• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

I Really Messed Up And Need Advice

Status
Not open for further replies.

SherriRoss

New Born Pup
Joined
Apr 25, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
1
Points
30
I'm really freaking out right now about the health of my guinea pigs. When I first received them the person I got them from did not tell me much about guinea pig care. All he told was that they needed water, hay and pellets. Me being the absolute idiot I am (I know reading this is probably gonna make a lot of people mad and trust me I'm really mad at myself too) didn't do any further research about the specifics of a guinea pigs diet. For some reason I figured that pellets were more important than hay and I made sure their pellet bowl was full all the time but only refilled their hay net once or twice a day. Upon reading more about guinea pigs several months after I got them. I discovered I've been feeding them the wrong way for awhile now. What can I do to save my guinea pigs? Obviously I immediately started giving them the proper diet that they need but is that not enough? Should I take them to see a vet or did I permanently take off years of my guinea pigs lives? I already know I'm horrible for this but please just tell me what I can do to save them.
 
First of all, don't panic. Mistakes happen. The important thing here is that you're trying to fix it.

Secondly, start by making sure they always have fresh hay available. Introduce veggies slowly because they likely won't be used to them and it could take them a while to realise they're edible, and for eating.

As for pellets, cutting down on the amount they get is obviously a big thing. If they rebel at that, you could try cutting down on the amount in small doses as such til they're only getting the recommended amount a day, which is very little really.

As for a vet check, the main thing to keep an eye on is their teeth. Since hay is excellent at keeping their teeth worn down and they haven't had very much, that's the only thing I would recommend getting a vet to look at if you're worried. If they seem to be in good health otherwise, again, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Also, welcome to the forum :)
 
Please don't panic. You have made a genuine mistake by taking the advice of someone you assumed knew best but the main thing is you are taking advice on how to fix it. Personally I would look to have a health check with a cavy savvy vet just to be sure there are no immediate problems
 
The first thing is DON'T PANIC! My friend rehomed a single piggie (it was about his 5th home) when he was about 5 and he had never had hay in his life until I told her that he needed it. She thought it was OK just to feed him veggies and muesli. As there is dried grass in the muesli she thought that was OK. I felt sorry for him as he only had a small cage and no cover and never went outside so was a prisoner in a really small cage and couldn't run around or anything. I did try to encourage her to get him a larger cage but she wouldn't. He lived until he was around 7.
 
You poor thing! It's always difficult when you've been given the wrong information but you're doing the right thing now.

People often think that pellets are more important as most other pets (like cats and dogs) eat dry food as their main diet. Don't feel bad, that's the main thing!

Have a good read through the forum threads, that will help. If you're concerned you could take them to a piggy savvy vet, it might be worth finding one anyway just in case you need one in the future so you don't have to panic and find one quickly :)
 
I also was uninformed about what to feed my piggies when I got them from a pet shop (yes the evil pet shop but there is no rescues near by :( ) so imagine my suprise when a couple of weeks later I find out that they actually eat hay and pellets and that the shop had sold me a cage waaaaay to small. Don't beat yourself up about it, get them some hay and cut back on the pellets like everyone has suggested and I would definitely get them to a vet for a check up just to be on the safe side.
 
Hello, welcome to the forum. Don't panic, things like this can happen. Main thing is you have realised and are going to make a change to their diet now.

Here is a thread worth having a read of Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet

The recommended ratio of food groups:
- ca. 80% hay
- 10-15% veg and fresh herbs (ca. 1 cupful / 50g / nearly 2oz)
- 5-10% pellets (amount depending on the age)
- plenty of fresh water daily

Important is unlimited hay in piggies diet.

We feed ours this roughly
Morning:
Cucumber
Celery
1/6th of Red/Green/Yellow Bell Pepper (de-seeded)

Evening:
Cucumber
Two Little Gem Lettuce leaves or 10 sprigs Coriander. Twice a week we will swap in cabbage or parsley

We also add in to the above diet carrot, sweet potato, celery leaves and a few other things occasionally

Lee
.
 
