Sarahs Guinea Pig Care Guide!
- Guinea pigs are social and curious creatures by nature. They live in herds in the wild, therefore they need another Pigs company. If you are looking to buy, ideally you should keep in mind to get a same sex pair or more. To promote the happiness & health of a guinea pig as they generally live a longer and healthier life in groups.
- Pet store animals - Welcome to the UNKNOWN! I highly recommend NOT to purchase from petstores. Here are a few reasons why: The animals they get in are more than likely inbred and have lived in horrid conditions/mass bred, sick mother etc. Please NEVER buy any animal from a pet store as there's no telling how they were bred, where they bred/kept, what state the parents were in etc. I have one guinea pig from my local pet store, who's name is Malachi. He is inbred and won't live a full, healthy life and may have complications in the future. Look out for the signs of an healthy pet by:
- Their ears - are they big, full & rounded?
- The eyes - are they large/wide, fully open, clear and clean of discharge?
- The weight - If you have done your research into how big a guinea pig will be at a specific age, you will be able to identify how heavy and rounded the pig should be.
- Guinea pigs are the ULTIMATE first pet as they are very sociable if raised and handled often and properly. They supply you with so much love if you treat them right in return. My piglets are handled daily and given the most beneficial and nutritional foods.
- Dry food - There are a vast array of dried guinea pig branded feed out there, but the only two brands I reccommend are: Versele Laga and Burgess. I HIGHLY reccommend you use these brand as they are high in fibre and vitamins which gives them a healthy gut and a shiny coat. However dry food should only be given to in moderation as it's high in fat and is not a necessity. Then we have the all important fresh fruit and veg TWICE daily. Their daily feed should consist of dark green leafy veg, apples, cucumber, spinach, Oranges (very important) baby corn, green beans, romaine/Irish Cos lettuce (DO NOT feed your pet iceberg/butter head as they will usually give your pets diarrhoea and it has no nutritional value). NOT to forget about the all important Vitamin C which can naturally be found in fruit and veg, I do NOT reccommend using the supplements that your vet/pet store will suggest to you as there is plenty of natural Vits in their fruit n veg and the liquid Vit C will evaporate almost instantly when it hits air. Guinea pigs cannot produce their own Vit C so it's a MUST for them to retain a healthy lifestyle and prevent scurvy - much like our selves :)
- Guinea pigs are very clean and shouldn't smell if the cages are cleaned out regularly. Cleaning out the cages depend on the size of your herd and so it might need cleaning our every 2/3/5 days etc. I use a litter tray in the corner so they can poop and pee to their hearts content, I can then smply clean out and pop in a fresh litter tray.
(c) Sarah O'Flaherty, 2012