If you have a pet guinea pig, you are probably interested in the different types of food you can feed them. While there are certainly many types of human foods that are healthy for guinea pigs, there are other that can cause serious digestive issues.
Therefore, it is always important to look online before you feed your guinea pig a new food. In today’s article, we will discuss whether you can feed your guinea pig cheez its.
Can guinea pigs eat cheez its
Unfortunately, guinea pigs cannot eat cheez its. Aside from not offering any nutritional value, they also have many ingredients that can harm your guinea pig.
While it can be tempting to give your guinea pig cheez its, or even a very small piece, I strongly recommend against it. The main reason guinea pigs can’t eat cheez its is because of the cheese content. Cheese its are derived from dairy, which guinea pigs are not able to eat.
Guinea pigs can’t eat dairy because they do not have an enzyme called lactase. Lactase is essential to properly process and digest the lactose that is present in cheese. This is essentially the scientific way of saying that guinea pigs are lactose intolerant.
Aside from the dairy component, guinea pig’s should also not eat cheez its because the contain a high level of sodium. This is evident by the fact that cheez its are coated in salt. While small amounts of salt is okay for a guinea pig, foods with high salt content like cheez its can cause dehydration and even bladder issues.
On top of the diary and salt, guinea pig’s should also not eat cheez its because they are high in fat content. Not only does this make it hard for the guinea pig to digest, but it also can lead to obesity if fed in high quantities. This is why I recommend that your feed your guinea pig spring mix.
What to do if my guinea pig eats cheez its?
Luckily, cheez its are not highly toxic. Therefore, you do not need to panic if you fed your guinea pig some cheez its. The worst case scenario is that your guinea pig will experience some digestion issues and possibly diarrhea.
To help the cheez its pass quicker through their GI tract, you should encourage your guinea pig to drink a lot of water.
Are there alternatives to cheez its that you can feed your guinea pig?
Unfortunately, there aren’t a whole lot of cheez its alternatives that you can feed your guinea pig. The only snack remotely similar that can be fed to your guinea pig is dry, rolled oats. While you can give your guinea pig a couple of oats for a snack, you should not do it regularly because they have no nutritional value.
If you do decide to feed your guinea pig oats, make sure that the oats are unprocessed and unsweetened. If you are curious of what else you can feed your guinea pig, you should check out my article what veggies can guinea pigs eat?
The main reason Guinea pigs have such strict diet restrictions is because they are naturally herbivores, which means they only eat plants. Additionally, since they are lactose intolerant, there are many humans foods like cheez its which they should not be fed.