The reality of keeping guinea pigs: share yours!

[Eriathwen]

My mess extends to the living room at the moment, I've got another bag of hay precariously perched on my computer chair but this is my reality for the next 10 days while the storage part of their room (the only part large enough for the little pet store cage) is taken up by Daisy, recovering from her spay.
I've also spent the last 17 or so hours closely inspecting poops (hence why they're on the floor!)..I managed to get Daisys diarrhoea on my thumb last night during one of her feeds and absentmindedly brushed my hair out of my face..so my reality involved cleaning poop out of my hair at about 3am too I don't do well with a lack of sleep lol!

 

[Danielle Smith]

I hope Daisy's recovery is smooth, @Eriathwen. Take a chance to enjoy having your piggies in your living room -- I much prefer GP-TV to Netflix etc

I know that when I have a poorly pig, like others have described, I have medications and syringes everywhere, half-empty bowls of CC and Avipro, plus my clothes and hair all have smears of CC everywhere. I just go with the flow and accept that all I own will smell of aniseed for a little while...

 

[PigglePuggle]

Great thread, this is my completely un-instagrammable house, a 2-bed terrace occupied by 8 piggies!

The kitchen when we arent expecting visitors:

Yes thats hay and porridge oats on my worktop

Kitchen floor ankle deep in hay with peed on fleecy things queuing up to be washed...

Kitchen bin after last night's poop scoop!

Here's the piggy room:

Floor hay and poops! And boxes and bags of hay and kaytee!

The other side of the room with heaps of clean fleeces, piggy carriers, pellets, more boxes!

And this is Piggle showing off how many poops have happened since last night's hay tray clean and poop scoop. Tomorrow is one on my twice a week full cage clean days so these poops can stay there until tomorrow morning and I dont think that makes me a bad person

 

[Eriathwen]

I hope Daisy's recovery is smooth, @Eriathwen. Take a chance to enjoy having your piggies in your living room -- I much prefer GP-TV to Netflix etc

I know that when I have a poorly pig, like others have described, I have medications and syringes everywhere, half-empty bowls of CC and Avipro, plus my clothes and hair all have smears of CC everywhere. I just go with the flow and accept that all I own will smell of aniseed for a little while...

Thankyou! I hope it is too, she's being monitored extra closely as a ligament snapped before it could be properly tied off so we've got to watch for any sign of internal bleeding. So far so good though, she's much better today than she was yesterday at least.
My house on the other hand there's critical care in the kitchen waiting to be fed, I somehow managed to get it all over the bathroom sink washing syringes in the dark what with the palliative piggies, syringes have become a feature of most rooms lol

 

[Betsy]

It's reassuring to know that my house is like most other peoples who have piggies. Although the piggies live in the garage, hay gets EVERYWHERE!

 

[Eriathwen]

It's reassuring to know that my house is like most other peoples who have piggies. Although the piggies live in the garage, hay gets EVERYWHERE!

I was thinking exactly the same! I'm so glad it's not just me.

If I had the energy to get up I'd go out and take a picture of Mount Bathmat that currently lives in my conservatory

 

[Siikibam]

Great thread, this is my completely un-instagrammable house, a 2-bed terrace occupied by 8 piggies!

The kitchen when we arent expecting visitors:
View attachment 133331
Yes thats hay and porridge oats on my worktop
View attachment 133332
Kitchen floor ankle deep in hay with peed on fleecy things queuing up to be washed...
View attachment 133333
Kitchen bin after last night's poop scoop!

Here's the piggy room:
View attachment 133334
Floor hay and poops! And boxes and bags of hay and kaytee!
View attachment 133335
The other side of the room with heaps of clean fleeces, piggy carriers, pellets, more boxes!

And this is Piggle showing off how many poops have happened since last night's hay tray clean and poop scoop. Tomorrow is one on my twice a week full cage clean days so these poops can stay there until tomorrow morning and I dont think that makes me a bad person
View attachment 133336

Do you poop scoop daily? How come you do a full clean twice weekly?

 

[piggieminder]

When I'm at home I wear very tatty old jeans and old threadbare fleece tops to clean the piggies. My tops seem to always be covered in recovery food and mushed pellet mix. It's a bit embarrassing answering the door sometimes. I recently explained to our regular poatman why I always had dinner down my front. He laughed and said he had guessed, he has guinea pigs himself!

 

[PigglePuggle]

Do you poop scoop daily? How come you do a full clean twice weekly?

