Um...help the noob?

[Almi_]

Hello, my name is Jamie. I run a small animal rescue (mainly hamsters, gerbils, mice, and rats), and I have just gotten my first cavy. (As a pet, I won't take them in as rescues until I know more about them.)

Right now she's in a 26" x 13" bin on fleece. I want to make her a cage out of cubes, but I don't know where I could get the cloroplast. I would be able to, however, purchase a single plastic rabbit cage tray from a farm goods store for $15. It measures 36" x 30" (I use one for a rabbit and one for my rats). Would that be big enough for two cavies? I plan on getting her a friend in the future, as I know they are social critters. I also wonder if the cubes would fit right around it. Thoughts?

Anyway, I got her about...two days ago? and she's been great. She's cute, tiny, and sweet. I was holding her today and parting her curly fur, and I noticed that she had a really mangy butt. Before that, I noticed that the skin inside her ears looked a little flaky (no discharge or gross earwax though, or any other visible irritation).

The pet store I got her from keeps the pigs and rabbits together on pine bedding, and I don't recall seeing any hay in the habitat (or fresh food, for that matter). They told me that they've been feeding her Kaytee Forti Diet, so that's what I got so I could gradually switch her over to a better, ethoxyquin-free food.

My question is, do you think she has mites (and ear mites), or could this just be something as simple as a diet deficiency? If she does have mites, can pigs be treated with Ivermectin? Does anyone have any experience with this? What's your opinion on vitamin drops that you put in their water? Should I use these as a regular part of her diet, or should I only use them during times of stress/illness and/or just for young/old cavies?

What's a good staple diet (besides hay)? Any good brands? Any veggies/fruits I should be feeding daily?


Any other tips you have for a first time owner would be appreciated, also.




Oh, before I forget, here's a picture of her. Her name is Ginger. (Ignore the poop. X3)

[Jenni_Feathers]

First off welcome to GPC!
You should try to get her out of the bin ASAP, they don't have enough ventaltion for Guinea Pigs, though they are okay for others. You don't have to use coroplast, you can use a tarp, a shower curtain, or a plastic bag under the cubes, if you are using fleece.
There is no need to gradually switch pellets, many people do it cold-turkey and the pigs don't seem to mind. I'm not sure about the mites, but many people here will know. Vitamin drops are useless, they dilute the water and contain very little vitamin C they should never be used. If there is any reason they would need extra vitamin C they should get in in pill or tablet form.
And for the diet, any grass hay is the staple, they need tons of it at all times. Veggies are the next important. They need at least 1 cup of leafy greens a day. If you look in the Diet & Nutrition section there are stickys that are really helpful including and color coated food chart and sample menu's. Here is my pigs menu http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...k-they-ok.html For pellets they need 1/8 th a cup a day of plain timothy based pellets, no seeds or colored bits. The only good brands are Oxbow, Km's and Mazuri 5664 (and only the 5664 formula).
Be sure to read the stickys at the top of each section they are a huge help. Also maybe read through some things on Guinea Lynx :: A Medical and Care Guide for Your Guinea Pig

[cavyinhawaii]

Go to GuineaLynx.com there are tons of health questions and answers there.
http://www.guineapigcages.com/index.htm this is the chart for cage sizes.
If you are thinking of taking more look at how to sex them, Guinealynx has that too.

[pig-in-paradise]

Aww, Ginger is cute! My daughter saw the picture and said she'd the cutest guinea pig right after ours

Jenni_Feathers and cavyinhawaii gave you excellent advise. Look around the various forums and you will find tons of information.

[Pumpkin_RIP]

What a cutie! She looks like she is probably a Teddy, though I'm not an expert on breeds so I can't say for sure. Everyone else has pretty much given you great advice. I personally have never had mites, but I know other people who have and they use Ivermectin. She may not have mites if it is just in her ears. If the skin is red and irritated, and she acts annoyed or in pain when you touch her ears, I would take her to the vet, since that is symptoms of mites. Other wise, feed her a healthy diet, and it try using a q-tip(spelling?) to clean out her ears. Don't dig the Q-tip in the ear canal though! I know you can use a certain type of oil to help clean, but I can't remember what oil to use (sorry) so until someone else can tell you, just use a plain q-tip. Hope everything goes well!

[rabbitsncavyluv]

If you run a small animal rescue, why are you buying animals from pet stores? And without doing proper research on the pet before buying them?

That seems contrary to the true mission of rescues.

