1 How long can I leave my guinea pigs alone for?
2 Who can look after my guinea pig when I am away?
- Informal arrangements
- Boarding
- Professional pet care services
- Guinea pigs on medication
- Further places to ask
3 Preparing for your absence
- Setting up guinea pig supplies
- Contacts and emergency vet visit provisions
1 How long can I leave my guinea pigs alone for?
Please do not leave your guinea pigs for much longer than 24-30 hours without fresh water, hay, veg and pellets and nobody to check on them. They should be ideally fed, watered and checked on every day of your absence; twice daily in very hot weather.
2 Who can look after my guinea pigs when I am away?
Informal arrangements
Do you have a trusted family member, friend or neighbour?
Please be aware that you are putting a lot of trust and responsibility on somebody who may not necessarily feel up to it. It is great when you have somebody piggy savvy and who is a great carer for their own pets, though!
But we have also seen often enough the dismay and upset when guinea pigs have not been cared for well, have lost a lot of weight, fallen ill or even died without seeing a vet.
Boarding
There are places that offer holiday boarding for small animals. You will have to check your own local places and ideally visit them beforehand to get your own impression. There are some excellent boarding services around. Make sure that they are licensed or certified if possible.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/forums/guinea-pig-boarding.70/
Professional Pet Care Services
Some pet services will come once or twice daily to feed and look after your pets. It means that they are less stressed out in their usual surroundings.
You will need to research whether you have local ones available. If possible, choose a licensed one. Pet services are also cheaper than boarding, especially when you have a larger number of guinea pigs and nobody available that is reliable.
Guinea pigs on medication
Things get difficult when you have a frail guinea pig that needs regular medication and vet care. By far not all boarding places and pet services will accept medical care.
Please be aware that the stress from a change of surroundings and care can cause underlying health problem come to the fore. Your guinea pig are that more likely to fall ill or even die when you are away. You have to make that leap of faith or you will become a prisoner at home, impacting not only on yourself but those nearest and dearest to you.
Other places to ask
- some guinea pig rescues also offer holiday boarding and are usually willing to medicate. Please make sure that they are good standard beforehand.
- ask at your vets whether they know somebody experienced with guinea pigs you could contact locally.
- ask on the forum whether you have another member within your reach that is willing to holiday sit your guinea pigs.
3 Preparing for your absence
Setting up guinea pig supplies
- Lay any hay and pellets out and where needed bedding within sight and within easy reach of the cage with instructions as to how much per serving stuck to the items.
- Cut up some veg portions and leave them in the fridge so the carer knows how you feed before they use fresh veg. Do the same with pellets. Label every box clearly, like 'breakfast day 1 or dinner Monday'.
- Leave a short, clear check list for daily meals and what needs to be done, but please don’t write tomes and get all too nitty gritty! The easier and simpler, the better.
Rather leave off any special and occasional treats and simplify the menu to just the items that can be fed daily or switched between alternating days; your piggies won't come to any harm for a short while with a more basic diet. It ensures that they really get what they need without your carer getting confused. You can spoil them to your heart's delight when you are back again.
Contacts and emergency vet decisions provision
- Leave ALL your contact details (not just one phone number) and your vets’ contact details written down, as well as a local person who can act as your stand-in contact in your absence. You want to make sure that you can be reached in more than one way in an emergency.
- Please ensure that your carer is willing and prepared to take an ill guinea pig of yours to the vet while you are away. Leave a written declaration that the - named - person who takes your guinea pig to the vet has your permission to make any decisions in your place if you cannot be reached in an emergency, including pts/euthanasia (only the owner or a specially designated stand-in can make emergency or end of life decisions). This to ensure that your piggy has a chance to survive or won't suffer needlessly.
- Leave a list of early signs of illness and how soon to see a vet in an emergency for anybody who is not experienced. Arrange emergency payment solutions in your absence with your vet clinic beforehand if you haven't insurance.
- Place everything in a very visible place or hand over directly to the carer where it can be easily found.
Please accept that another person may not do things exactly as you do and accept that your piggies can cope with that. Please try hard not rake them down if they are not quite up to your own high standard or doing things exactly your own way; especially if you have issues with needing to have things done exactly so.
As long as your guinea pigs are OK, regularly fed, watered and cleaned out, you should be grateful for having somebody doing the job for you!
