Guinea pig Care

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ladysown

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Okay, rescued some guinea pigs the other day. They are WELL isolated. I don't really like where I put them but I have no other place to put them. (outside under the hedge in an open cage). They are covered from the heat of the sun but that's about it.

They were crawling with mites/lice/fleas so I ivermectin'ed the lot of them. So much so that I wouldn't let my boy into the house without being stripping down first. He was NOT impressed with me at all. I even washed his toys that he had near them in very hot water. I will ivermectin them again in a week.

One momma, One daughter, and five babies (two days old).

I've put vitamin C in their water because even the babies were losing hair and that to me is always the first sign of a vitamin C deficiency. The momma is thin, the babies always seem to be hungry. I given them a ton of hay, pellets (which they are NOT eating), and grass. Tomorrow I'm going to give them rabbit pellets to see if staleness is an issue with the pellets they came with. I'm going to give them some mixed grains as well...but I don't want to put them off their pellets either.

What else can I do to get these pigs into shape? They are VERY rough looking. I would cull them all but I think I can bring them around. They are tiny and very sweet (the adults) so rehoming them for a small fee should be quite doable.

Any and all suggestions welcomed. :)
 
Vit c breaks down too fast in the water to be useful enough for guinea pigs. Cheaper pellets also aren't very stable and only good for a short time. I would syringe vit c straight in to them for a few days, sometimes you can get them to eat vit c tablets for humans, and provide them with some bell peppers if you can. Red especially. If they aren't eating pellets feed as much forage and vegetables as possible. Guinea pigs don't have as much risk of digestive upset as rabbits do towards greens. I used to dump a 2lb grocery bag full of grasses, clovers, day lillies, etc... in to my pen of 4 guinea pigs every day when I was feeding them without a commercial diet and when doing guinea pig rescue we didn't have much issue just starting the new pigs on a diet that included at least a cup of vegetables a day right from day 1. I used to get lots of peppers from gardeners whenever I didn't grow my own and grew tons of cilantro indoors and out every year. Some fresh alfalfa would also help put some weight and coat condition on them. You can get nice shiny coated guinea pigs (and horses) using alfalfa straight from someone's hay field for a few weeks.
 
thanks, the tons of grass I can do with them. They are very sweet young things and my lad is smitten. Can we keep them all mommy? No.. we can't. But you may be able to keep ONE if we bring them around okay. (he wants the baby grey one).
 
Can you tell me where to find more info about guinea pigs? I'm considering a pair, and while there is lots info about caring for them, I have not been able to find much info about their personalities--what makes them a good pet? I bought a book, but it is also mostly about their care, too. Where can I go for more info?

(by the way, I do NOT want to breed them.)
 
http://www.guinealynx.info/ will help you CARE for your pig. these folks are knowledgeable.

As to what makes a guinea pig a good pet.

They don't BITE except under duress. Though I've had "tasters". Those are the pigs that will put their mouths around anything just to see if it's edible. But biters...NEVER ever had an intentionally nasty pig.

They like to live in colonies.

They talk. This is both a pro and a con. The rescues talk ALL THE TIME. Drives us nuts. They will talk in the middle of the night they are so noisy. I am hoping as they get better fed and better physically that their noiseness will settle down.

my established herd talks when I come out to see them OR if there is something wrong. Should have gone out the other night to see what was going on...when I came out in the a.m. one of the littles was dead and everyone was upset with turned over hidey holes and rough spots in the grass surrounding the cage. But I was bagged and simply put it as a one off.

They can, with time, be taught tricks, be taught their name.
They are often skittery to pick up, but with time and patience, they can become more settled. I know many a pig that will skitter away when you want to pick them up, but once you have them in your hands will sit nicely in your lap. AND I know others that are easy to pick up but won't stay still if you paid them. ... well maybe if you paid them in apple bits they'd stay still..at least until the bribe is gone. :)j

I had one that would sit on my shoulder and watch TV with me. When had to go potty would become a wiggle butt. Put in cage to do business and would be able to come out again. Another that would follow my dog EVERYWHERE and would often be found sleeping with her. They are very unique individuals.
 