Guinea Lynx :: A Medical and Care Guide for Your Guinea Pig has great diet info. Pet store treats and adding vitamins to their water is pretty useless.

It won't hurt to treat for mites with ivermectin as a precaution. You can dose your pig as long as they weight at least 12 oz.

Poor diet can result in scurvy, rough coat and other illnesses. Pet stores usually only feed cheap rabbit pellets. It's cheaper and easier.

[Almi_]

Originally Posted by Jenni_Feathers

You should try to get her out of the bin ASAP, they don't have enough ventaltion for Guinea Pigs, though they are okay for others. You don't have to use coroplast, you can use a tarp, a shower curtain, or a plastic bag under the cubes, if you are using fleece.

There is no need to gradually switch pellets, many people do it cold-turkey and the pigs don't seem to mind. Vitamin drops are useless, they dilute the water and contain very little vitamin C they should never be used. If there is any reason they would need extra vitamin C they should get in in pill or tablet form.

And for the diet, any grass hay is the staple, they need tons of it at all times. Veggies are the next important. They need at least 1 cup of leafy greens a day. If you look in the Diet & Nutrition section there are stickys that are really helpful including and color coated food chart and sample menu's. Here is my pigs menu http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...k-they-ok.html For pellets they need 1/8 th a cup a day of plain timothy based pellets, no seeds or colored bits. The only good brands are Oxbow, Km's and Mazuri 5664 (and only the 5664 formula).

Be sure to read the stickys at the top of each section they are a huge help. Also maybe read through some things on Guinea Lynx :: A Medical and Care Guide for Your Guinea Pig

Well...the bin is open on top, and she's a really tiny pig:




But of course I'll get her out of it ASAP. That's why it's only a temporary cage. She'll be fine in it until I figure out what to use in place of coroplast (thanks for the suggestions!).

Okay, maybe I'll get some Mazuri and mix it with her current pellets just to use them up. Thanks for your thoughts on the drops; I'll not get those then.

Thanks, I knew they needed mostly a hay diet, but I couldn't remember how much veggies and pellets they needed. And also I thank you for the pellet brands - very helpful.

So far I have been feeding her tons of hay and unlimited pellets (just didn't know how much she would eat, so we're trying it out). Is there any certain leafy green you'd suggest as a main one to feed? It would be easier for me if there was one I made sure I always had around, and then I could feed her whatever other veggies we had around at the time.

What do you think of making frozen veggie portions? It would be a lot easier to buy a bunch of veggies and portion them out right away and freeze them. That way she'd get a better variety, I'd waste less, and it would save me a bunch of preparation time every night. That's important to me with eighty other mouths to feed.

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_RIP

What a cutie! She looks like she is probably a Teddy, though I'm not an expert on breeds so I can't say for sure. Everyone else has pretty much given you great advice. I personally have never had mites, but I know other people who have and they use Ivermectin. She may not have mites if it is just in her ears. If the skin is red and irritated, and she acts annoyed or in pain when you touch her ears, I would take her to the vet, since that is symptoms of mites. Other wise, feed her a healthy diet, and it try using a q-tip(spelling?) to clean out her ears. Don't dig the Q-tip in the ear canal though! I know you can use a certain type of oil to help clean, but I can't remember what oil to use (sorry) so until someone else can tell you, just use a plain q-tip. Hope everything goes well!

[FONT=Arial]Aren't the "teddys" the ones with fur going every direction? She looks like a rex to me, but I don't remember if that's what crinkly, curly fur and whiskers is called in the Guinea pig world. X3[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]It's not just her ears, like I said, she has mange (thick flakes of skin where the fur comes off with them if you scrape them off) on her rump. And I just said the skin inside her ears was "flaky," no irritation or anything. She doesn't seem any more annoyed when I mess with her ears than she does when I'm parting her fur. Just little tiny wheeks of protest. =P[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Melaleuca oil. I've used that for cat ear mites and fleas and it works wonderfully. I've watched it kill a flea on contact - that, I tell you, is satisfying.[/FONT]

Originally Posted by rabbitsncavyluv

If you run a small animal rescue, why are you buying animals from pet stores? And without doing proper research on the pet before buying them?

That seems contrary to the true mission of rescues.

It won't hurt to treat for mites with ivermectin as a precaution. You can dose your pig as long as they weight at least 12 oz.

Poor diet can result in scurvy, rough coat and other illnesses. Pet stores usually only feed cheap rabbit pellets. It's cheaper and easier.