I usually poop scoop daily but not always on the nights before cage cleans, I usually cage clean Wednesdays and Saturdays when I have a full day at home, and Tuesdays and Fridays are my busiest work days so sometimes I am a bad slave and just throw hay and food in on those evenings! I find my fleece is sometimes a bit damp after 3 days and a bit smelly too after 4 days, and with me and piggy daddy sometimes working hours that mean we dont actually see each other and find out who did the poop scoops and water bottles, I like to make sure that at least twice a week on the days I'm at home then everything is completely fresh- fleeces washed, haytrays vinegared or disinfected, waterbottles and food dishes washed thoroughly in hot soapy water... then if we miss a spot clean on our busier days (sometimes I am gone 7am to 7pm and piggy daddy is gone 7am to 4pm then 6.30pm to 10pm) its never going to be a big issue because everything is definitely done thoroughly twice a week! Also full cage clean days are 3 hours playpen time for the piggies with scatterfeeds and cardboard boxes and paper bags full of treat veg, its a nice routine for them

 

[Lady Kelly]

I love this thread. It's often talked about in the news about how the internet and social media in particular can affect someone's thoughts about who they should be and what they look like. Like with humans, looking up health information for pets can make people over zealous and full of anxiety. I worry a lot that people are not appreciating the here and now and spending time with their pets because they are so focussed that every little thing isn't normal or is a huge illness. People are worrying more about sickness and losing pets that they aren't enjoying the time they are here. Life happens to us all, no matter what time of owner we would love to see ourselves as we all have days or moments that we know it could be done better but self care is also important and sometimes it's important to remember that stepping back for a day or two to be able to look after yourself is beneficial for both you and your animals.

So much love for everyone on here sharing the reality of pet ownership

 

[Cave Of Cavies]

I keep all my guinea pig stuff in a corner of the garage. I will be making my own storage shelves in the near future to put all the items away neatly and out of the way. And I also use tough plastic vermin proof storage boxes to keep the food, hay and the bedding from being spoiled and attacked by rodents.

 

[Bill & Ted]

My spare room is a barn, that’s all I’m going to say, but the boys are worth it
I’m looking forward to warmer weather so they can out in their run during the day, I know they will be too

 

[Guinea Slave]

I love the thread! Made me feel so much better! I have a large purpose built shed, some of their stuff is in the greenhouse and in the garage. My husband always says the garage is like a UN warehouse when I have had delivery of hay and bedding. And why does hay get EVERYWHERE!

My kitchen looks like a drugs den too with loads of syringes, bottles of stuff etc.

 

[Guinea Slave]

Oh and forget poo picking, they get cleaned out once a week and that’s it...but in my defence they do have a lot of space!

 

[Cave Of Cavies]

Guinea pig requirements. The food and the actual animal are kept inside my bedroom.

 

[Cave Of Cavies]

Oh and forget poo picking, they get cleaned out once a week and that’s it...but in my defence they do have a lot of space!

I clean out the cage once a day, according with what our RSPCA guinea pig care requirements state.

 

[Cave Of Cavies]

The food box for my cavy:

 

[Cave Of Cavies]

Cavy cage! with my guinea pig

 

[Cave Of Cavies]

Technically, I find caring for a guinea pig isn’t difficult at all. I had received Jackson for Christmas last year and I’ve now had him for almost two months and I thought I wouldn’t last three weeks! It was very daunting when I received Jackson on that Christmas Day but I came out of that cloud really quickly, I tell you! I had been looking after guinea pigs when I went to daycare (aged six to twelve years) and I had always wanted a guinea pig! So that kind of explains why I haven’t had much trouble caring for my cavy and I rather enjoy it!

 

[Swissgreys]

Technically, I find caring for a guinea pig isn’t difficult at all. I had received Jackson for Christmas last year and I’ve now had him for almost two months and I thought I wouldn’t last three weeks! It was very daunting when I received Jackson on that Christmas Day but I came out of that cloud really quickly, I tell you! I had been looking after guinea pigs when I went to daycare (aged six to twelve years) and I had always wanted a guinea pig! So that kind of explains why I haven’t had much trouble caring for my cavy and I rather enjoy it!

It is wonderful that you are enjoying Jackson so much - he is lucky to have such a caring owner.
However you really should think about a way of extending his cage or getting him a bigger one.
The one he is currently in is much too small, and doesn't offer him any space to run around or explore.
As a ground roaming species, space is very important to make sure you have a happy, healthy guinea pig.

You might find our cage size guide useful:
Cage Size Guide

The other thing which would be a huge benefit for Jackson would be to look into finding him a friend.
Guinea pigs are social animals and should never be kept without the companionship of their own kind.
Plus guinea pigs in pairs or groups are hugely entertaining with all of their interactions and antics.
It may be worth looking into finding a local rescue who can help you find a friend for Jackson.

 

[Cave Of Cavies]

It is wonderful that you are enjoying Jackson so much - he is lucky to have such a caring owner.
However you really should think about a way of extending his cage or getting him a bigger one.
The one he is currently in is much too small, and doesn't offer him any space to run around or explore.
As a ground roaming species, space is very important to make sure you have a happy, healthy guinea pig.

