Check 74 common foods for guinea pigs: which are usually safe, which need care and which can be poisonous.
Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat.
Guinea pigs can’t make their own vitamin C, so they need it every day from fresh greens, peppers and guinea pig pellets. Hay should make up most of the diet.
| Food | Answer | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | Call a vet | Alcohol is poisonous to animals even in small amounts. Raw bread dough also produces alcohol as it rises. Call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away if any may have been eaten. |
| Apples | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. Remove the pips. |
| Apricots | Use caution | Flesh only, without the stone, stems or leaves, as a rare treat. |
| Avocado | Call a vet | Avocado contains persin, which can be fatal to rabbits and guinea pigs. Call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away if any may have been eaten. |
| Bananas | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. |
| Blackberries | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. Bramble leaves are a good forage food for them. |
| Blueberries | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. |
| Bread | Avoid | Too starchy for rabbits and guinea pigs, whose gut needs hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Broccoli | Use caution | Fine in small amounts, but it can cause gas. Introduce it slowly. |
| Butter and cream | Avoid | Dairy is not suitable for rabbits or guinea pigs. |
| Cabbage | Use caution | Dark greens such as spring greens and kale are good in small amounts, mixed with other leaves. Too much can cause gas. |
| Carrots | Use caution | Carrots are sugary. Offer a small piece a few times a week; the leafy tops can be given more freely. |
| Cauliflower | Use caution | Leaves and a little floret are fine, but it can cause gas. Introduce it slowly. |
| Celery | Use caution | Chop it into short pieces so the strings can’t cause problems. The leaves are fine. |
| Cherries | Use caution | Flesh only, without the stone, stems or leaves, as a rare treat. |
| Chocolate | Call a vet | Chocolate is poisonous to rabbits and guinea pigs. Call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away if any may have been eaten. |
| Coffee, tea and caffeine | Call a vet | Caffeine from coffee, tea bags, coffee grounds, energy drinks or tablets can cause restlessness, a racing heart and seizures. Call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away if any may have been eaten. |
| Cooked bones | Avoid | Not suitable. Rabbits and guinea pigs are plant eaters and need hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Cooked chicken and meat | Avoid | Not suitable. Rabbits and guinea pigs are plant eaters and need hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Cooked rice | Avoid | Too starchy for rabbits and guinea pigs, whose gut needs hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Corn on the cob | Avoid | The cob is too hard and fibrous for rabbits and guinea pigs. |
| Courgette | Use caution | Fine in small amounts alongside leafy greens. |
| Cranberries | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. |
| Crisps and salty snacks | Avoid | Too salty and fatty. A large amount of salt can be dangerous, so call your vet if a lot has been eaten. |
| Cucumber | Usually safe | Fine in small amounts. It is mostly water, so don’t let it replace leafy greens. |
| Dandelions | Usually safe | Dandelion leaves and flowers are a good forage food. Pick them away from roads and sprayed areas. |
| Dried cranberries | Avoid | Dried fruit is far too sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. |
| Eggs | Avoid | Not suitable. Rabbits and guinea pigs are plant eaters and need hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Fish and tuna | Avoid | Not suitable. Rabbits and guinea pigs are plant eaters and need hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Garlic | Call a vet | Garlic is poisonous to rabbits and guinea pigs. Call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away if any may have been eaten. |
| Grapes | Use caution | Very sugary. One seedless grape, halved, as a rare treat at most. |
| Ham, bacon and sausages | Avoid | Not suitable. Rabbits and guinea pigs are plant eaters and need hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Ice cream | Avoid | Not suitable for rabbits or guinea pigs. |
| Iceberg lettuce | Avoid | Iceberg offers little nutrition and can cause loose droppings. Give romaine or darker leaves instead. |
| Lemons, limes and grapefruit | Avoid | Too acidic for rabbits and guinea pigs. |
| Lettuce | Use caution | Romaine, little gem and darker leaf lettuces are fine. Avoid iceberg, which offers little nutrition and can cause loose droppings. |
| Macadamia nuts | Avoid | Too fatty for rabbits and guinea pigs. |
| Mango | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. |
| Mealworms | Avoid | Not suitable. Rabbits and guinea pigs are plant eaters and need hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Melon | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. |
| Milk and cheese | Avoid | Dairy is not suitable for rabbits or guinea pigs. |
| Mouldy food | Avoid | Never feed mouldy food, greens or hay. |
| Oats | Avoid | Too starchy for rabbits and guinea pigs, whose gut needs hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Onions | Call a vet | Onions and other alliums are poisonous to rabbits and guinea pigs. Call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away if any may have been eaten. |
| Oranges and other citrus | Use caution | A small piece of orange now and then adds vitamin C, but it is acidic. Peppers and leafy greens are a better daily source. Avoid lemons, limes and grapefruit. |
