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Guinea Pigs
Guinea Pigs (also known as cavies) make for interesting and fun pets. When kept in clean conditions, free from overcrowding and supplied with a good diet, they usually maintain a state of good health.
Housing
If you intend keeping your guinea pig indoors, a low cardboard box lined with newspaper and cleaned daily will suffice. Guinea pigs can however be house trained with a litter tray, and you'll be able to eventually let them hop in and out of the box.
For outdoor housing, the hutch should have plenty of room for exercise and be sheltered from draughts. Ensure it is secure and sturdy enough to withstand attacks by predators such as dogs or cats. Use a medium gauge wire rather than a fine one, and raise the hutch above the ground.
Straw and hay or sawdust can be provided for bedding, but it should be changed frequently to prevent parasites building up. Bedding material should be replaced every day, and the hutch itself cleaned out at least once a week.
Keeping your Guinea Pig Healthy
Guinea pigs are susceptible to colds. Draughty, cold conditions soon lead to respiratory troubles which can turn quickly into pneumonia. Once contracted, there is little chance of saving the animal. The best cure is prevention. Also if left out in the sun for long periods of time, being small animals, guinea pigs can dehydrate rapidly. The rule is not to expose your pet to either extreme of temperatures.
Guinea pigs often contract lice, so look for tiny white specks like dandruff, especially behind the ears and inside the back legs.
But possibly the biggest risk to guinea pigs kept in captivity is Vitamin C deficiency. The only way to prevent this is by suppling plenty of good quality greenfeed daily. Without this greenfeed, guinea pigs will die within 10-14 days.
Feeding your Guinea Pig
Greenfeed should only be part of the diet and be balanced with other foods. A healthy diet should consist of dry food, greenfeed and rabbit pellets. Unprocessed bran and hay are suitable dry food and warm bran mash can be given in Winter, as can bread and milk.
Remove all leftovers before placing new, fresh food in the hutch. Remember your guinea pig will appreciate variety in his diet, so give him an assortment of interesting foods to choose from.
Suitable food items include:
- Apricots, Weetbix, Corn
- Zucchini, Beans
- Chaff, Tomato, Bran
- Clover, Rabbit pellets, Oranges
- Grapevine leaves, Pears, Dandelion
- Nectarines, Apples, Turnips
- Parsley, Banana and peel, Carrots
- Plums, Cabbage, Cornflakes
- Strawberries, Cucumber, Lucerne
- Pumpkin, Peaches, Melon
- Parrot seed
- Thistles, Lettuce, Blackberries
Do not feed your Guinea Pig ANY of the following:
- Any bulk plants
- Buttercups
- Garden shrubs
- Lily of the valley
- Onion grass
- Onions
- Potato tops
- Rhubarb leaves
- Spinach
- Beetroot