IMPORTANT! Another UK hot weather warning for today - new advice!

[Wiebke]

Please read our revised new hot weather and heat stroke guide, which includes diet advice: Hot weather management and heat strokes

Bring your guinea pigs indoors and keep them as cool as possible.
The danger to guinea pigs is NOT DEHYDRATION, BUT OVERHEATING!

The last weekend has sadly proven that double shade and just a frozen bottle of water is not enough to prevent overheating of outdoors guinea pigs. We have also come across a lot of well meant, but incorrect and harmful feeding practices.

A guinea pig that is overheated loses the ability to eat or drink before the body and especially the heart is seriously damaged from suffering a heat stroke.
If your guinea pigs are lethargic, pancaked and have lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, they need to be seen by a vet ASAP as an life saving emergency!

 

[DM030819]

There is a such a difference in temperature when you keep the sun out compared to keeping pigs in the shade.

My boys are inside but the room they are in can easily get to over 28 degrees in this heat if I left the windows open (like some do thinking a breeze can help).

The curtains have been closed and the windows shut during the day and the room has been at 23 degrees maximum.

You may think it's cruel because they're in the dark but they really don't care. I've been keeping a watch on them with PigCam and they're still up and about.

 

[Wiebke]

There is a such a difference in temperature when you keep the sun out compared to keeping pigs in the shade.

My boys are inside but the room they are in can easily get to over 28 degrees in this heat if I left the windows open (like some do thinking a breeze can help).

The curtains have been closed and the windows shut during the day and the room has been at 23 degrees maximum.

You may think it's cruel because they're in the dark but they really don't care. I've been keeping a watch on them with PigCam and they're still up and about.

I and my piggies are living like troglodytes (i.e. cave dwellers), but I have been able to keep the piggy room to 23-25 C so far (the hottest day was 26 C) and putting on the fan if it is getting sticky; that means that I do not have to go heavy-handed on other cooling measures apart from refreshing the water bottles 2-3 times daily.
With the exception of a couple of elderlies which like to sit on a fridge cooled snugglesafe under a thin cosy in the hotter afternoons, my other piggies mostly ignore the ice packs, so they are not feeling hot.

Simply closing your windows as soon as outdoors gets hotter than indoors and keeping the curtains pulled on the sunny side REALLY makes a huge difference!
I still miss the shutters and blinds we have in Switzerland, which helped me to keep the temperature in my flat to 25-27 C max without fans or air con even when we had weeks of temperatures over 30 and often over 35 C!

 

[DM030819]

It really does doesn't it @Wiebke. The people at my work think I'm crazy that I go to work and leave the curtains and windows closed. They really think having windows open helps but a few have changed their opinion when I've told them to try it.

 

[Wiebke]

It really does doesn't it @Wiebke. The people at my work think I'm crazy that I go to work and leave the curtains and windows closed. They really think having windows open helps but a few have changed their opinion when I've told them to try it.

Same here - with the exception of our neighbours who used to live on the Continent for a few years and know the trick already! Even our heat loving neighbours on the other side have started to copy us for their bedrooms now.
My piggy room was down to 21 C this morning, so even if temperatures climb above 30 C, they won't go much over 25 C inside again.