Guinea Pig Book

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Piggly

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So I've thought about this one before, and dismissed it due to so much information being freely available on the forum anyway. However... What are peoples thoughts on a book edited together of all the information and guides, problems and solutions and many many topics on guinea pigs on TGPF? I've come back to this idea merely due to the fact that although new members do get all the information they need here, its only AFTER the guinea pigs have been purchased in the wrong size house with the wrong food, alone, wrongly sexed, pregnant, ill and so many other problems that the general public think is ok because pets at home told them (or any other pet shop). We rarely get members who were savvy enough to do their own research online before going into a pet shop to get some. I had guineas for years in the wrong size cage, often feeding them muesli, not understanding their behaviours properly and having no clue about cleaning boar bits! Only after I signed up here was I able to rectify any of these problems.

The idea with editing together a book which can be made available in places like pets at home is that this appropriate knowledge can be there with potential new owners as they look at the animals and want some real guidance on what is actually appropriate. I don't know of any up to date books that go anywhere near in depth enough, or are zero support to breeding and promote rescues etc. A comprehensive guide (since we have the cumulative knowledge on literally everything piggy here, with the most experienced and expert of collective opinions and advice) can also be stocked in bookshops alongside the more common cat, dog and rabbit books.

Such a book can feature everyones piggies... no stock photos!

Profits can go to rescues :)

Can be promoted in partnership with our most popular magazines.

I'm just throwing this idea out there at the moment. Good idea, bad idea? What would work, what wouldn't?
 
That sounds fantastic. I have yet to find books promoting rescues, keeping pigs inside and c and c cages.
 
piggyfan said:
Just had a thought, people have very divided opinions about keeping pigs indoors or outside and shavings. How would you get round that?
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Possibly a balanced view of each, what temperatures guineas can't be kept outside in and what illnesses they could be at risk of, suggestions of heated sheds etc?
 
I think that's a fabulous idea. Though I don't know if people would buy it or look at before getting a piggy. I was the same as you, it wasn't until I joint this amazing forum did I realise so many things. I had no idea for example neutering makes no difference to boars behaviour, the appropriate size of cage, that they could use other beddings instead of sawdust amoungst other things. And I had no idea whatsoever there were guinea of rescues! I think it's a brilliant idea!
 
Piggly said:
Possibly a balanced view of each, what temperatures guineas can't be kept outside in and what illnesses they could be at risk of, suggestions of heated sheds etc?
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Good idea! Some people look after piggies well like me and really care about outdoor piggies, but can't keep them inside because of difficult landlord ... As soon as we move I will keep the piggies inside!:) Woodshavings... definitely not!
 
Galaxy&nibbles said:
I think that's a fabulous idea. Though I don't know if people would buy it or look at before getting a piggy. I was the same as you, it wasn't until I joint this amazing forum did I realise so many things. I had no idea for example neutering makes no difference to boars behaviour, the appropriate size of cage, that they could use other beddings instead of sawdust amoungst other things. And I had no idea whatsoever there were guinea of rescues! I think it's a brilliant idea!
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Thats true, but the information would be in front of them at least. Here, you need to use your own intiative to go and actively find the forum, which may not even occur to some people that all that knowledge might exist there.
 
The problem is mostly printing cost, which exceed our donations budget to keep the forum going by quite a bit. Time issues are another consideration.
 
Wiebke said:
The problem is mostly printing cost, which exceed our donations budget to keep the forum going by quite a bit. Time issues are another consideration.
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There may be ways around this (support of pets at home or rspca, crowd funding). Time... well, I have once spent 3 years writing a paper, and this is a moderately more straightforward project in that all the information is already available.
 
I'm only the hired muscle, so I couldn't give a difinitive yes or no. The forum belongs to furryfriends's family. ;)
 
Piggly said:
There may be ways around this (support of pets at home or rspca, crowd funding). Time... well, I have once spent 3 years writing a paper, and this is a moderately more straightforward project in that all the information is already available.
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There are still quite a few gaps in the information and going through all the threads to adapt them to general information book is still a huge task.
 
Thinking of it from a P@H (for example) point of view I don't know how willing they would be to promote a book that, in essence, goes against the stock they hold, how they manage piggies themselves, etc. If it were to educate them as a store that would be brilliant; changing their stock, selling C&C grids, selling piggies appropriately, etc. but I think it's too far off for them to consider welfare over profit. If the book could go to somewhere like amazon or where it could get lots of positive reviews that would help. I think it's a brilliant idea it's how to market it so it reaches the right people before they buy piggies (if possible). For someone like me, who's new to guinea pigs, I think it could be a great reference tool to have or a good read so I'm fully "up" on guinea pig info. I may go and check what books they do have on guinea pigs at P@H tomorrow. The flimsy books we got given and from the library were rubbish. One was the Good Pet Guide (?!) which has a trusting sounding name but severely lacks any substantial content and because of this inadequacy is actually harmful, e.g. doesn't tell you what size inside cage to get or where it says you can keep a hutch in the garage it doesn't say without a car! Just my thoughts :)
 
Some good feedback and things to consider so far :) @Wiebke We currently have an excellent foundation of general knowledge in our stickies which is a good start. It would be intended for pet owners for taking care of their pet appropriately rather than being an enclyclopedia of all knowledge, so between us all we could probably fill the gaps nedded to educate the general public. @Pandy I think you're right, so maybe we couldn't get their support as such. Still possibility of stocking such a book in their stores though, particularly if it supports charities.
 
Piggly said:
Some good feedback and things to consider so far :) @Wiebke We currently have an excellent foundation of general knowledge in our stickies which is a good start. It would be intended for pet owners for taking care of their pet appropriately rather than being an enclyclopedia of all knowledge, so between us all we could probably fill the gaps nedded to educate the general public. @Pandy I think you're right, so maybe we couldn't get their support as such. Still possibility of stocking such a book in their stores though, particularly if it supports charities.
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Yeah, there may be a possibility of getting it into more places if it went in to them as supporting charities.
 
I am welcome to help if needed.
It sounds a great idea, but there may be a few problems.
 
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