 Welcome back to The Tiny Heard where we talk about everyday pet care for guinea pigs, rabbits, and other small pets so that you can keep your pet the happiest and healthiest they can be. Today's video is going to be a really important one because we are going to be going over everything you need to know about vitamin C for guinea pigs. So guinea pigs are not able to produce their own vitamin C in their bodies and if they do not get enough vitamin C it can cause a lot of health problems. These can include scurvy, in younger guinea pigs it can cause issues with growth and bone deformities, and it can also cause a weakened immune system which can make your piggy more likely to catch other illnesses. Because of this we as pet owners need to be providing vitamin C to our piggies to make sure that they are staying healthy and getting the nutrients that they need. The easiest way to do this is through their food. Providing a healthy diet for your guinea pigs is one of the best ways to make sure they live a happy and healthy life. And one of the biggest considerations you should have in mind when creating a diet plan for your piggies is making sure that they are getting enough vitamin C. So let's jump into this. If you are feeding your piggies a high quality healthy pellet then chances are they are getting a little bit of vitamin C from those pellets. A lot of the newer better formulated pellet brands have vitamin C included so that is one way that your piggies can get a little bit in their diet. I like to also supplement other ways because I don't like to feed a lot of pellets and piggies don't always eat them so the next best way to be sure that your pet is getting enough vitamin C is through their veggies. Guinea pigs need to be fed fresh veggies every single day and providing a variety and some veggie options that are high in vitamin C is a great way to be sure they're getting enough. You'll have to figure out what your piggies like but two of my favorite options for veggies high in vitamin C are green bell pepper and cherry tomatoes. I'll link a great list down below that breaks down all the different say veggie options and their nutrients and vitamin C content. Providing a variety of veggie options for your pets on a rotational basis so meaning you kind of switch it up every day is a great idea anyways because it provides your pets with a lot of enrichment but doing that can also kind of circulate different veggies with different nutrients and ensure that they're getting a better well-rounded diet. If you are still worried about your pet getting enough vitamin C after feeding them a good variety of veggies there are a couple options on the market that you can supplement with. The two top options are the Sherwood pet health vitamin C tabs and the Oxbow vitamin C hay tabs. Many owners use these as a treat and their guinea pigs love them it's a nice little snack for them and you can be confident that they're getting something healthy for a snack and that is supplementing their vitamin C. I will mention that some piggies tend to not like the texture of the Sherwood tabs so I would test out the different options first with your own pigs before you go out and buy a bunch of them. A lot of my pigs will eat the Sherwood tabs just fine but some of them will not because they do have a little bit of a different texture where the hay tabs are kind of just like a hay compressed treat kind of option that generally more piggies kind of seem to like. I did also want to mention you may have seen the vitamin C water drops that you can get out the pet store I do not recommend these at all. First off they can change the taste of the water which can kind of make your pet not drink the amount of water that they need to if it makes it taste funny or honestly if it makes it taste better to your pet then they could not drink as much normal water. It kind of just causes some complications to me that I don't think are really necessary. Second off those drops are not effective for very long once they're in the water. Once vitamin C is exposed to water and sunlight it becomes ineffective very very quickly. So to me those water drops just kind of have more cons than pros and they really can get expensive over time when they're really not providing a whole lot of benefit. So I recommend staying away from those and trying the tabs instead if you want to supplement. Another thing I wanted to mention is you also don't really have to worry about overfeeding your guinea pig vitamin C. It's water soluble which means that anything extra your pet eats that they don't need in their body that their body decides that it doesn't need. They will just excrete out in their urine so it will just pass through their body it won't cause any issues it's not toxic or anything like that if you feed your pet a little bit more than what they actually need. So you don't have to worry about that. Leave me a comment down below if you have any questions or suggestions. Thank you so much for watching today's video. I hope you found it helpful and that you enjoyed. If you did please consider hitting that like button. It does help me out a lot and again thank you guys. I will see you in the next video. Bye.