| Parsnips | Use caution | A little now and then; it is starchy and sweet. |
| Pasta | Avoid | Too starchy for rabbits and guinea pigs, whose gut needs hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Peaches and nectarines | Use caution | Flesh only, without the stone, stems or leaves, as a rare treat. |
| Peanut butter | Avoid | Too fatty for rabbits and guinea pigs. |
| Pears | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. Remove the pips. |
| Peas | Use caution | Fresh pea pods and shoots are fine. The peas themselves are starchy, so just a few. |
| Peppers | Usually safe | Bell peppers are an excellent source of vitamin C. A small slice a day is fine; remove the seeds and stalk. |
| Pineapple | Use caution | Sugary and acidic. A small piece of flesh as a rare treat. |
| Plums | Use caution | Flesh only, without the stone, stems or leaves, as a rare treat. |
| Porridge | Avoid | Too starchy for rabbits and guinea pigs, whose gut needs hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Potatoes | Avoid | Starchy, and raw or green potatoes and the plant are toxic. Don’t give them. |
| Pumpkin | Use caution | A small piece of raw pumpkin flesh now and then. |
| Pumpkin seeds | Avoid | Seeds are too fatty for rabbits and guinea pigs. |
| Raisins and sultanas | Avoid | Dried fruit is far too sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. |
| Raspberries | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. |
| Raw bread dough | Call a vet | Raw yeast dough keeps rising in the warm stomach, which can cause a dangerous swelling or blockage, and the yeast makes alcohol as it ferments. Call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away if any may have been eaten. |
| Rhubarb | Call a vet | Rhubarb is poisonous to rabbits and guinea pigs. Call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away if any may have been eaten. |
| Rice | Avoid | Too starchy for rabbits and guinea pigs, whose gut needs hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Shop-bought mushrooms | Avoid | Not suitable for rabbits or guinea pigs. |
| Spinach | Use caution | High in oxalates. A little now and then, mixed with other greens. |
| Strawberries | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. |
| Sunflower seeds | Avoid | Too fatty for rabbits and guinea pigs. |
| Swede and turnip | Use caution | A little now and then. Turnip tops are a good leafy green. |
| Sweetcorn | Use caution | Fresh husks and silks are fine. Kernels only now and then, as they are starchy. |
| Tomatoes | Use caution | A small piece of ripe tomato now and then is fine. Never the leaves, stems or green fruit. |
| Uncooked rice | Avoid | Too starchy for rabbits and guinea pigs, whose gut needs hay, leafy greens and a few pellets. |
| Watermelon | Use caution | Fruit is sugary for rabbits and guinea pigs. Offer a small piece once or twice a week as a treat. |
| Wild or unidentified mushrooms | Call a vet | Some wild mushrooms can be deadly, some only cause signs hours later, and they are hard to identify. Unless you know it was a shop-bought mushroom, call your vet straight away and take a photo or a sample with you. |
| Xylitol (birch sugar) | Avoid | Keep sugar-free products away from rabbits and guinea pigs. |
How to use it
Choose an animal and type a food. The checker gives one of four answers for that species: usually safe, use caution, avoid or call a vet. Each answer comes with a note on how to prepare it, how much is reasonable, or why it is risky.
The same food can be fine for one animal and poisonous to another. Grapes are a good treat for ducks but can cause kidney failure in dogs, and avocado that a dog might get away with can kill a rabbit or a hen. Always check for the animal you keep rather than borrowing advice for another species.
If your animal may have eaten something toxic, a human medicine, mouldy food or packaging, call your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away. Don’t wait for symptoms or try to make your animal sick. Keep the packaging and have their weight, the amount eaten and the time it happened to hand.
Of the foods we cover, these can poison guinea pigs: alcohol, avocado, chocolate, coffee, tea and caffeine, garlic, onions, raw bread dough, rhubarb and wild or unidentified mushrooms. If your guinea pig may have eaten any of them, contact your vet or Animal PoisonLine straight away.
Only a little, and with care. Very sugary. One seedless grape, halved, as a rare treat at most.
No, it’s best avoided. Too starchy for rabbits and guinea pigs, whose gut needs hay, leafy greens and a few pellets.
Guinea pigs can’t make their own vitamin C, so they need it every day from fresh greens, peppers and guinea pig pellets. Hay should make up most of the diet.
No. Animals digest foods differently. Something tolerated by a dog may be unsuitable or poisonous to a cat, rabbit or bird.
Preparation changes the risk. A plain food can be very different once it contains onion, garlic, xylitol, chocolate, alcohol, or lots of salt or fat.
Not in the UK. It is illegal to feed kitchen scraps, catering waste, meat or meat products to poultry, even birds kept as pets, because of the risk of spreading animal diseases. That includes leftovers from vegan kitchens. Offer raw fruit and vegetables bought or grown for your birds instead.
It means we haven’t assessed it yet, not that it is safe. If it has been eaten, contact your vet or Animal PoisonLine for advice.
These tools are planning aids, not a diagnosis or a replacement for veterinary advice. If a pet is unwell, has eaten something risky, or you are unsure what to do next, contact a vet.