You might find our cage size guide useful:
Cage Size Guide

The other thing which would be a huge benefit for Jackson would be to look into finding him a friend.
Guinea pigs are social animals and should never be kept without the companionship of their own kind.
Plus guinea pigs in pairs or groups are hugely entertaining with all of their interactions and antics.
It may be worth looking into finding a local rescue who can help you find a friend for Jackson.

He does receive compensation for living in such a small cage (which I am totally on board with the cage being too small) he does get a run around on the floor in my bedroom though. But yeah, adequate floor space in a cage is, in my opinion, one of the highest priority in cage selection!

 

[Lorcan]

When I had the boys I soon gave up on trying to keep hay off the floor. I mean I'd pick it up and half a second later someone would've chucked it all over himself, the cage AND the floor again (well I say someone, divebombing the hay wasn't Blitzen's style). I had a "utility room" that used to be a kitchen (the second bedroom was converted to a kitchen years before I moved in) but they'd left the cupboards in there, so I'd get 10-15 1kg bags of hay at a time and stack them into the cupboards lol. I had push top bins that I'd basically dump an entire 10kg bag of pellets into to keep those out of the way and lessen the amount of things to cause rustling bags noises and the bag of bedding (I used Megazorb) would be kept in a corner of the bedroom if it was recently opened and a corner of the living room if it'd been open a while and was therefore smaller.

 

[Guinea Slave]

I clean out the cage once a day, according with what our RSPCA guinea pig care requirements state.

My little herd have 25 Sq foot of space so once a week is not an issue. In a small cage it’s much more of an issue.

 

[Cave Of Cavies]

It is wonderful that you are enjoying Jackson so much - he is lucky to have such a caring owner.
However you really should think about a way of extending his cage or getting him a bigger one.
The one he is currently in is much too small, and doesn't offer him any space to run around or explore.
As a ground roaming species, space is very important to make sure you have a happy, healthy guinea pig.

You might find our cage size guide useful:
Cage Size Guide

The other thing which would be a huge benefit for Jackson would be to look into finding him a friend.
Guinea pigs are social animals and should never be kept without the companionship of their own kind.
Plus guinea pigs in pairs or groups are hugely entertaining with all of their interactions and antics.
It may be worth looking into finding a local rescue who can help you find a friend for Jackson.

There are guinea pigs for sale at the local pet store. But they’re very expensive and I’ve got my parents organising to get another cavy and a bigger hutch to accommodate the two animals. The guinea pig will be the family pet and Jackson will, of course, still belong to me as he is, essentially, my Christmas present for last year and my birthday present for this year, which was last month.

 

[Piggylove82]

Mine, being outdoor pigs, have the majority of what they need day to day stored in a big storage box next to their hutch. All their hay, shavings, pellets, cage cleaner, dustpan and brush etc live in here...




Then I have my stockpiled new packs of shavings (well, they were on offer, how could I refuse ), spare log cabin and some new tunnels that I don't currently have space for, but will use when they move into their bigger hutch, stored on a shelf in the shed...



The only other thing I have is the spare fleece snugglepad covers that I wash everytime I heat their pads, and put on the radiator in our downstairs loo to dry! It constantly smells of hay in there. In a nice way!

 

[Black piggies]

Mine, being outdoor pigs, have the majority of what they need day to day stored in a big storage box next to their hutch. All their hay, shavings, pellets, cage cleaner, dustpan and brush etc live in here...

View attachment 133969


Then I have my stockpiled new packs of shavings (well, they were on offer, how could I refuse ), spare log cabin and some new tunnels that I don't currently have space for, but will use when they move into their bigger hutch, stored on a shelf in the shed...

View attachment 133970

The only other thing I have is the spare fleece snugglepad covers that I wash everytime I heat their pads, and put on the radiator in our downstairs loo to dry! It constantly smells of hay in there. In a nice way!

Very nice and organised. You could start a tidy piggy owner thread

 

[Piggylove82]

Truth be known, I did have to do a bit of a tidy up in the shed. My husband felt his mancave was being invaded

 

[Leafy Lou]

This is a great idea for a thread I only found it because I was googling if the piggies can eat sticky willies! It is full clean time tomorrow..(Incidentally I did not know there were different types of Buttercups..meh they are all pulled out and on the compost..shame they have eaten all the dandelions!

 

[Eddie & Elvis]

My current set up (if you could call it that ). Eveything needs putting away, the pen for indoor floortime is shoved to the side, hay slowly filling up the floor... At least the piggie are having a nice time on the grass while I clean the cage
I can't imagine the mess if I had more than 2 piggies

 

[Julesie]

This is a fabulous idea. It can be quite hard to keep things neat with piggies involved.

so first photo to The left is piggy memorial with my piggies ashes. Then the bag order. Then the piggies cage just before clean out which was after this photo


to the side of the cage is their other food bags



an finally what was supposed to be my craft table Covered with their other odds and ends.
I have tidied it off many times but it keeps returning...

this is usually as messy as it gets then back to being cleaned.