Summer is coming. Should you house your GP outside?

[VoodooJoint]

The answer, plain and simple, is NO.

While you may think that the weather is pleasant, it is not pleasant 100% of the time, or even 50% of the time.

When you are out in the summer and it gets hot you have to option of going inside.
Your pets cannot

When the temperature drops in the evening and it gets cold you can go and put on a sweater.
Your pets cannot.

When the mosquitoes and other bugs get bad you can put on insect repellent or leave the area.
Your pets cannot.

When it gets windy and storms and thunders you can seek shelter away from the rain and noise.
Your pets cannot.

When predators, human or animal, come into your yard you can run, scream and defend yourself.
Your pets cannot.

If you are home alone and you get sick or injured you can call for help.
Your pets cannot.

I hope you get the idea but if not consider what it would be like to be locked in a cage, outside, all day and night. Someone comes to bring you food, play with you and check on you once or twice a day, but when the weather is bad and it has been raining for several days straight, and you are at your most scared and miserable you are lucky if your caregiver comes out to check on you once every 24 hours. If you get sick or injured you have no way to call for help until someone comes to check on you.

Imagine sleeping out in the open. The day is so very hot but finally evening comes and the temperature drops. At first it seems like a blessed relief until the dew falls and you are damp and chilled. You start to feel achy and awful. The sun rises and it get hot again. You feel better for a while but when evening comes it starts all over again. After several days of this you finally succumb to illness. It takes your caregiver several days, even weeks, to figure out you are ill. By then it may be too late to save you.

Imagine wearing a fur coat during the summer. It gets so hot that your body starts to overheat. Your brain cells start to die and you are so weak and disoriented you cannot move. Heat stroke is a terrible way to die and you are experiencing it.

Don't risk your pets' lives and well being. Keep them inside during the summer, with you, the person that loves them. If you take them out to graze stay with them at all times. It only takes a second for disaster to strike.


Don't think any of that could happen to you? Neither did the people in the following links.

Dangers of Outdoor Housing
UK GP housed outside dies of heatstroke
GPs stolen from outdoor cage
2 GPs in outdoor cage killed by dog (on Animal Precinct)
HAWK, drops guinea pig in someone's yard
Violent thugs batter family pets to death
Thread about people breaking into outdoor hutches and sheds
2 guinea pigs stolen from outdoor shed
Guinea pig attacked by rats in shed
Magpies attacking GPs in their outdoor hutches
4 GPs dead. Cause is a suspected mouse infestation in shed and garden
Ant infested yard and hutches
Warning for those keeping animals outside
Guinea pigs stolen from "Cavy Sanctuary"

[CavyLove]

What about Just having a run outside for them. That's what I do during the summer. My run has both a mister in one corner, a fan blowing into the cage in another corner, and a wooden house with a door flap in the third corner. The remainder of the run is sunlight, hay racks, and food cups. During the summer, I put several waterbottles out in case one of them leaks, and I leave my guinea pigs out in it during the day. Checking on them frequently and often spraying them with spray bottles. They really seem to like their run. (I wont put them out if I'm gone all day, Or if no one is available to check on them). But I mean, it's safe for the most part. The run is covered and deeply grounded as well... But I bring them inside at dusk. Is this acceptable, or in any way an exception to the below?

[VoodooJoint]

As long as you check on them often. A dog, cat, large bird or person can kill, harm of steal your pets quickly and, as I said, you never think it would or could happen to you.

In fact a member on this forum just had a large bird swoop down and threaten her GPs and she was right outside with them watching them!

[CavyLove]

Originally Posted by VoodooJoint

As long as you check on them often. A dog, cat, large bird or person can kill, harm of steal your pets quickly and, as I said, you never think it would or could happen to you.

In fact a member on this forum just had a large bird swoop down and threaten her GPs and she was right outside with them watching them!

