Stray Guinea Pig found

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Minimallow

Joined
Oct 1, 2012
Messages
39
Reaction score
0
Points
0
A lady who lives at the back of me found a guinea pig running free and managed to catch it this evening. From the look of it (although i don't know a huge amount about them) it seems to be quite young as it's not huge. She had cats who would pester it so I offered to keep him/her for a few days until we can see if an owner can be found, otherwise I will contact a rescue and hand it over. I have rabbits so gave it some rabbit food and hay and have chopped up some celery and red pepper too. Any suggestions on what basics I need to know for now? Also I just have him/her in sort of carboard pen type thing I have which isn't huge but better than nothing.

Any advice would be great thank you
 
Oh, poor thing!
It's difficult because ideally it should have guinea pig food as rabbit food doesn't have the added Vit C. However, you don't really want to have to get a bag of piggy food if you may only have it for a couple of days. They should have 50g of vegetables a day. Bell pepper is good as it has lots of Vitamin C in it.

I don't really know what else to suggest as it's only a temporary measure. Just plenty of hay and water, and some veggies. Hopefully someone else will be able to give you a bit more advice.

I hope you manage to find it's owner soon.
Good luck :)
 
Whereabouts are you based? The food etc sounds ideal.Good of you for taking him/her in.
 
Where abouts are you? Hopefully the Piggy Bank (A Rescue Network) can help by putting you in touch with a rescue nearby.

If you could post a pic as well as weigh the piggy that could help determine what to do next.

Poor little thing. Sorry I cannot help more.

Amy
x
 
Hi thank you for your replies.

If i haven't heard from anyone who may have lost one tomorrow I'll buy in some piggy food. I don't want to post a picture or description as I don't want anyone claiming to be the owner who may indeed not be the original owner!

I'm in Dundee in Scotland. I've put ads up saying where the piggy was found on gumtree and a facebook pet site also.

I know local rescues, but as I'm local to where it was found I was going to keep him/her here incase the owner comes forward before passing onto a rescue.
 
Could you post a weight? That would real help guess at an age. If it is under a certain weight it may be very young and need special care.

Good on you for taking him/her in. Bless. I hope the owner can be found. I know I would be worried sick if any of my boys went missing.

Amy
x
 
*Nibbles&Nugget* said:
Could you post a weight? That would real help guess at an age. If it is under a certain weight it may be very young and need special care.

Good on you for taking him/her in. Bless. I hope the owner can be found. I know I would be worried sick if any of my boys went missing.

Amy
x
Click to expand...

Hiya. Yes I can get my scales out and get a weight. Would a rough measurement of length help at all to estimate age? It's not young as in baby or anything but I'd say young as in young adultish.
 
Salt n Peppers mum said:
Hi minimallow, good job the piggie has a safe place, well done for taking the piggy in.

Are you the same minimallow from rabbit united?
I'm foster mum for piggies for barc.

If you need help via the piggy bank please let us know, are you aware of the piggy bank http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=75403&highlight=piggy+bank
Click to expand...

Hiya yes it's me from RU. :)p

That's nice to know you foster for BARC. I'll have a look at the website you linked to there.
 
Poor little piggy.

The main thing he needs is hay. Give him that and he or she is pretty much set.
Some veg during the day is also needed.

Cucumber will probably go down very well. Or some carrot.

I'd reccomend the lady keeping an eye out in case another piggy is around as usually they are kept in pairs so if one got away maybe theres another somewhere.
 
Oh very young then. My Basil is ten weeks old and about that size (maybe a little different). Bless him or her.

Calling around local vets is a very good idea. Do you know if it is a little boy or girl? Poor little love.

Amy
x
 
Last edited:
The face looks quite pointed. Not sure if the piggy is underweight or just a youngster. What size should one of around that age be roughly ? Not sure if male or female as he/she is very skittish and doesn't seem to have been handled much. It looks very slim but not thin. I've never sexed guinea pigs before is it fairly simple? Also will go through the vets and phone them tomorrow.
 
Hi, well done you for taking the poor piggy in.

Perhaps one of our members close by to you could help you find out the gender of the piggy and point you in the direction of a decent vet near to you.

I'm up in Aberdeen, so about an hour away, so can't really help with a vet.

