Info wanted-new piggy!

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mistyanita

My friend was contacted by one of her collegues the other day. His flatmate had moved out and left his piggy behind in a box-she has never lived in a proper hutch/cage! :tickedoff: The guy does not have the money to buy her a hutch or pay for vets/feed her so she really needs a home. My friend can not take the pig because her family is allregic to animals so I agreed to take her (he thinks its a female). She will be arriving in a few days. She is an albino called sprinkles! :smitten:

I have no idea how healthy she is because she has been living in a box for her whole life and god know how badly she has been treated. So... a quick trip to the vets to check her out will prob. be the first thing I do. I have a giant hutch and a run for her so her housing is ok.


I had g.pigs when I was a child so I have a basic knowledge of them but i have so many questions about how to give her the best care.

So... firstly, what is the best type of food and bedding to give her? I have no idea what is best- I know they need lots of hay to eat but what is the best type of mix/grain? As for bedding, I used to use newspaper and pine shavings when I was young but I am wary of newspaper ink and the dust in the shavings. i use a type of cat litter for some of my small animals (biocatolet) and was wondering if that was suitable...

Secondly, I will definatley want to find her(?) a friend but... is a younger or older pig a better option? and is it better to bond a neutered male or bond her with a female? When it comes to it, I will quarentine them for 2/3 weeks-is that enough time to make sure they are healty?

Thankyou so much in advance. I really want her to be the happiest piggy ever! (I am getting so excited now!)
 
Personally I feed a pellet food because it stops selective eating and my piggies love it - I feed Burgess Supa Guinea Excel. You can't use pine shavings, like you said the dust is bad and also the oils in pine shavings are bad. I don't think many people use biocatolet for piggies (I know it's quite popular in the rat world though?) but I don't see why not. I've just started using newspaper on the bottom and shredded newspaper inside - this works great. Apparently most inks on newspapers are now vegetable or soy ink so I don't think you need to worry about that - many people use it with no problems anyway. If you look in the housing section you can see different beddings. Guinea pigs need fresh vegetables/herbs everyday and maybe fruit occasionally, although I tend not to feed much fruit at all. Have a look in the food section for more info.

Not sure about the friend - it depends how old she is I guess, I've never bonded piggies so wait for someone elses advice ;) Would you consider getting a rescue piggy though? There are loads out there which need great homes.

No idea if I've helped but hey, I tried :P

Good luck with the new piggy, hope she's happy and healthy :smitten: :smitten:
 
Hey there, just wanted to say welcome to the forum! There's lots of very knowledgable people who no doubt will be giving you loads of help soon, but in the mean time if you have a look around theres loads of info posted, theres reviews of different types of bedding, reviews of food, I found it all really helpful.

We were using sawdust but my pig started sneezing alot so we're getting vet bed which we already have in the run. I had mixed food, Wagg but I'm not using that again, they picked out what they liked and left the bulk of it so alot went to waste. I've bought some which are like nuggets and they're all the same so they can't be picky. I think the best thing though is trial and error, not all pigs are the same so its just a matter of finding out what she likes.

Don't forget she'll also need plenty of fresh veg and some fruit ( although so far ours have turned their nose up to every type of fruit they've tried ). Theres a great list on the site of what they can and cant have which we're working our way through at the moment!
 
So... firstly, what is the best type of food and bedding to give her?
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Pellet food is almost a must, well, at least for the pig's main diet. If you want to, you could raise it on grass and baked acorns. They can eat almost everything, even though fruits and vegetables are a very valuable source of Vitamin C, which combats Scurvy. And try not to feed them too much Calcium, either, because it ends up giving the cavies some medical issues that are painful for both the pig and you!

Well, my favorite bedding is probably Carefresh, even though I'm currently using white blankets, because I noticed that my little Toffee was bleeding. Carefresh is soft, but it's not very reliable to notice stains, unless you buy it in white... I always buy orange, personally, to match Toffee's fur. It also has fantastic odor control, as well.

Secondly, I will definatley want to find her(?) a friend but... is a younger or older pig a better option? and is it better to bond a neutered male or bond her with a female? When it comes to it, I will quarentine them for 2/3 weeks-is that enough time to make sure they are healty?
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I actually think that younger is best. Your original pig will obviously boss the young guinea pig around, and show it who's boss, but since she is already used to you, and she knows how things run, the little baby will follow and it will adjust fairly quickly. If you get an older pig, it will try to be the boss, but it won't know about anything and it will grab food and hump your first pig ruthlessly. Both of them will be upset, because your first pig was there first until the bullying second pig came along, and your second pig will be new to its surroundings, which may give it even more attitude than what it actually has, worsening the whole situation. :-\

[First Post, by the way!]
 
