Books and Care Manuals

[Descent2]

I am still considering whether or not to get a couple of guinea pigs, and I would like to know what the best books or manuals are for looking after them that are in print. I would appreciate some help with this as I've never really looked after a guinea pig.

[Newpiggiemom]

You can find more useful, correct, up to date information here than you can in any manual. They would just be a waste of money, I think. You can print out information like food charts from this site and save the money from the manual.

[willowfaery]

I agree. I've never seen one with 100% accurate information, especially the ones sold at pet stores. Everything I've learned, I've learned from this site.

[Cherish]

Books and manuals can be very unreliable, as there's no strict laws with regards to many aspects of keeping guinea pigs, so in a lot of ways, people can publish pretty much any mis-information they like.
For example, I once read a manual that stated that guinea pigs are best kept outside, and are perfectly happy living alone!

However, when I was a teenager and was researching guinea pigs before I got my own pair (the internet wasn't really around in the same way back then, and there weren't really any online guinea pig communities around) I found Peter Gerney's books to be the best.

He was very knowledgable, and the books are full of great stories about his own guinea pigs, too.
However, even these books need to be taken with a pinch of salt.
They're interesting, but not always entirely accurate, despite the best intentions.

So just be wary of anything you read in books or manuals, and don't take anything as complete truth, just because it's in print.
Always check out any important information with more than one website, even the advice you get on here, just to make sure.

Internet information is more current, but sometimes certain aspects of piggy care are a matter of opinion, not fact.

[Toadies]

When I first "fostered" my boys, I bought a book. BIG MISTAKE!!!!! Fortunately, my vet was a good source of info and the boys survived until I found this site. Now they aren't surviving, they're thriving. You can truly find whatever you need to know on this site for the care and feeding of your piggs. You do need a good, cavy saavy vet, but that's about it for anything additional.

[Ziggy&Herald]

I also agree with everyone else. Everything I leaned was from here and GuineaLynx. They have very reliable info on sicknes and medications as well.

[i-love-nev]

I had a "flick through" the Guinea Pigs For Dummies and I was quite pleased with most of the info, I think if you can find a reliable book then it is worth it. Honestly I have never been able to find the info on here that I have found in books.

[i-love-nev]

Originally Posted by Cherish

I found Peter Gerney's books to be the best.

I agree, P.Gurneys book is good but it also gave some weird info on housing. Still, it was good to read it and it boosted my knowledge.

[Cavy Carnage]

Well my input would be to not buy any books. If you want a book because you don't have easy access to the internet I would suggest printing out pages from this site and guinea lynx and stapling it all together to make a sort of book or include it all in a folder. Libraries/ internet cafes often have printing facilities and it wouldn't cost as much as a book, would be more reliable and you just print what you need to know. Include pages on diet/ housing/ first aid etc, if you forget a page next time you are on the internet find the info on these sites and print it.

[Ly&Pigs]

Peter Gurney's advice isn't all it's cracked up to be. He was a massive breeder. Most of the books on the market are written by breeders.

The best manual is Guinea Lynx :: Guinea Pig Care Guide.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

This site and Guinea Lynx :: A Medical and Care Guide for Your Guinea Pig have the best care info.

[bluezee]

We got the Animal Planet Guinea Pigs book for our daughter. We read over 20 books from the library and found lots of conflicting information. But the AP book does a good job. It included info on C&C cages, says no Vit. C in water, gives an ingredient list of things to avoid in pellets.... The only quibble I found is that he suggests feeding cooked dark greens like Kale.

All in all not a bad reference, and my daughter learned
a lot and is able to use it to find out information when needed, where searching the net isn't practical for her.

[auburnmare5]

The best info oyu can find anywhere is on this site and on GuineaLynx.com!
I have never trusted any books, even before I found this site, I could tell they were wrong!
Please, don't waste your time and money!
Do research on the internet but make sure you know the info is right!

[Descent2]

Thanks, I appreciate all the replies. To be honest I really like the way they look and act and so on and find them really interesting but they seem to be intelligent little creatures that need lots of care. I want to be sure that I'm at least starting out right. I still have a lot of research to do, including whether or not I can get one or two from the SPCA in my area or adopt or whatever. So far this site is the best I've found.