If you are able to drive, then perhaps contact Joanne at Hop 2 Hutches and she can tell you what vet she uses. She's based in Alyth which is near Perth.
 
Hi sorry why do I need the number for a good vet? The vet I'm with is very good anyway so wouldn't need pointers in that respect. I don't drive, but am familiar with Jo. If an owner doesn't come forward within a week I will hand the piggy over to a reputable rescue.

Shellza I'll have a look at the link. I have a feeling that maybe this piggy is underweight then because by the length I'd imagine it's older than 8-10 weeks.
 
Ok I had a feel :red and a little willy popped out so looks like a male. I take back what I said because from the pictures I'd say he's still quite a young little thing due to the size of his erm package and willy.
 
Minimallow said:
Hi sorry why do I need the number for a good vet? The vet I'm with is very good anyway so wouldn't need pointers in that respect. I don't drive, but am familiar with Jo. If an owner doesn't come forward within a week I will hand the piggy over to a reputable rescue.
Click to expand...

Sorry, was just a suggestion........ no need to be so abrupt. I won't bother next time.
 
Abrupt? Sorry I think you have the wrong end of the stick here. All I asked was why I would need a vet - I didn't know why you were suggesting it which is why I asked.
 
Minimallow said:
Ok I had a feel :red and a little willy popped out so looks like a male. I take back what I said because from the pictures I'd say he's still quite a young little thing due to the size of his erm package and willy.
Click to expand...

Haha, aww bless him! He may still be a bit underweight, depending on how long he's been out. It's been quite cold at night lately too. At least now he has a warm home and food. Hopefully his owners will come for him soon.
As mentioned previously if you let your local RSPCA/Vets/Pet shop know, they are probably the most likely place someone would ask.
Good luck finding his owners :)
 
Hi yes it might be the case. I do hope he's not just been let loose bless him. I offered to take him in from the woman who found him as it's getting so cold and with the rain I really worried for the poor wee thing.

Yep am going to phone the SSPCA and also the local vets in the hope of finding his proper owners (providing they want to be found)

Thank you for your help

Just to add I'm going to go and get some food for him from the petshop tomorrow. What's the recommended type?
 
Minimallow said:
Abrupt? Sorry I think you have the wrong end of the stick here. All I asked was why I would need a vet - I didn't know why you were suggesting it which is why I asked.
Click to expand...

Have a look back at your response to me and think about how it might come across but that's all I'm going to say on that.

As for why you'd need to see a vet. It would be an idea to get this piggy checked out, incase he has any health issues, especially as you suspect him to be underweight.
 
I had a look back and don't see anything wrong with it to be honest. I only asked the reason why I would need to see a vet, that's all.

He doesn't feel thin he just looks slim. Apart from that he has a bright healthy coat and is active and doesn't seem to be anything wrong. Putting him through a vet journey when I don't feel it's necessary I think after all he's been through would just stress him out so unless I am concerned for him I'll leave him be for now.
 
I hope his owners do come forward, but I did wonder if he might've been deliberately released, which we know does happen. Thank goodness you've got him safe.
 
In terms of food, pop into your local vet, report that you've found them, explain you don't have pigs and ask about food and ask if they have any samples or small bags.

If it were me (I work in a vets) is give you a few handfuls from our bags of the food we feed to patients food for free :))

Alternatively, if you gave a Range store, I noticed the other day that they have small bags of nuggets (supreme pet foods, purple bag) for 99p each, just like a tester bag, not a huge one :)
 
Just as an aside; I have on several occasions considered microchipping my pigs but if they ever were picked up if they went missing, I doubt anyone would scan them!
 
Amanda1801 said:
In terms of food, pop into your local vet, report that you've found them, explain you don't have pigs and ask about food and ask if they have any samples or small bags.

If it were me (I work in a vets) is give you a few handfuls from our bags of the food we feed to patients food for free :))

Alternatively, if you gave a Range store, I noticed the other day that they have small bags of nuggets (supreme pet foods, purple bag) for 99p each, just like a tester bag, not a huge one :)
Click to expand...


I'm not really local to any vets unfortunately! That's lovely you'd grab a few handfuls lol. All require a bit of travel so am just going to get the bus to the pet shop. There's one a short bus trip away that does smaller bags of the food - they get big bags and put them into smaller clear plastic bags so can get some of that.
We don't have a Range store here either
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top