People who work 10-12 hour shifts

[momopig]

Hiya,

I haven’t found a lot of threads about people who work long hours and care for guinea pigs. Anyone that does, do you mind sharing your experience with it and maybe a tip on how you make it work?
Thank you all,

MomoPig

 

[AidaB]

Hi!
I work long hours(4 days a week), Fortunately my husband starts work later than me and occasionally works from home. So most days we make it work, between the two of us.
He’s around longer in the morning, and I am lucky enough to work locally, so occasionally I pop back in my lunch break if I know its going to be a long day for everyone.

We have noticed that our piggies like to snooze a lot more when we are not home, no matter what kind of enrichment they have on offer. (Like hay balls made of toilet roll inners or a carrot cottage.) Our guinea pigs have a big pile of hay to play in and eat, which is topped up as soon as one of us gets home. We often leave the radio on low for them when we are out, no complaints from the neighbours yet!

 

[Black piggies]

Hiya,

I haven’t found a lot of threads about people who work long hours and care for guinea pigs. Anyone that does, do you mind sharing your experience with it and maybe a tip on how you make it work?
Thank you all,

MomoPig

Hi, I can never remember the word for it, crepuscular but my piggies are definitely active at dawn and dusk. Outside of that time, they like peace and quiet. They don't like midday floor time etc. You can put big amounts of hay in the cage in the morning, again when you're home. More than one water bottle in case one runs dry. Only issue would be syringe feeding.

 

[Swissgreys]

Honestly I don't think timing really matters. As long as you top up food, water and hay once a day and do a quick poop sweep.
I tend to split feedings into am and pm (fresh in the am and pellets in the pm), and add fresh hay once a day.
But when I am away I know that my husband realistically only feeds everything once a day, and the piggies are fine with it.

For me the most critical points are always hay and water.
The cage has 2 water bottles, and several large hay areas, so the piggies are never without either of those things.

 

[LMPigs]

Quite often in the week ours only get two brief visits every 24 hours (however those are spaced, you can see at least one of these gaps has to be 12 hours or more). As long as they have enough hay and water to last until their next visit, the cage/hutch/enclosure is reasonably large and interesting, and they are getting any wet bedding replaced at least once every 24 hours, they will be fine. Although guinea pigs may think we humans are quite interesting (especially since we bring food!) I think they prefer the society of other pigs really.

If you were only to see them at these rare intervals every day, I do think they would probably become less tame than if they have more interaction. Also, you would want to make sure you spend at least some time observing them regularly so you spot if anything is wrong. I'm assuming your 10-12 hour shifts are not 7 days a week (hopefully!) so this should be possible?

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

I work long hours and the piggies are home alone. They don't mind at all. Sometimes I even get the feeling that they are wondering what I'm doing hanging around when I'm off work.
I feed them twice a day, mornings and evenings with enough hay in between. That works perfectly except when I've got a sick piggy. That's always a big hassle.

 

[ThatPurpleB]

In the morning before I leave for work I give pellets, change water (while waiting for the kettle to boil) and top up hay in the morning.

Then when I get home I top up hay again and hoover poops/change bedding (often while my tea is cooking).

Then before bed I feed veggies as it's a nice way to relax before bed hand feeding the piggies.

Being out the house working for 12 hours or more is normal for me. I have a large hay rack so that lasts them all day and keeps it clean and dry. It's fine until, as someone has mentioned, they get sick. Then that can be hard to manage.