Also known as coriander, Chinese parsley or dhania, Cilantro is a herb used in different culinary dishes throughout the world.
The leaves are often referred to as cilantro flowers and people tend to have a love/hate relationship with them as they have a strange smell to them.
However, they are often used in many Indian, Chinese and Thai foods. However, they do lose their smell when dried or frozen.
All parts of it are edible but if we can eat it, can guinea pigs eat cilantro and if they can how much can they eat?
Let’s start by looking at its nutritional data.
As usual, we’re looking in particular at its sugar, fat, phosphorus, oxalate acid, and calcium content. Because piggies need a supplement of vitamin c, that would be a bonus as well.
image flickr
Coriander (cilantro) leaves, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 95 kJ (23 kcal)
Carbohydrates 3.67 g
– Sugars 0.87
– Dietary fiber 2.8 g
Fat 0.52 g
Protein 2.13 g
Water 92.21 g
Vitamin A equiv. 337 μg (42%)
– beta-carotene 3930 μg (36%)
– lutein and zeaxanthin 865 μg
Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.067 mg (6%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.162 mg (14%)
Niacin (vit. B3) 1.114 mg (7%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.57 mg (11%)
Vitamin B6 0.149 mg (11%)
Folate (vit. B9) 62 μg (16%)
Vitamin C 27 mg (33%)
Vit E 2.5 mg (17%)
Vitamin K 310 μg (295%)
Calcium 67 mg (7%)
Iron 1.77 mg (14%)
Magnesium 26 mg (7%)
Manganese 0.426 mg (20%)
Phosphorus 48 mg (7%)
Potassium 521 mg (11%)
Sodium 46 mg (3%)
Zinc 0.5 mg (5%)
Oxelate acid 2.5mg
souce usda
As you can see they do contain some phosphorus and calcium and contain a tiny bit of sugar, oxalate acid and fat. However, their vitamin c content is fantastic.
Can Guinea pigs eat Cilantro?
Guinea pigs can eat cilantro but I would only feed it to them twice a week at the most because of its phosphorus and calcium content. But the fact that it has a lot of vitamin c makes it a great addition to a guinea pig’s diet.
All parts of the cilantro are edible, so you can feed all it to them including the flowers, stems, leaves and other parts.