I understand what you're saying, but I think the only threat to what I have set up outside would be humans. Because the run is built for rabits, and made of wood. Looks similar to the picture below: And in addition to that, It's in a high-fenced yard, and it's bolted into the ground on all four corners. I'll be wary though, like you say. Just to be safe

[Ramon]

Is letting my pigs run around for a while on a porch/deck okay?

[CavyFanatic13]

It should be fine, but you are watching them right? I let my two guinea pigs on my deck during the summer. I have an area on my deck that blocks the sun, so my guinea pigs stay cool and calm.

[piggychic]

I personally believe that the benefits far outweigh the risks, not just for us but for the piggies. They are pets but first and foremost they are animals that are designed by nature to survive outdoors. It's our responsibility as pet owners to ensure their safety and security, and to give them love and attention and make them part of the family. If done right, it can be just as effective outdoors as indoors. To say otherwise is just a matter of opinion. And you could cite just as many stories of piggy neglect and harm on the indoors as the outdoors.

CavyLove I like your run and it looks very safe.

We're building a shed that will be in a fenced yard and I'm currently designing a piggy house that will fit against the outside of the shed. And I'm thinking I would like it off the ground. I would appreciate any advice about plans for a hutch, maybe a two tier or one tier run. If you have plans, please PM me.

[VoodooJoint]

Originally Posted by piggychic

I They are pets but first and foremost they are animals that are designed by nature to survive outdoors.

I have to ask you if you happened to notice what the name of this website is and if you have read the homepage or other information pages of this site because somehow you seem to have missed exactly what this website is all about.

So you think all animals are designed to live outside? I'm quite certain that is true for wild animals but what you are talking about housing outside is a domesticated animal.

Domestic animals are not wild animals. They have been changed by humans through specialized breeding to be tame and accepting of humans by removing much of their natural survival instincts. This makes them unsuitable for living outside.

True, wild cavies and rabbits have an average lifespan of 1-2 years. That is why they are capable of reproducing at such a young age and in great numbers, They are prey animals thus are quickly killed off by predators, disease and accident.

Do you believe Skinny and Baldwin pigs, Sphinx cats and Mexican Hairless dogs are designed to live outside? They are animals right? Therefore, by your standards, they are perfectly capable of living outside.

I cannot see any benefits for the animal to live outside. All of the benefits are on the human side. It may make you feel better to think they prefer it but you would be wrong. Humans are animals too. Would you prefer to live outside in a shed while your parents lived in the house. On rainy, cold or hot days wouldn't you like to be comfortable too? Do you really want the company of bugs, spiders, roaming animals trying to get at you? If as an animal you don't want that then why would you subject a guinea pig to it?

Once again here are some threads about the wonder of outdoor housing. Maybe you can get some ideas there as I doubt you will get much help on this forum.
UK GP housed outside dies of heatstroke
GPs stolen from outdoor cage
2 GPs in outdoor cage killed by dog (on Animal Precinct)
HAWK, drops guinea pig in someone's yard
Violent thugs batter family pets to death
Thread about people breaking into outdoor hutches and sheds
2 guinea pigs stolen from outdoor shed
Guinea pig attacked by rats in shed
Magpies attacking GPs in their outdoor hutches
4 GPs dead. Cause is a suspected mouse infestation in shed and garden
Ant infested yard and hutches
Warning for those keeping animals outside
Guinea pigs stolen from "Cavy Sanctuary"
GPs stolen from outdoor garden
More Guinea pigs die of heatstroke

[MissGinger]

My Pig's have always Loved Hanging out Outside i'm Very picky with the weather.
If i Sweat even a drop they stay inside.
We do not leave them alone for a Second & We don't even have to worry About Any Prey Animal's, i just don't feel Safe leaving them Alone.
In the Shade Only with a Corner of sun.
This is Ginger's First Summer I'm Excited to see if she like's it Outside.
I Don't Think any Animal Beside's Farm Animal's should live Outside & even They have Barn's.