We have our pets and we have our rescues. Small animal overpopulation honestly isn't that big of a problem (yet?) in Fargo, North Dakota, I would just like to offer a BETTER place for people to surrender their pets to other than Petco.

I realize it's probably a little selfish and hypocritical. I used to not like Guineas very much, and I wanted to make sure and get one I really like when I did get one to give myself a good impression of them. I would probably like them less if I got a rescue that was mean and/or extremely skittish. I just didn't want that to happen; I wanted my first experiences with these little guys to be good. The second pig I get could be an adoption, but it would have to be an adoption from Petco's adoption center (which I now support even less now that they charge people to drop them off and make people pay the "optional" adoption fee, which they choose), as that's the only place around here that takes in cavies.

You shouldn't tell people off for seeking information on a pet. It is better than doing nothing. And don't get me wrong, I know how to generally take care of a cavy and keep it alive, I was seeking tips and advice so that my pigs will thrive and be healthy. I have done research on them in the past. There are things you can't learn about a pet by researching; you either need to observe them or ask other people that own them. If I knew nothing about cavies, I would not think to keep them on fleece, I would not know to feed them hay, and I would not realize that they needed very large cages.

[FONT=Arial]As for the Ivermectin, maybe I'll call my vet or just take her in, because I don't think she's very close to a pound. Maybe 8-10 ounces, but I'm not sure.[/FONT]

[rabbitsncavyluv]

I wasn't telling you off. Taking pet store dumps isn't considered rescue by all. I was asking a question. Not all 'rescues' are mean or skittish. Pet store pigs are the ones usually not handled or socialized and you are supporting pet milling and pet overpopulation by buying them. Petco's adoptions are just their previously sold pigs that have been returned.

No, teddies are not long hair pigs. They are called teddies in the US, not rexes.

You need ivermectin to treat for mites (or Revolution), not oil. Here Guinea Lynx :: Mange Mites

Submit the vet bill to the pet store and make it unprofitable for them to sell sick animals.

And no frozen veggies: http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...n-veggies.html

At 8-10 ounces your pig is only a few weeks old.

[Wheek Weak]

Originally Posted by Almi_

Is there any certain leafy green you'd suggest as a main one to feed? It would be easier for me if there was one I made sure I always had around, and then I could feed her whatever other veggies we had around at the time.

What do you think of making frozen veggie portions? It would be a lot easier to buy a bunch of veggies and portion them out right away and freeze them. That way she'd get a better variety, I'd waste less, and it would save me a bunch of preparation time every night. That's important to me with eighty other mouths to feed.

Some of the main veggie staples for everyday feeding would be a mixed variety (not just one) of romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, butterhead lettuce, Swiss chard, cilantro, Belgian endive, curly endive, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, cherry tomato, zucchini, baby carrot (1), gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, and radicchio. Print off this chart to use on a daily basis to make sure she is getting a proper healthy diet for a cavy: Diet/Nutrition Chart

No offense, but just feeding her whatever you have around at the time would not guarantee that she's receiving the correct amounts of nutrients every day. No frozen veggies. I'm sorry to say, but you'll have to prepare fresh veggies for every meal (which would be one cup of a variety of veggies twice per day).

Since she's still a baby, you will need to make sure that she's eating alfalfa hay, or alfalfa pellets. It doesn't have to both as long as it's one, or the other (I believe that's what Ly says for young ones. She's our diet moderator) up until about 10 months old.

[Jenni_Feathers]

Originally Posted by Wheek Weak

Since she's still a baby, you will need to make sure that she's eating alfalfa hay, or alfalfa pellets. It doesn't have to both as long as it's one, or the other (I believe that's what Ly says for young ones. She's our diet moderator) up until about 10 months old.

Actually, the alfafa hay or pellets should be in addition to grass hay and timothy based pellets, you could do that or just make sure she has calcium rich veggies.

[Wheek Weak]

Thanks for clarifying that Jenni_Feathers. I was hoping someone would be able to correct me if I was off on the information.

[Almi_]

Originally Posted by rabbitsncavyluv

I wasn't telling you off. Taking pet store dumps isn't considered rescue by all. I was asking a question. Not all 'rescues' are mean or skittish. Pet store pigs are the ones usually not handled or socialized and you are supporting pet milling and pet overpopulation by buying them. Petco's adoptions are just their previously sold pigs that have been returned.

No, teddies are not long hair pigs. They are called teddies in the US, not rexes.

