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cookiewinter

cookiewinter

Junior Guinea Pig
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I just adopted 2 long hair guinea pigs(type of guinea pig is unknown to me) they werefound abandoned in an apartment when their owner moved. The previous owner left them in a tupperware tub where they spent the last month being looked after by the owner of the apartment. I'm new to guinea pigs and would love to know any info I can get on them. My kids named them cookie and winter(both female). We have a huge cage and pellets with vitamin c, I don't have much else for them at this second because I have to drive 40 mins to the nearest pet store.
 
How horrible they would be abandoned, some people make me sick! Thank goodness you have rescued them. Welcome to the forum- there are a lot of awesome and knowledgeable people on here, so you have come to the right place! Where are you located? If you update your profile so it will show your location it will help members give you relevant information :) . So for basics, pigs need unlimited hay (preferably timothy, or alfalfa for young pigs), timothy based pellets with vitamin C, and fresh vegetables and fruits. Obviously fresh water, and they love a little house to hide in to make them feel safe, the plastic igloos (pigloos!) are popular. Hope this helps a little bit, please ask questions, like I said there is a wealth of knowledge here.
 
piglet_and_rogers_mama said:
How horrible they would be abandoned, some people make me sick! Thank goodness you have rescued them. Welcome to the forum- there are a lot of awesome and knowledgeable people on here, so you have come to the right place! Where are you located? If you update your profile so it will show your location it will help members give you relevant information :) . So for basics, pigs need unlimited hay (preferably timothy, or alfalfa for young pigs), timothy based pellets with vitamin C, and fresh vegetables and fruits. Obviously fresh water, and they love a little house to hide in to make them feel safe, the plastic igloos (pigloos!) are popular. Hope this helps a little bit, please ask questions, like I said there is a wealth of knowledge here.
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I'm in Alberta Canada the guinea pigs have 1 pigloo and 3 wooden houses. They''re very friendly and I honestly can't see why the owner would abandon them. The only thing I notice about them as far as condition is they're very poorly groomed. But they come right up and eat out of my hand and my kids. They have pellets and constant water, but I won't be able to get the hay for a day or two.. Unless cattle hay would do in the meantime.
 
:wel: to the forum..

If the hay you have is fresh, doesn't contain straw, or and additives then it will be fine to give to your piggies.

Have a look at this link for veggies to feed your piggies http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/...veg-and-fruit-list-with-vitamin-c-grading.42/

Introduce them slowly to avoid tummy upsets..

Hay is the most important food for piggies wellbeing, A good meadow hay or Timothy hay.. unlimited..
 
Well done for rescuing these poor piggies. I would get them to a vet so they can have a check up and their hair clipped. It is likely they will have scurvy due to not eating vegetables and dental problems due to lack of hay.
 
Well done for giving those two poor girls a home!
Hay is very important; if necessary give them cattle hay for a couple a couple of days even if it is not ideal. You can also order hay online if you google for timothy or orchard hay providers. Please stay off any junk food pet shop treats like seed bars or yoghurt drops or basically anything that contains sugar/honey, fat and dairy/yoghurt. Dried herbal forage is a much more welcome treat!

A good guinea pig diet consists of:
- up to 80% of unlimited hay; timothy or orchard hay is best.
- 1 cupful, ca. 2oz/50g of mixed fresh veg per piggy per day. Please include one fresh herb or veg high in vitamin C daily, like a slice of pepper of any colour, a floret or chunk of stem of broccoli or a sprig of fresh cilantro/coriander, parsley, dill, mint or basil. Don't feed any fruit and tomato more than twice in a week; too much can cause mouth sores.
Here is our food thread. When you slowly introduce veg and fresh herbs , please don't give more than one new veg at a time and not in a large quantity if your girls have never had any fresh food before. It could cause a tummy upset otherwise. Piggies that have never had any or much veg can be rather hit and miss with their uptake, so be patient and persist. http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/...veg-and-fruit-list-with-vitamin-c-grading.42/
- pellets: unlimited for fast growing baby piggies, then slowly reduced to the half or handful that a mature piggy needs
- fresh water without additives daily. If you want to give extra vitamin C, better syringe it for best effect and control.

Grooming: Best give them a radical shorthair cut to get rid of the worst of the matting. Then bathe them in a gentle baby or guinea pig shampoo. Carefully cut out any remaining mats close to the skin afterwards. This gives you the best chance of letting the unmatted, clean hair grow out without the least
distress for the girls. Always keep the area around the bum cut short to prevent further matting and also keep the undercoat on the sides fairly short. Check the nails.
Your girls may profit from a vet check, as skin problems like fungal or mange/selnic mites can develop under a long, untreated coat. Please don't home-treat on spec; you can easily make things worse!