I'm really freaking out right now about the health of my guinea pigs. When I first received them the person I got them from did not tell me much about guinea pig care. All he told was that they needed water, hay and pellets. Me being the absolute idiot I am (I know reading this is probably gonna make a lot of people mad and trust me I'm really mad at myself too) didn't do any further research about the specifics of a guinea pigs diet. For some reason I figured that pellets were more important than hay and I made sure their pellet bowl was full all the time but only refilled their hay net once or twice a day. Upon reading more about guinea pigs several months after I got them. I discovered I've been feeding them the wrong way for awhile now. What can I do to save my guinea pigs? Obviously I immediately started giving them the proper diet that they need but is that not enough? Should I take them to see a vet or did I permanently take off years of my guinea pigs lives? I already know I'm horrible for this but please just tell me what I can do to save them.

Hi and welcome!

Take a deep breath and calm down! As your piggies have still had access to fresh hay on a daily basis, they haven't actually suffered much - your diet may not have been ideal, but it was not wrong wrong. It's piggies reared on breakfast cereals, leftover pizza or curry or suffering from long time neglect where the damage can often not be undone! ;)

Just continue with a good diet of unlimited hay, some balanced veg and a few pellets and give them a good piggy life.

Have a look through these guides here; you may find them interesting and helpful. We have got lots more information at the top of our various Care sections, but you are always welcome to ask any questions you may have in a friendly way.
New Owners' " How To" Starter Kit

Most of my adopted rescue piggies come from less than ideal to downright horrible places, yet most of them live a normal life span with good care. But I have lost some from apparently not so bad backgrounds at a younger age to illness. Some of the old pensioner piggies that I have adopted aged 4 or 5 years old have lived longer with me than a couple of youngsters. You just never know!
I've grown up with guinea pigs at a time that we now consider the stone age when so little was known about good home care or medical care in vets - and yet, one of my childhood piggies lived to the glorious age of nearly 10 years old and they still have lived happy lives. None of my adult piggies has ever lived as long as that yet, but at least I know that they have all had the best and happiest of lives that I could give them with the knowledge at the time.

We can never control when or what our piggies die from the same as you can't do it in humans. Illness, genetic time bombs, heart attacks and strokes out of the blue happen. Concentrate on making your piggies happy and bless every day they are in your life and make you smile; don't concentrate on doing everything perfectly or you will always come up short. ;)

You are a caring mom giving unwanted piggies a loving home. Learn what you can, but don't let fear of making mistakes rule your relationship with your piggies. Learning is a life long ongoing process. I am still learning all the time. Often from things that have gone wrong, even though I have tried my best with the knowledge I had at the time.
You can't and shouldn't aim to be supermom; be sad when things don't go well - but accept that what is in the past can't be undone. It is the growing knowledge that can be carried into the future to the profit of other piggies that is crucial, and that includes making mistakes and learning from them. But at the base of it all should always be love and joy!

PS: Since we have members from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can tailor any advice to what is available and relevant where you are straight away instead of having to keep it general. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. That makes it appear underneath your username i every post you make. Thank you!
 
Welcome to the forum and the exciting world of guinea pigs. Please don't panic that you have caused your piggys irrepairable damage, I'm sure you haven't. With the help of the threads and advice on the forum you can improve the lives of the piggys you so kindly gave a home to. I find this is such a very friendly and helpful place, never be afraid to ask for advice.
 
You are in the right place now and want to improve and learn about guinea pig care and thats a sign of a caring owner. You will always find help here :)
 
First of all, don't panic. Mistakes happen. The important thing here is that you're trying to fix it.

Secondly, start by making sure they always have fresh hay available. Introduce veggies slowly because they likely won't be used to them and it could take them a while to realise they're edible, and for eating.

As for pellets, cutting down on the amount they get is obviously a big thing. If they rebel at that, you could try cutting down on the amount in small doses as such til they're only getting the recommended amount a day, which is very little really.

As for a vet check, the main thing to keep an eye on is their teeth. Since hay is excellent at keeping their teeth worn down and they haven't had very much, that's the only thing I would recommend getting a vet to look at if you're worried. If they seem to be in good health otherwise, again, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Also, welcome to the forum :)
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it ❤
 
Thank you so much, I made an appointment with the vet because I do think teeth look a little long but I'm not sure, they did always have plenty of wood to chew on though so I hope that helped offset the fact that they weren't getting enough hay. It's also hard to tell but I think they are both overweight
Please don't panic. You have made a genuine mistake by taking the advice of someone you assumed knew best but the main thing is you are taking advice on how to fix it. Personally I would look to have a health check with a cavy savvy vet just to be sure there are no immediate problems
 
