinomoto office in Raleigh, North Carolina, in order to protest the MSG giant’s use of dogs and other animals in cruel, unnecessary experiments.
Ajinomoto—MSG Giant That Tortures Dogs and Others in Lethal Tests—Has a New Shareholder
October 9, 2020
PETA announced its recent purchase of stock in Japanese conglomerate Ajinomoto Co. Inc. in order to ask a question at its 2021 annual meeting. We’ll urge shareholders to end the company’s cruel and deadly tests, in which thousands of dogs and other animals have been used to make dubious health claims for marketing its food products and ingredients.
‘Rats’ Descend on Ajinomoto HQ to Protest Animal Testing
November 28, 2019
A group of “rats” protested Ajinomoto’s cruel tests on animals outside the company’s Malaysia offices in Kuala Lumpur.
With Earth Day (April 22) nearly here, PETA’s campaign calling on Starbucks to stop charging customers extra for the vegan milks it agrees are better for the planet kicked into high gear yesterday, when PETA supporters superglued their hands to the café counter at Starbucks’ headquarters, chanting, “Save the planet! Save the cows! Stop the vegan upcharge NOW!” After nearly two hours, they were removed by police, who say they will each be charged with two felonies. Photos and video footage of the “glue-in” are available here.
PETA’s actions are continuing all week: The group is hijacking would-be Starbucks customers by giving away free nitro cold brew mochas made with creamy oat milk—generously donated by RISE Brewing Co.—at Starbucks locations across the country, including in Denver; Portland, Oregon; and West Palm Beach, Florida.
“Starbucks’ Earth Day promotions are hot air, when the company is still charging extra for healthier, Earth- and animal-friendly vegan milks,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA will stick to Starbucks like glue until it agrees to drop the vegan upcharge.”
PETA and Animal Rights Initiative supporters have held daily sit-ins at Starbucks’ headquarters every day since January to point out that the dairy industry is a major producer of the greenhouse gases that contribute to the climate catastrophe and is responsible for immense animal suffering. Cows used for dairy are artificially inseminated—workers insert an arm into the animals’ rectum and a metal rod to deliver semen into their vagina—and then sent to slaughter when their bodies give out.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Charles Long Photography