Weigh your girls weekly; this is an important tool to monitor their health. Weight loss is often the first indicator of a developing health problem. http://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html

Best of luck! it will be a rather steep learning curve for you, but it will be worth it making two neglected piggies happy!

PS: With members from all over the world, it will help everyobdy to give you the appropriate advice and information for your neck of the world straight away if you added your country and state to your details. Click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details/location.
 
Aw poor piggies, I don't get why people can have such a cold heart to ever do such a thing :'(
Glad to hear they're in safe hands now :) xx
 
They aren't really matted.. Just have some really funky hair. I've been giving them fresh romaine letters, cucumbers, and carrots.. They seem to be thrilled about all the fresh veg.
 
Please introduce the vegetables slowly as they will get upset stomachs.
 
Ok new question.. How do I cut very long nails? Winter's nails are really really long and I'm thinking she needs a hair cut due to fecal matter getting stuck in it. Any tips
 
Well done for taking them on.You are also teaching your kids compassion for animals.They and the piggies are very lucky to have such a caring mum.I use a wide toothed comb for my Peruvian but keep her hair short round the sides and back.I cut matts out rather than combing them out.She's not mad keen but tolerates it
 
Does anyone have an idea what type these girls are? Cookie has shorter hair but it just looks like it was cut really short.
 

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Awe! Poor piggies! So glad they found a great home! It sounds like your doing pretty good so far...when i first got my piggies i was very lost. lol What type of salad are you feeding them? My pigs enjoy Kale and Romaine lettuce. I would recommend feeding them 2 times a day in small quantities. Another thing that my guinea pigs love is their pig pen time! I do this twice a day at their breakfast and dinner. You can buy a good sized play pen at any of your local petstores. I put down two layers of blanket underneath the pen so they wont pee or poop on the carpet. I would put them on the wood floor but they dont feel as confortable as the blankets. I wish you very good luck with your 2 piggies cuz they are AWESOME pets!:D
 
I feed them carrots and red bell peppers.. I'm trying to introduce veggies slowly. The guineas are super nervous right now and hardly go 3 inches from their pigloo
 
Carrots aren't very good for them.Loads of sugar and not a lot of nutritional value.Kale is quite high in calcium.I don't feed kale much.Red bell pepper is quite high in sugar as well.Celery is pretty good and high in vitamin c.Other colour bell peppers are fine .
 
I work in a grocery store so I have access to a lot of veg, but I was told kale isn't in season right now unless I want canned. I've been feeding them a mix of bell peppers.. Today is the yellow ones.
 
Ahhhh - superb that you have rescued them - you will fall hopelessly in love! Particularly once they come out of their shells and start showing you their personalities. I love their names!

I give mine cucumber, coriander (I think that's cilantro), celery (really important to slice this finely so they don't choke on the stringy bits) and bell pepper every day and then alternate broccoli and baby corn. They have recently decided that sprouts are ok so have been able to add those into the mix. Would love to give them more variety but they are fussy little pigs. They get carrot as a treat - it is high in vitamin A so it isn't good for them to have it regularly (that's why they like it so much). I also give them a tiny bit of fruit twice a week, mine like apple and melon.

Main thing though its to give them lots and lots of hay! This needs to make up 80% of their diet to keep their guts working and their teeth down. Have a look online - you will probably find some that is cheaper and better quality than in the pet shop.

Enjoy them - they are amazing animals - all the advice might seem a bit overwhelming at the moment but you will get the hang of it and you will wonder how you ever had a life without them!
 
They've slowly started showing their personalities, winter is braver, she loves to be petted and will allow you to hold her but cookie is more shy and likes to hide any time you try and see her. Cookie looks in better health overall but winter desperately needs her hair trimmed as well as her nails. I give them lots of Timothy hay and pellets and tons of fresh water. I will cut the carrots back to just a treat and give them celery or something instead. Looking it up it said they could have daily carrots so I thought it was ok.. I'll get the hang of it I'm sure. I can buy some fresh cilantro at work today.. Do I need to cut it up or just give them a couple stalks?
 
The light piggy in your picture is a peruvian (or short, peru).

I use nail clippers in two sizes for doing nails. But it is mostly a matter of practice and finding which kind of nail scissors or clippers work best for you.

Celery cut into chunks can be given daily, as can be one stalk of cilantro (coriander for the UK members).
You can slowly work your way through our vegetable list and see what your girls like and don;t like over the course of the next few weeks. The trick is not to feed anything too much or too often - and then you can't go wrong... ;)
 
I tried bean sprouts.. They really don't approve lol but they love the celery. Cookie is slowly coming out of her shell and surprisingly took food from my hand without winter at her side :) I'm falling in love with the girls so fast it's hard to believe(never been a fan of animals smaller than a cat)
 
They get to you don't they.I got two about 8 months,ago and now have 8 filling my spare room.Love them all to.bits, they are so special
 
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