Good vitamin is significant on your guinea pig’s well being. These cavies differ from many pets as a result of they’re unable to synthesize vitamin C; a trait they share with just a few different animals, together with people. With a purpose to meet their vitamin C necessities, guinea pigs have to acquire round 10-50 mg of Vitamin C from their weight loss program, so meals wealthy on this important nutrient should characteristic excessive in your guinea pig’s weight loss program.
100g of jalapeno peppers accommodates 16.7mg of vitamin C, so that you would possibly assume it could be a great merchandise to incorporate in your guinea pig’s meals bowl, however sadly, these spicy gadgets aren’t protected for guinea pigs.
The Drawback With Jalapenos
Let’s contemplate the plain first: Jalapenos are spicy. The culinary world quantifies this trait with the Scoville Scale. The upper the quantity, the larger the burn. It comes from the focus of a pepper’s capsaicin content material. The best scores go as excessive as 16,000,000 Scoville Warmth Items (SHU).
Bell peppers (capsicum) have 0 SHU, as a result of mockingly, capsicums don’t have any capsaicin. Poblano peppers are available at 2,000 SHU, whereas jalapenos are as much as 10,000 SHU. Subsequent time your pal dares you to take a chunk out of a Carolina reaper, we recommend you go on tasting its 2,200,000 SHU. The takeaway is {that a} jalapeno could cause mouth irritation for anybody, and it’s no completely different with a guinea pig. It’s particularly problematic as a result of the animal doesn’t usually encounter this warmth.
Capsaicin can even trigger sneezing, elevated saliva circulate, and abdomen irritation. A guinea pig could exhibit behavioral points, together with refusal to eat after a detrimental expertise with jalapenos. Cavies can’t sweat, so the warmth from capsaicin will seemingly have adversarial results in your pet.
Surprising Points
The issues with capsaicin and jalapenos don’t cease at irritation. One examine discovered that the chemical might have an effect on the functioning of easy and cardiac muscle with a depressant impact, leading to a laxative response within the GI system. One other examine discovered that capsaicin could improve the energy of Different analysis confirmed it might strengthen easy muscle contractions within the trachea, which might result in doubtlessly life threatening airway obstruction.
We all know ourselves how disagreeable the results of spicy substances like jalapenos may be, and the stimulation of the nociceptors (ache receptors) in our pets is one thing we should keep away from in any respect prices.
Suggestions for Feeding Contemporary Meals
Hay ought to make up the majority of your guinea pig’s weight loss program. It gives the mandatory roughage, vitamins, and dental take care of guinea pigs. A industrial pellet product will help be certain that all of the animal’s dietary wants are met, nonetheless, some don’t include excessive sufficient ranges of vitamin C. Thankfully, there are loads of cavy-friendly fresh fruits and greens that can increase your guinea pig’s vitamin C ranges with out inflicting hurt.
We talked about earlier that capsicums are a 0 SHU meals. Nicely there’s extra excellent news, as a result of 100g of yellow capsicum accommodates round 184 mg of vitamin C, making it a super addition to your guinea pig’s each day recent veg.
Different cavy-safe meals which might be wealthy in vitamin C embody:
Broccoli
Chinese language cabbage
Cress
Kale
Mustard greens
Parsley
Ultimate Ideas
Guinea pigs are delightful pets that are fun to own. After all, elevating one comes with duties, which embody offering a nutritious diet. Whereas they’ll eat a mess of recent vegetables and fruit, jalapenos aren’t an applicable deal with on your pet. Many other options exist that don’t have the identical disagreeable and unhealthy unintended effects.
Featured Picture Credit score: Brett_Hondow, Pixabay