I know this is a really old thread, but could ladysown or anyone tell me how much ivermectin to use to treat guinea pigs for lice? I have adults and babies with it. I have no idea where it even came from! Thanks in advance!
 
ladysown":zsc63wgt said:
Okay, rescued some guinea pigs the other day. They are WELL isolated. I don't really like where I put them but I have no other place to put them. (outside under the hedge in an open cage). They are covered from the heat of the sun but that's about it.

They were crawling with mites/lice/fleas so I ivermectin'ed the lot of them. So much so that I wouldn't let my boy into the house without being stripping down first. He was NOT impressed with me at all. I even washed his toys that he had near them in very hot water. I will ivermectin them again in a week.

One momma, One daughter, and five babies (two days old).

I've put vitamin C in their water because even the babies were losing hair and that to me is always the first sign of a vitamin C deficiency. The momma is thin, the babies always seem to be hungry. I given them a ton of hay, pellets (which they are NOT eating), and grass. Tomorrow I'm going to give them rabbit pellets to see if staleness is an issue with the pellets they came with. I'm going to give them some mixed grains as well...but I don't want to put them off their pellets either.

What else can I do to get these pigs into shape? They are VERY rough looking. I would cull them all but I think I can bring them around. They are tiny and very sweet (the adults) so rehoming them for a small fee should be quite doable.

Any and all suggestions welcomed. :)
I have 5 guinea pigs, first of all guinea pigs tend to be very picky with their dry food. Our local shop changed the ingredients in the dry food for their own brand food and our guinea pigs wouldn't touch it. Now I have my guinea pigs on burgess excel. It's made in Britain so it'll be hard to source for you but my guinea pigs adore it.
Second of all, feed guinea pigs lots of fresh fruits and veggies, even more than a rabbit. I give one piece of fruit or veg per guinea pig+ unlimited hay+ 50 grams of dry food per day. They of course get all our scraps etc but that's a base diet. Vitamin C in their water is useless, give them some oranges if they really need some Vitamin C. Our guinea pigs love potato peels, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, raisins, carrots, peas, apples, pears, clover, bread and bran flakes.
Guinea pigs eat lots for their size. Introduce fruit and veg slowly if you are nervous. I toss my guinea pigs all sorts of food from day one and they've never had diarrhoea. Just don't feed them iceberg lettuce as it is guinea pig crack with little nutrients.
Piggy favourites are:
Cucumber, carrots, spinach and celery.
Guinea pigs are delightful creatures, just remember that they aren't going to eat dry food if they weren't raised on it, don't bother buying them toys as they are either afraid of it or will rip it to shreds and poop on it. They love toilet paper rolls and chunks of wood to chew on.
Also remember that the way to a guinea pigs heart is through its gut. Seriously, they have a never ending appetite.
Oops, I didn't know that someone dragged up an old thread. I hope the information I gave was helpful. I'll leave it here so you can link/refer to this.
 
Tuftles":18o4iahg said:
Guinea pigs are delightful creatures, just remember that they aren't going to eat dry food if they weren't raised on it, don't bother buying them toys as they are either afraid of it or will rip it to shreds and poop on it. They love toilet paper rolls and chunks of wood to chew on.
Also remember that the way to a guinea pigs heart is through its gut. Seriously, they have a never ending appetite.

Yes, they are truly delightful creatures. David's GP heard are given labdiet dry pellets, they will eat it, but once they are not starving, they ignore it. The heard will never ignore fresh greens. Fresh corn husks (very safe) have got to be there favorite. They whelk (GP sound) like-crazy as soon as I toss husks in. Banana peels and pineapple tops are a big favorite too. Remember they were domesticated on the veg parts that humans would not eat. Indigenous people of the Andes did not wast valuable resources collecting human-edible veg for the guinea pigs. The guinea pigs eat scraps, and they loved it!! I find that to be one of the endearing qualities of David's heard. When I give the GPs stuff I would normally put in the trash, the GPs go wild and act like it in the best thing on Earth.

