Guinea Pig Basic Health (AMY)

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To have a healthy guinea pig that will live it's life span to the fullest you need to supply a lot. Guinea pigs are not good starter pets and are quite expensive when you add it all up. I will list the basics in what you will need to provide for your guinea pig(s).

Appearance

To keep your guinea pig healthy and fit, it will need daily out of the cage time to exercise to it's own pleasures. If you do not want your guinea pig on the carpet, provide a large cage big enough for your guinea pig to run laps around.

* Tip- move the guinea pig huts away from the wall of the cage, it makes it easier for the pig(s) to run around.

Most guinea pig breeds call for weekly grooming to decrease shedding. Long hair guinea pigs need daily grooming sessions to keep tanlges and knots to a minimum. Anyother guinea pig should be groomed weekly to keep shedding low and to make the fur shiney and soft.

Nail trimmings are supposed to be done at least once a month. Keeping rough objects, such as bricks, in the cage will keep the nails low but will not to the clipping for you. When clipping nails, comfprt the pig in a well known place and hold firmly (but not too firm) and hold the leg out in a way that is comfortable for the clipper and the animal. Look carfully for the dark vein, also known as the "quick", and clip close to it, be steady and calm while doing so. If you do happen to clip the quick he may bleed and you will need to apply a towel until it lessens, try to keep the towel on the toe without out checking too much, the constant substance beneath it helps slow the bleeding. With dark nailed pigs, clip closely to the end of the nail as to make sure you do not cause pain or bleeding, clip small sections off. Clipping dark nailed pigs twice a month is more wise.

*Tip- Offering veggies while clipping nails may calm the pig down and squirms may stop.

Diet

You can help your guinea pigs apperance by providing the above but nothing will improve until your guinea pig has a stable diet of constant hay, food, water, and 2 cups of veggies a day.

Veggies

There are many vegatable that are healthy for guinea pigs, the main ones being Red, Green, and Romaine lettuces. Also many tasty herbs. Always make sure the veggie is not poisonous before you give it to your guinea pig. Each pig should reciece about 2 cups of veggies or 30 mg of vitimin C. Because guinea pigs are unable to produce the esential vitimin we, as owners, should provide it.

Hay and Grasses

Hay should be available to your guinea pig at all times. Because guinea pigs teeth are constantly growing (one sixteenth of an inch each week) the hay helps make the teeth short. Hay also has major roles in the intestines of your small critter. You should switch your guinea pig to regular hay when it reaches 6 months of age or around that age.

Pregnant or nursing sows and pups should have alfalfa avaiable instead of hay. The alfalfa has extra calcium in which the mother needs to rebuild and pups need to gain. If you keep the pups or mother on this hay for too long, however, they can develope health problems from too much calcium.

Water

Fresh water should be available at all times, also. Clean the bottles out by putting about an unch of hot water in and swooshing it around, getting rid of as much harmful bacteria as possible. Baby bottle cleaners are also very useful for cleaning out these bottles.

Food

You should provide your guinea pig with top quality hay and food such as Oxbow or Kleenmama. the brands Hartz and Kaytee are fatting and harmful to your guinea pigs health, avoid buying these brands at all costs. Oxbow and Kleenmama come in bulk such as 50 pounds and are easy to store. If you do order bulk, make sure you store it in a big containor that closes tightly, you do not want to loose all of the vitimins in all of your food.

Cage Cleaning

Whether you use bedding or fleece, you need to clean the cage daily. Spot clean the bedding every day, eliminating wet spots and feces from the cage to provide a clean enviroment for your guinea pig. Change the bedding at least once a week. Fleece also needs to be cleaned once or twice daily and laudered at least once a week to eliminate smells. Wash fleece with a tad of viniger and wipe down the coro in your cage with viniger also to make the cage completely clean. Try not to use newpaper as bedding, first of all it smells terrible when it is urinated on and holds in the stench, two the guinea pig might get ahold of it and eat it and that may cause piggy constipation

WRITTEN BY - Amy
SOURCE - Cavy Galore Forums
http://www.cavygalore.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=information&action=display&thread=3