Piggy Schedule While Working Full Time

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Kithri

Kithri

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Hi, everyone! I'm bringing my two girls home on Monday (Ahhhhhh!) and I'm so excited to bring them to their forever home!

I'm a bit unsure what to do during the week, though, in terms of feeding. My fiancé and I both work full time; he leaves at 6am and returns at 5pm and I leave at 7am and return at 6pm. The girls will have unlimited hay, of course, but what do you think we should do in terms of giving them their veggies and pellets? Maybe veggies when we get home and pellets before bed? What do you think?

Thanks so much for any input!
 
I top pellets up on a morning from the night before refresh water in bowls but not bottles (bottles I do on a night. I give hay on a morning and when I get in and on a night. Veggies as soon as I get in and any left overs if I'm cooking or making lunch. They get the same if I'm off work as they like routine :) x
 
Hi there! :)

My piggies get a tablespoon of pellets each in the morning usually 8 am and 8 pm. They usually get their veggies at these two times too, but sometimes I save them for floor time. I put hay in every time it starts getting low.

Your idea sounds good to me. I like how the veggies and pellets are given at different times.
 
Here's my routine during the week:

Morning: 1/8 cup pellets per pig, half daily veggies, fresh hay and spot clean.
Evening: half daily veggies, refill hay, refill water bottles and spot clean - I also change any pee pads that need changed and fleece beds that need changed.

I do a full cage clean on a Sunday :)

Hope this helps!
 
I try to do a full clean every week but sometimes it's earlier as they do get smelly! & I empty and clean the hay tray every other day as they wee and poo inside it x


Just gonna add I have two jobs so sometimes working over 45 hours a week :(
 
my pigs are quite weird... I keep following the diet they started since when they were rescued and it is what the best italian exotic vets here suggest:
no pellets. (Only 2-3 pieces just for a treat, not more).
In the morning they sleep, at 11 they know fresh grass is arriving... and they eat a lot of grass and wild vegs cut around here.
During our afternoon tea grass and hay again.
In the late evening, before going to bed, I leave a plate into their cage with peppers and vegs. Maybe 200g. Rarely also 3-4 very little pieces of apple. They start eating immediately and in the morning the plate is empty (and also the hay rack is quite empty).
They don't drink any water! (after 5 months of life without drinking at all I stopped being worried and also the vet says it is okay)
Their droppings are perfect, their pee does not smell at all and they are growing up very fast, but they are not fat.
A last thing: 2 drops of vit C mixed with 3ml water and some drops of cranberry juice for preventing UTI. This is the only water they drink by syringe.
 
apart from extra treats such as grass or herbs (or if I'm out late) my OH doesn't sort the piggies out. I leave the house at 8am and get back anytime between 5am and 7pm depending on how long I end up staying at work and whether I need to drop by my mums on the way home. I tend to do pellets and veggies around the same time though I am used to leaving a constant supply of pellets in the hutch (because my old piggies that are not here any more, and Daisy who is, never bothered with them that much) however they are disappearing quick these days so I might have to start limiting :)) I usually do the veggies in the evening while I'm cooking our dinner
 
long ago I had an impossible pig...:hb:
He was raised into the shop with a wrong diet and at home troubles started because Mr. Ugo refused vegs! pellets or death.
He was oversize I guess, and paid the bill of such a wrong diet after only two years. In the meanwhile also vets have studied more about style of eating and now things have changed.
Anyway, if you leave the house you can fill their plate with vegs, why not? also grass starts fermenting if it is kept into a bag, but when it is around the cage in the air it just loses water... the pigs eat it as well if they are huingry enough.
When I leave the plate filled with those vegs they don't like, guess what? my girls pee and poop into it, just in case I would not understand the subject...:soz:
Moreover, if it is grass time and outside it is raining, they don't care at all...:gp:"grass time" means grass time and not pepper time...:mal:
But in summer things must change because our sun burns all the grass...
 
Kithri said:
Hi, everyone! I'm bringing my two girls home on Monday (Ahhhhhh!) and I'm so excited to bring them to their forever home!

I'm a bit unsure what to do during the week, though, in terms of feeding. My fiancé and I both work full time; he leaves at 6am and returns at 5pm and I leave at 7am and return at 6pm. The girls will have unlimited hay, of course, but what do you think we should do in terms of giving them their veggies and pellets? Maybe veggies when we get home and pellets before bed? What do you think?

Thanks so much for any input!
Click to expand...

As hay should make up to 80% of the daily food intake, you can either feed their daily portion of (please) limited pellets in the morning and then feed the daily veg in the evening.
Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet
 
Thanks so much for the help, everyone! You've really helped! I suppose I've also forgotten I could potentially give them pellets or veggies in the morning and the other food in the evening, as well.

Hypothetically, if I do give them pellets in the morning and have one bowl for each... how do I be sure that one pig isn't eating her sister's pellets and that they're getting enough? Just weekly weighing?
 
one bowl of pellets for each is excessive; the amount suggested also by vets in USA and UK is "as large as a pig's ear"... This is what I read online. Anyway, you can give them pellets only when you come back home so that you can be sure that everyone is eating his own dose.
If you put fresh veg and hay they can eat as much as they like without any worries :nod:
In the evening they can have a "party" with you eating their preferred food under your control.
 
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