Dave does have a large heard, so I am willing to take a few chances with what I feed them, so-far I have not seen any illness associated with what I give them. I give the adults the new items first before offering the food to the younger herd members. I wind up giving them all sorts of weed, they tend to ignore what they can't eat. I accidentally got a piece of stinging nettle mixed into the tops of wild carrots. They ate the carrot tops and ignored the nettle. GPs love so many types of wild weeds. If anyone is interested I could start a picture catalog of wild foods for GPs. Most should be safe, but there could be some risk, so pet people would not want to take the risk.
 
My guinea pigs only self regulate on dry food, everything else they gorge on.
They'll eat all their dry food in late autumn and winter but they'll taper it off themselves when January comes. They'll go from eating 250 grams per day to 250-300 grams a week. It's really quite bizarre as they'll be very fat when winter comes but they'll have lost that weight by January. Then again, my guinea pigs live outside so they require the extra dry food and treats to get through winter safely.
I also toss all my guinea pigs all my fruit and veg scraps, 6 weeks old or 3 years old and they thrive much better than the guinea pigs I've seen raised mostly on pellets and hay. I rarely have sick piggies as well. I don't worm them, flea them or burr their teeth and they all live happy, contented piggy lives. I also take them to the vet if they show any symptoms.
I have one of my pigs in the bath right now because she's in pain and going through her heat, the vet saw her, declared her healthy except for her being tender, gave her a pain shot and sent her home with instructions to keep her separate to make sure she's eating and drinking etc. She's going back to the vet Friday for a checkup. The vet was impressed that I don't worm or deflea them and she didn't show any signs of being sick from worms or fleas.
I guess I should stop rambling.
 
This is the place to ramble T, a nice safe place to talk your heart out about your favorite critters. It keeps me sane, it does. :D
 
Tuftles":1dyy0v37 said:
I've been looking at rabbittalk for the past year or so, its a great place to learn!

And to take refuge in when your favorite subject bores your family/friends blind! :oops: :lol:
 
My brother keeps calling me the crazy wabbit wady, even though I haven't got any rabbits yet.
I plan to raise them for meat (rabbittalk is the only place I feel secure saying this, I'm glad this was the first forum I found), to supply my family with cheap, happy cruelty free and medicine free rabbits. My parents are also sick to the back teeth of me talking about rabbits. I've also seen a local breeder for new Zealand whites, I just need the dang space :lol:
 
My family gives me the sideways "look" and say "You are talking about rabbits AGAIN!!!"

:lol:
 
I think my brother finds it bizarre because I love animals so much yet I talk about how much I want to raise, kill and eat rabbits to lessen my reliance on factory farming. I may be an omnivore who can't give up meat but that doesn't mean I can't be a smart omnivore and make sure at least some of my meat has a happy, contented life before lights out :)
I really want rabbits but I'm not in a position to have them right now, so I must live vicariously through all the enablers on rabbittalk :lol:
 
You, my dear, are a TRUE animal lover! One who CARES about how they are raised, lived and were dispatched.

People who say they love animals and yet do not seem to even notice how they are handled in our world today, they are falsely labeling themselves.

And honestly, don' let me start on vegans or peta!
 
My hope is to one day have a homestead.
I live in Ireland so land isn't hard to come by, it's just the money I need.
I'm young still and the world is my oyster, I just need some time to start exercising and start my own business!
 
Tuftles":q77fckas said:
I think my brother finds it bizarre because I love animals so much yet I talk about how much I want to raise, kill and eat rabbits to lessen my reliance on factory farming. I may be an omnivore who can't give up meat but that doesn't mean I can't be a smart omnivore and make sure at least some of my meat has a happy, contented life before lights out :)
WOW, You put into words the thoughts in my head.

I grew up eating meat, but did not think about it until I was a teenager. I really did not want to think about it but could not stop. :sad: It was not until I was older that I even considered that it could be done in a humane way. Then later I learned about how it could be done.

About 10 years ago I did raise two litters of meat rabbits with my next door neighbor. In my mind, I though of our rabbits as "furry edibles". I knew they were food, but they were creatures that also deserved care and respect. 8) Unfortunately, I had to move due to circumstances beyond my control. :(



Tuftles":q77fckas said:
I really want rabbits but I'm not in a position to have them right now, so I must live vicariously through all the enablers on rabbittalk :lol:
Now I sort of live vicariously through David's working heard of guinea pigs.

