You do need to clean the Guinea Pig Hutch regularly

Keeping a guinea pig as a pet is a lot of fun, but it isn’t all fun. There’s some work involved to keeping a happy and healthy guinea pig, much of it to do with cleaning the guinea pig hutch. And you need to pay attention to your guinea pig’s diet as well.

Piggie should be fed twice a day. He needs a range of fruit and vegetables for general health and for vitamin C, which we’ve spoken of before. And he also needs dedicated guinea pig pellets which also, if they are well made and fresh, should contain vitamin C.

Whether it’s cold, or raining, or you just don’t feel like it you need to go out to his cage twice a day, every day, and feed your guinea pigs properly.

And don’t forget to check whether they have adequate water as well.

If you’re guinea pig is suffering from low vitamin C you will notice weakness in his back legs. This is a sure sign that you need to increase his vitamin C intake. In this case you can use vitamin C tablets from a supermarket, crush one up and dissolve it in his water to give him a quick burst of vitamin C.

Of course feeding you’re guinea pig should be a pleasure, not a chore.

But there’s more work involved in keeping the guinea pig hutch nice and clean. Of course guinea pigs leave droppings in the hutch, and these need to be regularly cleaned out. How often this is done depends on how big your guinea pig cage is, of course bigger cages need to be cleaned less frequently.

However as there are many small guinea pig hutches available for sale many owners keep their piggies in very small cages. If this is the case you need to clean his hutch at least every 2nd day if not daily. Read the rest of this entry

Keep your guinea pig healthy and avoid a trip to the vet

Information about the common diseases of guinea pigs that pet owners should know about and how to address these diseases is offered.

Common parasites affecting guinea pigs are ringworm, lice, mange and ciccodioses. Ringworm and mange are parasitic diseases that target the skin of guinea pigs and are the cause of skin irritations in the species and can be managed by either oral or topical medication.

Lice are also a skin parasite that bites and suck blood from the guinea pigs and is usually found attached to the hair follicles and can be treated by applying a medicated shampoo. On the other hand, ciccodioses is an intestinal and liver disease caused by a single-celled parasite and usually came from food or water that has been contaminated with feces.

Another common disease is scurvy or vitamin C deficiency that can cause weakness, lethargy and disfigured bone and teeth development and is reversed through changes in diet or vitamin C dietary supplements.

Pet owners should need to be aware of hair loss in guinea pigs, as it occurs in various phases in their life, including in weaning infants and breeding females. However, it warns that it could also occur as a result of fungal disease and external parasite infestation.

Pneumonia is considered as the most common bacterial disease in guinea pigs and is caused by stress and inadequate diet and can be detected when the pets experienced labored or rapid breathing, lack of desire to eat and lethargy. Recommended treatments for this bacterial disease are antibiotic injection and rest.

Malocclusion is also considered a common health problem with guinea pigs, which occurs when their growing teeth do not wear properly and can be corrected by regularly trimming the teeth by a veterinarian. Obesity is also a problem and is caused by overfeeding the pet or by wrong food.

Skin diseases that can be suffered by guinea pigs include red swollen skin and sore hocks. It also reveals that guinea pigs are prone to overheating due to their stout, compact body, so it is not advisable to expose them to extreme heat. Read the rest of this entry

You need some entertainment in their Guinea Pig cage

Whilst we have spoken before about the importance of providing your guinea pig with a guinea pig hutch of sufficient size this is not the only factor in keeping a happy and healthy and well adjusted guinea pig as a pet.

Guinea pigs are social creatures, and it is best to keep more than one. If you are keeping more than one you need to consider which sexes go together best. Of course if you have a male and a female together then you will be unable to prevent them breeding unless at least one of them is desexed or you keep them apart.

Keeping two male guinea pigs together can lead to fighting, though they may eventually get on well. However if you are looking to keep several guinea pigs the best way to do this is to buy 2 females.

However there is still more that you can do to make sure that your guinea pigs are happy and well adjusted. Guinea pigs need things to do and if you provide a sufficiently spacious cage they will have room to exercise and run around, but little to do.

Therefore you need to consider providing them with a little stimulation. Fortunately this is not difficult. We provide ours with some plastic pipes around 4 inches in diameter for them to run in and out of, a few small boxes with holes in them so they can play in and out of the boxes, and some little hiding holes as well.

If ou give your guinea pigs a few things like this then you’re giving your guinea pigs things to do. And don’t forget that they need something to gnaw on to keep wearing down their teeth, or they will gnaw on something that you don’t want them to. A piece of wood or bark is sufficient. Read the rest of this entry