Well done on rescuing her. What a horrible way to treat small animals.
I heard that seeds are not good for guinea pigs. The best thing to feed them is pellets but as you said you can't seem to find them I'm sure someone else can come along to give you better advice reguarding that.
Their diet is 80% hay or so so they mostly need that. Vegetables should be feed once a day and occasionally as treats. Has she ever had vegetables before? Too many at one go can make her have tummy troubles.
Grass is another thing thats nice for them but try not to feed her much to start off with as it can cause bloat if a piggy is not used to it.
I hope someone with better advice can come along soon to help.
She seems to be a very curious adorable piggy.
As an extra note, guinea pigs are herd animals so best to be in groups of two. I'd reccomend getting a friend for her eventually if you can.
Yes, that's what I've heard too regarding seeds, though I wasn't certain.. I certainly won't make them her main diet, a small treat every now and then. The grass here in our backyard, unfortunately, has pesticide ): As for the hay, I'll probably start feeding her that today. Yep, she's certainly had vegetables, rotten ones to say the least.. That's what I saw at the pet store, and they rarely changed the veggies even if they grew nasty. And I'll see what I can do about getting her a friend
Thank you so much for the help and taking the time to reply, it means a lot for me and Citrom <:
How lovely, a member from Cairo! I was there on holiday in August 2000.
You can look in the forum's Food section for guidelines on piggy dietary requirements. I think the reason seeds are not good for them is too much fat and piggies can choke on them. I do give mine the occasional shelled sunflower seeds as a treat (like once a month) because piggies do love them and they are full of vitamin C. Shelling them prevents choking.
If you can't source piggy pellets with added vitamin D3 you will need to have your piggy get a few minutes sunshine on its body several times a week. I know Cairo can be hot and piggies are prone to heat stress. So it would be best to just hold your piggy in your arms for about 5 minutes so the sun hits its back fur.
By the way, absolutely beautiful piggy and good on you for getting her out of those horrible conditions.
Yes :p Though Cairo's certainly not what it used to be back then. Egypt does have it's beautiful locations, they're just not in Lower Egypt at all, most of them. I will, thanks
I'll have to change most of her diet, it seems.. Can I buy the vitamin D3 supplement from a pharmacy and dissolve it in water? I'm not sure I can find these Guinea pellets or their vitamins easily here, as not many in Egypt own guinea pigs or even consider them as pets rather than as "big rats".. Disgusting, I know ): I'll have to conduct a more thorough search, I'm sure I'll eventually find something. I'll certainly carry her out into the sun every now and then, though, of course
And maybe I can grow her some grass in my room for food, as well <: Thank you too for the advice ^_^ I was a the local "pet store" and I noticed 5 or 6 guinea pigs, incredibly underweight, weak, and very ill-looking, all of them cluttered up in a tiny metal bucket.. I asked the vendor to bring down one of the dozens of hamster cages for them to stay in, as those were far bigger and more comfortable, but he refused... I went to the same store the next day, and they were gone, I could guess what happened to them. Just shocking and heartbreaking ): I could tell you more about other animals, and what I saw there.. But it's just really awfully disturbing, and I don't think there's any animal rights group here in Egypt who cares. Animals in pet stores, most of them, are treated worse than shoes in a store, cluttered up, tiny cages of starving, heat-suffering animals from the tiniest of kittens to the largest of dogs. It's all about money for these people. Disgusting..
Welcome to the forum
. Do you happen to know her age or weight? That will give our more experienced members an idea if she is too thin, and what you can do to fatten her up, so to speak. Sorry I don't have much advice, but well done on rescuing her, and she is stunning!
Thanks ^_^ I'm not too sure about her age, but she feels about 2-3 kg when I hold her. She's a young one for sure, though, she looks like she recently sexually matured.
I've done a little scout on the internet and it says that most pet shops have guinea pig food in Cairo. You may need to hunt around but I really think that would be better than seed.
Like others have said it would be great to get her a friend. How old is the little piggy and how much does she weigh?
I can't really add much to the great advice already given. I just want to say she is beautiful and I hope she feels better soon. Well done for rescuing her.
Amy
x
Thanks
I'll certainly do so. She is beautiful ^_^ And she's already feeling much better, very curious and loves exploring my room xD
Well done for rescuing this poor little thing. What will you name her? She does look very underweight. How disgusting for the pet shop to have her and treat her in such a way. Were there any more guinea pig in there? I am not sure if you know how to sex guinea pigs so she may even be a boy!
Thanks, as well <: I named her Citrom, which means "Lemon" in Hungarian xD I named her after my partner's gorgeous cat ^_^ Yes, disgusting would be an understatement.. I don't think there were more, I certainly hope not.. But that won't make a difference, as the store always imports guinea pigs as well as dozens and dozens of Syrian hamsters cluttered in cages, it's what they import the most, actually.. While I was there, there were 5 or 6 hamsters were dead in their cage, rotting, actually, 3 were barely breathing from the heat, and the rest were barely able to walk around the cage. I told the vendor and he simply grabbed the first dead hamster he saw from it's skin and threw it onto the street next to a sewer drain.. I was just more than shocked, I couldn't really find words to express how disgusted I was, I felt like letting all those animals loose, or buying all of them and releasing them into a huge, vast meadow if I was able to do so..
But exactly, I'm glad at least I could give her a good life.. I'll certainly buy children's vitamin C tablets for her <: The cucumber trick sounds fantastic! xD Any idea how I can litter-train her? <: I read that it's possible to litter-train piggies, she just took a massive poop next to my hamster cages and I just cleaned it xD I could easily sex her as I've sexed hamster many times before, btw <: Male rodents in general have very large testicles and the anal opening and the genital are far apart for males, but close together for females.