2 Who can look after my guinea pig when I am away?
- Informal arrangements
- Boarding
- Professional pet care services
- Guinea pigs on medication
- Further places to ask
3 Preparing for your absence
- Setting up guinea pig supplies
- Contacts and emergency vet visit provisions
1 How long can I leave my guinea pigs alone for?
Please do not leave your guinea pigs for much longer than 24-30 hours without fresh water, hay, veg and pellets and nobody to check on them. They should be ideally fed, watered and checked on every day of your absence; twice daily in very hot weather.
2 Who can look after my guinea pigs when I am away?
Informal arrangements
Do you have a trusted family member, friend or neighbour?
Please be aware that you are putting a lot of trust and responsibility on somebody who may not necessarily feel up to it. It is great when you have somebody piggy savvy and who is a great carer for their own pets, though!
But we have also seen often enough the dismay and upset when guinea pigs have not been cared for well, have lost a lot of weight, fallen ill or even died without seeing a vet.
Boarding
There are places that offer holiday boarding for small animals. You will have to check your own local places and ideally visit them beforehand to get your own impression. There are some excellent boarding services around. Make sure that they are licensed or certified if possible.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/forums/guinea-pig-boarding.70/
Professional Pet Care Services
Some pet services will come once or twice daily to feed and look after your pets. It means that they are less stressed out in their usual surroundings.
You will need to research whether you have local ones available. If possible, choose a licensed one. Pet services are also cheaper than boarding, especially when you have a larger number of guinea pigs and nobody available that is reliable.
Guinea pigs on medication
Things get difficult when you have a frail guinea pig that needs regular medication and vet care. By far not all boarding places and pet services will accept medical care.
Please be aware that the stress from a change of surroundings and care can cause underlying health problem come to the fore. Your guinea pig are that more likely to fall ill or even die when you are away. You have to make that leap of faith or you will become a prisoner at home, impacting not only on yourself but those nearest and dearest to you.
Other places to ask
- some guinea pig rescues also offer holiday boarding and are usually willing to medicate. Please make sure that they are good standard beforehand.
- ask at your vets whether they know somebody experienced with guinea pigs you could contact locally.
- ask on the forum whether you have another member within your reach that is willing to holiday sit your guinea pigs.
3 Preparing for your absence
Setting up guinea pig supplies
- Lay any hay and pellets out and where needed bedding within sight and within easy reach of the cage with instructions as to how much per serving stuck to the items.
- Cut up some veg portions and leave them in the fridge so the carer knows how you feed before they use fresh veg. Do the same with pellets. Label every box clearly, like 'breakfast day 1 or dinner Monday'.
- Leave a short, clear check list for daily meals and what needs to be done, but please don’t write tomes and get all too nitty gritty! The easier and simpler, the better.
Rather leave off any special and occasional treats and simplify the menu to just the items that can be fed daily or switched between alternating days; your piggies won't come to any harm for a short while with a more basic diet. It ensures that they really get what they need without your carer getting confused. You can spoil them to your heart's delight when you are back again.
Contacts and emergency vet decisions provision
- Leave ALL your contact details (not just one phone number) and your vets’ contact details written down, as well as a local person who can act as your stand-in contact in your absence. You want to make sure that you can be reached in more than one way in an emergency.
- Please ensure that your carer is willing and prepared to take an ill guinea pig of yours to the vet while you are away. Leave a written declaration that the - named - person who takes your guinea pig to the vet has your permission to make any decisions in your place if you cannot be reached in an emergency, including pts/euthanasia (only the owner or a specially designated stand-in can make emergency or end of life decisions). This to ensure that your piggy has a chance to survive or won't suffer needlessly.
- Leave a list of early signs of illness and how soon to see a vet in an emergency for anybody who is not experienced. Arrange emergency payment solutions in your absence with your vet clinic beforehand if you haven't insurance.
- Place everything in a very visible place or hand over directly to the carer where it can be easily found.
Please accept that another person may not do things exactly as you do and accept that your piggies can cope with that. Please try hard not rake them down if they are not quite up to your own high standard or doing things exactly your own way; especially if you have issues with needing to have things done exactly so.
As long as your guinea pigs are OK, regularly fed, watered and cleaned out, you should be grateful for having somebody doing the job for you!