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Many mammals are alike, albeit with their own unique anatomical quirks. For instance, if you’ve ever heard a quick toot or an extended noise like a balloon letting out air, it could have been your little guinea pig letting one rip! Like humans, dogs, and many other animals, guinea pigs need to expel gas from their bodies produced by the digestive system and they do this by farting.
If you’ve ever wondered about your guinea pig’s digestive system, you’re not alone. That is why we’ve put together this article explaining how their stomachs work from food to poop, how long that takes, and what you can do to help them along the way. Check out the details below and help your guinea pig’s digestive system ASAP.
Guinea Pig Digestive System Explained
In the wild, these furry little critters mainly subsist on grass and other fibrous green foliage. Guinea pigs have a pretty normal mammal digestive system with one major difference. Check out the parts of their digestive system and how it works below.
- Teeth: Guinea pig teeth are specifically designed to keep growing over time to keep up with the wear and tear caused by their high-fiber diets.
- Stomach: Unlike ours, guinea pig stomachs don’t have much acid, largely relying instead on enzymes to break down proteins and process food.
- Intestines: The small intestine is where nutrients are actually absorbed by your guinea pig’s body, and the large intestine processes and compacts waste material.
- Cecum: This unique little pouch at the large intestine is packed with bacteria that help break down fiber.
- Rectum: Where guinea pig waste comes out.
How Long Does It Take for Guinea Pigs to Digest Food?
It takes humans a day to 3 days to completely pass food through our long digestive tract, but what about the diminutive guinea pig? From the time of eating, it takes the average guinea pig roughly 20 to 24 hours to 100% process and eliminate food. That said, guinea pigs should never go without food for more than 8 hours or so since their delicate GI system can go into GI stasis and stop working.
How to Help Your Guinea Pig’s Digestion
The not-so-secret secret to helping your guinea pig’s digestive system regulate and be as healthy as possible is to try and match their diet to roughly what they’d be eating in the wild. We don’t mean you have to go out and forage for fresh greens every day, but there are some ways you can help. Check out how below.
- An ideal diet consists of one part hay, one part veggies, and only 10% of those portions in pellets.
- Keep your guinea pig’s water stocked up to help their digestive system process their high-fiber diet.
- Save fruits for the occasional treat and avoid them on a regular basis because their high sugar can cause digestive problems for your guinea pig.
- Avoid feeding your guinea pig cereal and oats, which they love but cause excessive weight gain due to high carbs and low fiber.
Final Thoughts
Guinea pigs have a digestive system a lot like ours but a smidge different due to their heavy fiber based diet. They fart, poop, and can have stomach troubles just like us or other animals too. However, most of the time keeping their diet consistently heavy in hay and with moderate veggies will eliminate excessive gas and keep them healthy.
Featured Image Credit: Birute Vijeikiene, Shutterstock