You need ivermectin to treat for mites (or Revolution), not oil. Here Guinea Lynx :: Mange Mites

Submit the vet bill to the pet store and make it unprofitable for them to sell sick animals.

And no frozen veggies: http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...n-veggies.html

At 8-10 ounces your pig is only a few weeks old.

Oh, okay, since you used selective wording and questions, you weren't telling me off.

In either case, you came off as offensive.

I didn't say that getting a pig from Petco's adoption center would be a rescue, I said it would be an adoption.

This particular pet store has an open habitat, and people that are tall enough can reach in and hold the rabbits and cavies. Besides that, this one is young and doesn't flip out when I pick her up, and that's basically what I was looking for. This pet store also is a small local store, so they buy from locals and take in people's unwanted pigs (as far as I know) and sell or adopt them out (not really sure, I don't go there often enough to know). I think they might breed them in the store, but I doubt it, I think the babies I've seen have just been from pregnant mothers that people dumped there. Not sure.

I thought I read on a cavy site on a page with all the different varieties that "teddies" were the ones with the crazy fur (not the ones with the long, straight hair). So you say they're the ones with curly fur then, and that's what I have?

Um, okay, well I have Ivermectin. I have it mixed 5 parts water and 1 part Ivermectin in a spray bottle for my mice. Thanks for the link - I'll have to take a look at that.

I would do that, but the cavy came with virtually no guarantee and I signed nothing when I got her. >_<

Thank you for the link on the veggies. I've heard that feeding frozen veggies to reptiles wasn't good because freezing them takes out some vitamins, but I wasn't sure if it would make a difference for rodents. I'm glad I asked.

Originally Posted by Wheek Weak

Some of the main veggie staples for everyday feeding would be a mixed variety (not just one) of romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, butterhead lettuce, Swiss chard, cilantro, Belgian endive, curly endive, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, cherry tomato, zucchini, baby carrot (1), gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, and radicchio. Print off this chart to use on a daily basis to make sure she is getting a proper healthy diet for a cavy: Diet/Nutrition Chart

No offense, but just feeding her whatever you have around at the time would not guarantee that she's receiving the correct amounts of nutrients every day. No frozen veggies. I'm sorry to say, but you'll have to prepare fresh veggies for every meal (which would be one cup of a variety of veggies twice per day).

Since she's still a baby, you will need to make sure that she's eating alfalfa hay, or alfalfa pellets. It doesn't have to both as long as it's one, or the other (I believe that's what Ly says for young ones. She's our diet moderator) up until about 10 months old.

Um, feeding her whatever I have around would ensure that she got a variety of things.

I wanted to know if there were certain things I should make sure she gets every day. Okay, I get it, they need a variety, but I would like to pick the veggie healthiest for them and make sure and give that to her every day, along with a few other things (that would most likely vary by week, when we went to get fresh fruits/veggies). If I knew of something that I should always keep around, I would always be sure I had something fresh to feed her.

You can't tell me that I need to buy everything on that list and feed her a little bit of each every day. That's just not practical at all. Maybe...can you guys tell me (or link me to a thread of) what you guys feed your pigs day to day (and week to week)? That way I can get a better idea of a good feeding regimen.

I figured she was only a few weeks old, because she is very small. I'll make sure and pick up some alfalfa hay for her - or would it be okay to mix alfalfa-based rabbit pellets into hers?

[pigsforlife]

No rabbit pellets.

KMs timothy based pellets or oxbow cavy cuisine/performance (cuisine is alfalfa based, perfomance timothy based) is the way to go. Unlimited timothy hay supplemented with alfalfa hay until she is 6 months old. Again Oxbow and KMs are the best brands out there.

Check out the stickies located at the top of each forum. In the Diet and Nutrition forum there is one particularly sticky that holds a chart posted by Ly. Look at this.

Pigs need a varied diet of vegetables, yes, but you need to watch how often particular veggies are fed and in what quantities. Therefore you may find it easier to set up a menu that you can follow.

Please consider getting her a friend, cavies are social creatures and do well in groups of 2 or more. http://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm

2 sows can live happily in a 2x3 C&C cage which is 7.5sq ft.

She could grow up to be a rex/teddy (fuzzy hair like my Toffee - http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...hegirls006.jpg - she is the cream and white pig in the background) or a texel, which has long curly/wavy hair. Crazy haired pigs are abbys which is what my Rosie is - http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...hegirls015.jpg