So... firstly, what is the best type of food and bedding to give her?
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Yes a good quality pellet is a good idea as it stops the guinea pig picking out the bist it likes and you know they are getting a healthy diet. Although a few of my rescue pigs just do not get on with pellets and do much better on the muesli...whatever you buy, its worth making sure its not filled with rubbish....kelly, a user on here, i have found great with working out what good and whats bad ;)

You do need to try and find out what the piggy is being fed, and if you want to make a change, I would suggest doing this gradually so not to upset their tummys or digestion. Guinea pigs need a high level of vitamin c in their diet.

It would be worth familiarising yourself with the good and bad foods on the guinea pig shopping list (in the diet section) so you know which to avoid and which give a good level of vitamin c :) Your new piggy should have a bit of fruit/veg/grass a day :)

Clean water and a CONSTANT supply of hay should be available as this is one of the main parts of a piggies diet.

It is not a good idea to use straw for bedding as it can poke at their eyes. i still use sawdust for a lot of the cages I have, but you may not want to go with that as i know lots of members on here fel strongly against using it...there are lots of other options and the pros and cons of all of this are written on the housing section of the forum. I think the litter would be too harsh on their feet...

Secondly, I will definatley want to find her(?) a friend but... is a younger or older pig a better option? and is it better to bond a neutered male or bond her with a female? When it comes to it, I will quarentine them for 2/3 weeks-is that enough time to make sure they are healty?
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It would be a very good idea to get her a friend...I think the age generally depends upon the individual pig...I would advise that you do check the sex of the guinea pig yourself before considering this, as they are quite often missexed :)

It would probably be a better idea to get a younger pig, so there shouldnt bee too much of a dominance issue (in my experience sows have excepted eachother no matter what the age), if you are worried about this a neutered boar would be the way to go :)

Good luck with the new piggy! O0
 
Can I just add that younger pigs may get on at first but can possibly fall out later. I have just taken in 2 littermates that fell out after 2 years of living together (this is the oldest I had any pig fall out), the family were unable to provide room for 2 hutches so have given them both over for adoption :( I would suggest going to a rescue and letting your pig choose for 'her' self :)
 
karenrgpr said:
I would suggest going to a rescue and letting your pig choose for 'her' self :)
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I second that.

When I get Toffee either a neutered boyfriend or a little sister I'm going to take her with me to the rescue center (I'm planning on visiting one in September). Toffee will be about six months old then, the perfect time for her to get a boyfriend!

By the way, it would also be a good idea to start a small veggie garden. I did a while ago, and when it's harvesting time Toffee will be guarenteed to have enough veggies to last her until this time next year! It's not even all that costly, it's just very time consuming.
 
i also have a toffee,she used to live with another sow and my neutered boar, but she bullied my other sow maisy, so we took her to the rspca with us and she picked charlie to be her companion. he was neutered and they are living happily together.
 
Thankyou so much for your replies! There is so much info here i dont know where to start! :)

I will have a look at the types of food/treats and bedding for her in the food and bedding reviews. I can easily get hold of burgess supa guinea so thats great. She will be put outside every day to chomp on grass-I have an outdoor run and i am sure my bunnies can spare her some of their veg every day!

Perfect piggies- I was wondering whether i would have to change her food gradually but i do not know if she has been fed on a suitable diet at all. So... will it cause any serious problems if she can not be gradually weaned off the original food?

Yes I will get a rescue piggy friend for her- I hate the thought of all those animals locked up in rescues for years or waiting to get in to rescues because they are so full up... I do like the idea of taking her to make a friend herself! I guess that will make bonding a lot easier if they like the look of each other from the start!

I am really excited now. She is arriving tomorrow! :D *scurries off to set up her house*
 
If you dont know what shes being fed you might not have much choice ::) ;D I would imagine she'll be fine, but obviously the best option is to make a gradual change :)

Be careful with the grass, that needs to be introduced slowly too! ;)

Good luck with your new girly! Cant wait for pics! :smitten: :smitten:
 
She's here!!! :smitten:

Sprinkles is a little crested Himalayan pig and only looks a few months old! She was kept in a tiny cupboard in the dark! :tickedoff: So I thought she would be really skittish but she is REALLY friendly. She begs for attention and she licks peoples fingers!! She actually licks people! :smitten: :smitten:

she has a horrid bald and scabby patch on her leg that I thought could be mites but the vets took a scraping and he said it's where a wound used to be. Its healing very well but it looks like it was very nasty! She also has nibbled ears... >:(

BUT...She is the sweetest little piggy I have ever met, especially considering her previous life.... :smitten: :smitten:

I will post some pics soon!
 
Welcome and congratulations :)

I won't comment on how the poor love spent the early part of her life - she is clearly adored now :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:

Pigtures please? :)
 
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