So I was putting my piggies back in the cage and the one that jumped out my hands called cookie cookies very bold piggy
and he decided to launch out my hands. It was quite a big drop and landed. I don’t know how he landed actually but it was a hard surface and he immediately just ran off and hid He didn’t squeak I don’t think and then I picked him up. I gave him a snuggle and I inspected him for a little bit he seems fine and went straight to eating. I just feel so guilty but I don’t know what to do. I’ve called the vet and they said just check up on him and if he’s doing fine it should be fine. I just feel so terrible
Hi
Freak and blind jumps always come as a massive shock followed by a big guilt trip. Always check especially face, mouth and teeth when a piggy jumps early into a cage/hutch and mobility (legs, spine, potential internal bleed from a hard landing) after a blind jump from a height, which can take a day or two to fully develop. Any sudden deterioration or paralysis should be seen as an emergency.
Thankfully, most jumps don't end with a bad injury but they happen to most owners at some point or other.
There are some ways you can minimise the risk of accidents and injuries:
- Don't carry piggies on your arm; especially not new or young ones.
- Don't cuddle or groom at height over a hard surface.
- If you use your hands to put a piggy back into a cage or hutch, put them back bum end first - if they jump, they will hit your soft body first and you have a better chance at catching them.
- Avoid carrying and weighing them where they can jump altogether.
Here are some useful tips and tricks:
1 Picking up your guinea pigs without chasing or touching (video and pictures)
2 Weighing (video and pictures)
1 Picking up your guinea pigs without chasing or touching
This video shows you what you can train your guinea pig to do for a stress-free pick up.
Alternatively, you can use a small walk-in cardboard box for pick-up and transport. Please make sure that you cover the opening with your hand! If necessary, please cut finger holes into the cardboard box and face the opening...
What you can never fully eliminate are freak jumps from a sudden loud noise in the house outside. Guinea pigs are prey animals. They don't see sharply for long distances; after a foot or so, they react to sudden movements (predator attacks). Unlike cats who are wired to climb heights, they cannot adjust their fall or necessarily see where they land.
Please take a deep breath, take it on board and move on in a constructive way. Mistakes and life lessons happen because there are always things we cannot foresee. What counts is how we get up and move on from there. You usually learn more from mistakes than from doing everything right - the latter won't give you deeper insights.
We have got a helpful new owners guides collections which contains practical advice as well as information; it is especially for getting up to a good start, learning what is normal or not and dealing with all the most common unforeseeable things that trip up owners. Coming up to 20 years of collective forum experience with literally hundreds of thousands of questions plus long term owner experiences have gone into our guides and we have aimed to make them as practical and precise as we can.
You may want to bookmark the link, browse, read and re-read at need since you will pick up on different things at different levels of experience but it is useful to have information handy, especially for emergencies or during our UK based forum downtime. We have members and enquiries from all over the world.
Contents Overview
1 What This Collection Is About
2 Guinea Pigs as Pets
- Family and Classroom Pets
- Sourcing Your Guinea Pigs, Common Pitfalls and Your Customer Rights
- Pet Owners with Anxiety: Practical Tips for Sufferers and Supporters
- Naming your Guinea Pigs and Finding Out the Breed
- Guinea Pigs as a Species: Facts, Development and Social Aspects
3 Living Environment
- Housing (with sourcing tips)...