I remember watching PBS/BBC nature documentaries were lions would catch and kill zebras. What broke me young mind :-? was that the zebras would not freak out every time they say a zebra. Sure they would would run like hell when being chased. But other times when the lion was not hunting the zebra would keep a distance but remain chill.

The GPs in David's heard live and die in much the same way. When I am actively selecting GPs for the cull they will run and hide (they do remain 'jumpy' for 10 minutes or so after a cull). But, when I sit still and just watch they are ok. When I come with food there are excited to see me. Over all they seam to be a happy herd of critters.

However David does not like to talk about his herd much. Early on, I saw David trying to hide a dead GP from me, one he was feeding to his cats. I wrote him an email where I tried to explain that I loved his herd, and how I was fascinate by it. I told him that I felt sadness at there deaths, and yet I understood the circle of life and I was proud :bowtie: of the herd providing key nutrients to his felines. I also noted that the GPs live better lives than any chicken that went into a chicken sandwich that I still eat from time to time. His response was, "I see you wrote a two page letter :-| ".

I have two friends that I meet at David's place. They both know the GPs are food, one is sort of ok with me eating the GP, he thinks it is sort of weird how I love to play with the GPs and eat them. The other person would prefer I not talk about the GPs as food for David's creatures or talk about me eating one. :shock: It seems that Rabbit Talk is the only place I can talk about my fascination with the herd. :up:

Ps: Click link for a detailed post on David's heard.

Edit: we -> he
 
Ghost":17oiy41r said:
Tuftles":17oiy41r said:
I think my brother finds it bizarre because I love animals so much yet I talk about how much I want to raise, kill and eat rabbits to lessen my reliance on factory farming. I may be an omnivore who can't give up meat but that doesn't mean I can't be a smart omnivore and make sure at least some of my meat has a happy, contented life before lights out :)
WOW, You put into words the thoughts in my head.

I grew up eating meat, but did not think about it until I was a teenager. I really did not want to think about it but could not stop. :sad: It was not until I was older that I even considered that it could be done in a humane way. Then later I learned about how it could be done.

About 10 years ago I did raise two litters of meat rabbits with my next door neighbor. In my mind, I though of our rabbits as "furry edibles". I knew they were food, but they were creatures that also deserved care and respect. 8) Unfortunately, I had to move due to circumstances beyond my control. :(



Tuftles":17oiy41r said:
I really want rabbits but I'm not in a position to have them right now, so I must live vicariously through all the enablers on rabbittalk :lol:
Now I sort of live vicariously through David's working heard of guinea pigs.

I remember watching PBS/BBC nature documentaries were lions would catch and kill zebras. What broke me young mind :-? was that the zebras would not freak out every time they say a zebra. Sure they would would run like hell when being chased. But other times when the lion was not hunting the zebra would keep a distance but remain chill.

The GPs in David's heard live and die in much the same way. When I am actively selecting GPs for the cull they will run and hide (they do remain 'jumpy' for 10 minutes or so after a cull). But, when I sit still and just watch they are ok. When I come with food there are excited to see me. Over all they seam to be a happy herd of critters.

However David does not like to talk about his herd much. Early on, I saw David trying to hide a dead GP from me, one we was feeding to his cats. I wrote him an email where I tried to explain that I loved his herd, and how I was fascinate by it. I told him that I felt sadness at there deaths, and yet I understood the circle of life and I was proud :bowtie: of the herd providing key nutrients to his felines. I also noted that the GPs live better lives than any chicken that went into a chicken sandwich that I still eat from time to time. His response was, "I see you wrote a two page letter :-| ".

I have two friends that I meet at David's place. They both know the GPs are food, one is sort of ok with me eating the GP, he thinks it is sort of weird how I love to play with the GPs and eat them. The other person would prefer I not talk about the GPs as food for David's creatures or talk about me eating one. :shock: It seems that Rabbit Talk is the only place I can talk about my fascination with the herd. :up:

Ps: Click link for a detailed post on David's heard.

I am glad that we think alike, even though we are in different circumstances.
I think we'll be great friends :). I'm going to read that thread about David's herd now :)
 
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