Inside cage

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The Morris Family

The Morris Family

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Hello! After having recently lost one of our guinea pigs, we've brought her bereaved friend indoors. We have a lovely inside cage (don't know a lot about their housing tbh as I am new at all this) which has a plastic base, see through plastic to the top and then the usual large opening. Therefore, no mess escapes from it as it's all contained inside. Only when she's out playing is there any mess. I notice a lot of people use hay as the bedding. We were advised to use sawdust. We firstly line the cage with newspaper and then add the sawdust on top. We also do this for our outside guineas. Then we add dry grass. Is this ok? Thanks very much for your advice. Emma x
 
Hi Emma! Do you mean wood shavings, rather than sawdust? Sawdust is not recommended for piggies as it is too dusty and can cause respiratory problems.

Personally, I wouldn't use wood shavings either as it is quite harsh on their piggy paws, and one of my piggies sneezed constantly when they were first bedded on it. I also had some problems with UTI's in the early days as, unlike fleece or vetbed which wicks away the urine and remains dry on the surface, the shavings hold the moisture and the piggies end up sitting in it until the next cage clean out. A lot of owners now use fleece, vet bed, or a newspaper/hay/puppy pad combination. This is obviously a personal choice.

Your indoor cage sounds fine. Do you know what size it is? It is important to give your piggy as much room as possible to run around, while also providing hideys for her to sleep in.

Have you considered getting her a new friend? Piggies are very sociable animals and are happiest when they are with company. This is a link to several reputable and highly-recommended guinea pig rescues: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?m...ll=52.643063,-1.230469&spn=6.775737,19.753418

Most of these rescues offer 'sow dating' where your girl will be able to pick her own friend.

PS) Sorry about your loss
 
Yes wood shavings. Sorry! Ok, I shall look into alternative bedding. This is what we were advised to get originally and I have bags and bags of the stuff! Never mind. The cage is 27"wide x18" deep and the height is 13".
With regards to getting her a new friend, yes we definitely are. The rescue centre where we got Lucy and Maisy have been very helpful and we're going there next week. We're actually away camping this weekend and we're taking Lucy with us to keep her company. Unfortunately she's still not eating very well since Maisy's death on Monday. I have a bowl of cucumber and strawberries in her cage for her, along with her usual food but she's not eating any of it. My children are doing their best to try to get her to eat and are giving her lots of cuddles. Thanks very much for your help x
 
Your cage sounds small did you measure it or is that just a guess? Is it one of these by any chance?
RH1ZZPP.jpg
 
I'm so sorry you have lost Maisy, piggies grieve the same as we do when we lose someone close :(
It's good you can have her close to you but she will need a friend asap. We lost a girl who was Bruce's lifelong companion and took him 'dating' three days later despite us grieving deeply - it was for Bruce's happiness as nothing replaces your lost girl but we had to think of him before ourselves.
Keep an eye on her food intake as if she's not eating much, her gut may go into stasis which is dangerous - can you tempt her with grass/dandelion leaves etc. lots of piggy fave things ? If not, you may need to top up with syringe feeding. Is she eating hay ?
Sorry, but her health needs to be paramount if she is grieving, weigh her too.
The pen sounds very small...I feel bad and am not slating you at the horrible time you're experiencing, but perhaps pop a small soft (safe) toy or fleecy blanket that she can cuddle up to when you're not around :)
 
Hi. Yes that's the type of cage. It was the rehoming place that sold it to me to house two guinea pigs so I took her advice. We have a toy guinea pig which we've put in there for her as well. I am going out shortly to try to get a syringe and other things to help tempt her to eat. Thank you all very much for your advice. Unfortunately, I obviously trusted my local rehoming place to give me the best advice.
 
The Morris Family said:
Hi. Yes that's the type of cage. It was the rehoming place that sold it to me to house two guinea pigs so I took her advice. We have a toy guinea pig which we've put in there for her as well. I am going out shortly to try to get a syringe and other things to help tempt her to eat. Thank you all very much for your advice. Unfortunately, I obviously trusted my local rehoming place to give me the best advice.
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I knew very little about piggies until I joined here upon the advice of the rescue we adopted our boys from - it is a wealth of knowledge, rants, tears and smiles are often shared with each other...
If you put some cooled boiled water onto her pellets, mush to a watery consistency and draw up into a small syringe with the tip cut off, she is at least getting the nutrition she needs if she's not eating much voluntarily. Mashed banana I find mixed into the mush makes it more pleasant or a tiny drop of juice, orange, blackcurrant etc. I find a 2ml one is the best for syringing feeds.
If you're as potty as I am about piggies mallethead ;), buy an array of tempting veggies (try not to give too much fruit) parsley, dill, coriander, chicory, fresh beetroot etc. are great :) It's easier to get her to eat for herself rather than resort to syringing :(
Keep us posted please :)p
 
Guinea pig slave said:
I knew very little about piggies until I joined here upon the advice of the rescue we adopted our boys from - it is a wealth of knowledge, rants, tears and smiles are often shared with each other...
If you put some cooled boiled water onto her pellets, mush to a watery consistency and draw up into a small syringe with the tip cut off, she is at least getting the nutrition she needs if she's not eating much voluntarily. Mashed banana I find mixed into the mush makes it more pleasant or a tiny drop of juice, orange, blackcurrant etc. I find a 2ml one is the best for syringing feeds.
If you're as potty as I am about piggies mallethead ;), buy an array of tempting veggies (try not to give too much fruit) parsley, dill, coriander, chicory, fresh beetroot etc. are great :) It's easier to get her to eat for herself rather than resort to syringing :(
Keep us posted please :)p
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Oh wow, thank you so much for this advice. I am off to the shops now so will pick some bits up that I need. It's so worrying. x
 
Can I just check that you are feeding hay too? Tgis is the most important part of a guinea pig's diet. You mentioned dried grass but I thought you may mean something like Readigrass.
 
Yes we are feeding her hay. Just got her to drink some water. Have weighed her and have a syringe full of food ready to try x
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferplast-...et_Supplies_Small_Animals&hash=item41760d2a0b

Please could someone let me know whether this would be suitable?
Lucy has eaten some cucumber and a little bit of her nuggets from the syringe. Also, she's taken water from her bottle. She's been happily sitting with my son but I am certain of the fact we'll be finding her a friend asap. I have contacted two fairly local guinea pig rescue centres who do dating so I'm awaiting replies from them. One of them also does home visits. I really do appreciate everyone's help. Oh, by the way, I went to my local pet shop to get some food and he said that vet bed is no good for guinea pigs! I shall source some online x
 
The Morris Family said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferplast-...et_Supplies_Small_Animals&hash=item41760d2a0b

Please could someone let me know whether this would be suitable?
Lucy has eaten some cucumber and a little bit of her nuggets from the syringe. Also, she's taken water from her bottle. She's been happily sitting with my son but I am certain of the fact we'll be finding her a friend asap. I have contacted two fairly local guinea pig rescue centres who do dating so I'm awaiting replies from them. One of them also does home visits. I really do appreciate everyone's help. Oh, by the way, I went to my local pet shop to get some food and he said that vet bed is no good for guinea pigs! I shall source some online x
Click to expand...
Hello
Yes that cage would be suitable :)
That size is the minimum for two piggies :)
 
We have a fab dog cage which I've adapted for Lucy. I shall purchase a C&C cage shortly but in the interim she has a lot of space. I've also found a great rescue centre locally to me who is going to keep Lucy for the weekend and match her with one of her 85 guinea pigs. Our three boy guinea pigs are currently in their run on the lawn and my children are playing with them. Thank goodness I found this forum x
 
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