Celery

[renonvsparky]

Ok so I give my boys celery sometimes. Is it safe to give it to them without de-stringing it? I always either cut it up into thin slices or pick out the stringy part to err on the side of caution, but is it necessary? I've read that they can choke on the long strings and also that their teeth can chew them up safely so they don't choke on them. Which is it?

[janlovingcavies]

I never de-string but I do cut very small about an inch and a half long pieces. Sadly my girls prefer the leaves more than the stalks. So now they get the leaves and I get the stalks.

But I have heard of piggy's chocking on celery so either cut it real small or keep doing what your doing and taking the stringy bits off. Good luck!

Found sometimes especially Jersey she eats so fast and coughs over anything! Do what you feel comfortable in doing. Sorry not much help!

[Sef]

I remembered raising the same question on GL years ago:
www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=32039&p=871825&hilit=celery#p871825

I thought there was also a more recent thread on the subject by me, but I couldn't seem to find it. With guinea pig teeth being so sharp, I could never really understand why the recommendation is always to remove the strings (I have made that recommendation myself). On that one thread, though, one of the members mentioned having an older pig who ate a whole stalk with the strings and later died from GI complications. No way to really know if the two things were related, and it was a lot more celery than most of us feed at one time, but I could certainly understand her concern.

I'm pretty sure that one of the other members (Josephine?) once posted something about a rabbit or guinea pig that ate a larger amount of celery with strings and died soon after. I referenced it here:
www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=77453&p=2296581&hilit=josephine+celery#p2296581

I haven't been able to track down the original story, but have a very vague recollection of her (or whoever the member was) stating that the rabbit or guinea pig was necropsied, and undigested celery strings were found in the stomach. Again, though, I think it involved more celery than what any of us would normally feed.

I guess my feeling on it is, it's probably not a problem when fed in very small chunks, but not a bad idea to remove the strings if you feed larger pieces just to be on the safe side.

[renonvsparky]

It's not that much trouble to cut it into small slices. I don't feed it to them regularly. Once every couple of months, I get a bag of it and it takes a couple of weeks for them to eat it all. They like it, but it isn't exactly packed with enough nutrients to be given as part of their daily diet. I use it as a change of pace. The same as with carrots, but I give them more often. Carrots are my laptime treat for the boys.

[Sef]

Sounds very reasonable! It has been a while since I bought celery...it usually just sits in the crisper and goes bad.