The first thing is DON'T PANIC! My friend rehomed a single piggie (it was about his 5th home) when he was about 5 and he had never had hay in his life until I told her that he needed it. She thought it was OK just to feed him veggies and muesli. As there is dried grass in the muesli she thought that was OK. I felt sorry for him as he only had a small cage and no cover and never went outside so was a prisoner in a really small cage and couldn't run around or anything. I did try to encourage her to get him a larger cage but she wouldn't. He lived until he was around 7.
That's relieving, I'm really hoping I can get my little guys back to full health so they can live their entire life span happily
 
Hello, welcome to the forum. Don't panic, things like this can happen. Main thing is you have realised and are going to make a change to their diet now.

Here is a thread worth having a read of Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet

The recommended ratio of food groups:
- ca. 80% hay
- 10-15% veg and fresh herbs (ca. 1 cupful / 50g / nearly 2oz)
- 5-10% pellets (amount depending on the age)
- plenty of fresh water daily


Important is unlimited hay in piggies diet.

We feed ours this roughly
Morning:
Cucumber
Celery
1/6th of Red/Green/Yellow Bell Pepper (de-seeded)

Evening:
Cucumber
Two Little Gem Lettuce leaves or 10 sprigs Coriander. Twice a week we will swap in cabbage or parsley

We also add in to the above diet carrot, sweet potato, celery leaves and a few other things occasionally

Lee
.
Thank you so much for the very detailed response, I've done a lot of research now on proper guinea pig care and also stocked up on the best quality Timothy hay I could get and I'm making sure they get plenty of veggies
 
Hi and welcome!

Take a deep breath and calm down! As your piggies have still had access to fresh hay on a daily basis, they haven't actually suffered much - your diet may not have been ideal, but it was not wrong wrong. It's piggies reared on breakfast cereals, leftover pizza or curry or suffering from long time neglect where the damage can often not be undone! ;)

Just continue with a good diet of unlimited hay, some balanced veg and a few pellets and give them a good piggy life.

Have a look through these guides here; you may find them interesting and helpful. We have got lots more information at the top of our various Care sections, but you are always welcome to ask any questions you may have in a friendly way.
New Owners' " How To" Starter Kit

Most of my adopted rescue piggies come from less than ideal to downright horrible places, yet most of them live a normal life span with good care. But I have lost some from apparently not so bad backgrounds at a younger age to illness. Some of the old pensioner piggies that I have adopted aged 4 or 5 years old have lived longer with me than a couple of youngsters. You just never know!
I've grown up with guinea pigs at a time that we now consider the stone age when so little was known about good home care or medical care in vets - and yet, one of my childhood piggies lived to the glorious age of nearly 10 years old and they still have lived happy lives. None of my adult piggies has ever lived as long as that yet, but at least I know that they have all had the best and happiest of lives that I could give them with the knowledge at the time.

We can never control when or what our piggies die from the same as you can't do it in humans. Illness, genetic time bombs, heart attacks and strokes out of the blue happen. Concentrate on making your piggies happy and bless every day they are in your life and make you smile; don't concentrate on doing everything perfectly or you will always come up short. ;)

You are a caring mom giving unwanted piggies a loving home. Learn what you can, but don't let fear of making mistakes rule your relationship with your piggies. Learning is a life long ongoing process. I am still learning all the time. Often from things that have gone wrong, even though I have tried my best with the knowledge I had at the time.
You can't and shouldn't aim to be supermom; be sad when things don't go well - but accept that what is in the past can't be undone. It is the growing knowledge that can be carried into the future to the profit of other piggies that is crucial, and that includes making mistakes and learning from them. But at the base of it all should always be love and joy!

PS: Since we have members from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can tailor any advice to what is available and relevant where you are straight away instead of having to keep it general. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. That makes it appear underneath your username i every post you make. Thank you!
Thank you so much, I'm very relieved cause I really thought I may have been killing my babies. I appreciate you taking your time to help me and my piggies ❤
 
I'm pretty sure your vet won't find anything horrendous. If you pull back the lips a bit you'll be amazed as to how big those front teeth get. Overgrown teeth are usually shown by trouble picking up and eating food, weight loss etc. However, going for an overall check will put your mind at ease, get an overall picture of where you are currently at and help you find a vet you can trust in case any illnesses come up in the future. Best of luck with it and we will all be very excited to see photos of your little furbabies
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top