How do guinea pigs get vitamin C in the wild?
Posted by admin on Oct 20, 2009
I know that guinea pigs need vitamin C daily from their diet because they can’t produce it or store it on their own, but I have read that their natural diet in the wild is just grasses. Where do wild guinea pigs get their vitamin C?
Most animals produce vitamin C in their cells from its component parts. This means that they do not need vitamin C in their diet, because they will produce it from the food they eat.
Guinea pigs, primates and humans do NOT produce vitamin C in their bodies, so they MUST get it from their diet. If they do not consume adequate amounts of vitamin C they will suffer from a deficiency called scurvy.
Signs of scurvy include lethargy, diarrhoea, weight loss, and internal skeletal-muscular haemorrhage.
Vitamin C is also a water-soluble vitamin, so it can not be stored in the body. These animals therefore need to get vit C in their diet every day.
Wild guinea pigs eat a variety of plant matter – and plants contain high levels of vitamin C.
If you want more detail consider this:
In the wild guinea pigs are grazers – they eat all the time. Their diet is low in calories, so they must eat a large quantity to get enough energy. It is easy to get enough vit C when you eat such a large amount of fresh food! Many pet guinea pigs are fed a complete diet, with very little fresh food. As a result you need to get all the requierd vit C in a much smaller quantity of food.
Please visit this site for more info:
http://www.guinealynx.com/scurvy.html
