Advice needed before I take my guinea pigs to a rescue today!

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NellieNooNoo

NellieNooNoo

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In Spring I was asked to take in three piggies that belonged to a children's home and were being neglected (not let out, food and water forgotten etc).

During the summer the three piggies had a lovely set up and I was really happy but now winter is here (this is the first winter I have had them as they were given to me) I'm struggling to know what to do with them. They are in a 100 cm x 60 cm cage in my kitchen at present, so not outdoors but what do I do with them? I've a cat and dog that would kill them at the first chance.

So, that's why I've found them rescue space as I thought they would be better off.
 
Could you possibly get a bigger cage, maybe 150 cm x 75 cm. You can get them fairly cheap second hand on ebay, gumtree & preloved. You could also see if your local rescue has any second hand cages for sale. They often get cages with piggies brought in to be re-homed. 100 cm x 60 cm is a bit small for 3 piggies but I've heard of much worse & if they can be given plenty of supervised floor time it could be used as a last resort till the spring when they can go back to their outdoor (I presume) set-up.
 
Do you have a spare room they could go in and you can get c&c cages with lids.You could add another cage to that one and wire them together or wire an enclosed run to it and put a shower curtain nd fleece down to protect your floor .Good luck
 
NellieNooNoo said:
If I bought them this one:- http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=5871&pf_id=61893 and gave them supervised time in a run somewhere in the house; do you think that would be suitable until they can go back outdoors?
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The actual Dimensions for the home area on that hutch is not great, overall dimensions are fine as long as they have access to it. They may however have issues with the Ramp, so I would look to attach sides.

I'm guessing you do still have your outdoor set-up, I would aim for a minimum of 120 indoor's cage bigger the better especially for boys, if there cage is big enough they could do without run time - in an ideal world I'm sure they'd like run time but in this scenario it's best to keep them safe :).

The pigs will do fine inside, I have my pig's in my bedroom where the door is always fully closed, the window is also closed unless I'm with them as the neighbour's cat has been known to try and visit our houses - he's a cheeky fella and I'm sure he'd like to play with the piggies.
 
NellieNooNoo said:
If I bought them this one:- http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=5871&pf_id=61893 and gave them supervised time in a run somewhere in the house; do you think that would be suitable until they can go back outdoors?
Click to expand...

At just over 150 cm that is a nice size & should do fine to keep them indoors over the winter. You'de need to put it on a waterproof base eg Correx or even a shower curtain. You may also want to add something to the sides to stop bedding been pushed or thrown out. I agree with flintstones you should put sides on the ramp because guinea pigs are not natural climbers. 2 years ago I had a guinea pig break a leg from falling off a ramp which was open. I've got a child's safety gate on the entrance to the room where my piggies are & that stops my cat & dog from getting in. If we go out then the door is shut. Put lots of hay in the upper hutch & this will keep them quite snug with plenty to eat. We get bales of hay from a local farm for just £4 & one of these last 6 piggies 4 or 5 weeks for food & bedding.
 
You could peg the tarpaulin or shower curtain round the run to stop stuff coming out but I would put a fleece over thr waterproof sheet with extra towel and fleece where they pee so you just change the smaller fleeces every day and the big one once a week.You could also put in a litter tray so they don't have to go imto the hutch to poo and pee. Hope this helps
 
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