Who looks after your piggies - holidays?

[raspberryruffle]

Hi,

What do you do with your piggies when you are on holiday?

We are going away for a week with three other families. These families would be the ones I would ask to look after our piggies if we were going away on our own. So now I don't really have anyone to look after them other than my in-laws who are elderly and really don't know the first thing about Guinea Pigs !!!

Is there somewhere similar to a boarding kennels or cattery type thing?

Kind Regards,
Raspberryruffle

[JarBax]

I sometimes take my piggies with me - though that is to my parents' house, and they are (relatively) happy to give over their spare bedroom for my four girls! I don't imagine this will be an option for you this time.
I have neighbours who are happy to look after the pigs for me. If they're not available, I have older family friends who come round. They seem to enjoy it, as their own children (and pets) have left home.

If all else failed, there is a very respectable older teenage boy, who lives over the road. I would happily pay him to come and check on the pigs for me. (I have done the same with a friend's son who was on holiday from University). On every occassion, I have left lengthy notes (bullet pointing the vital things) for both our sakes. I like to have peace of mind that my pets are being well cared for, and I know from having been on the other side of the equation, how helpful it is to have a list, so I don't forget anything. Your parents may welcome the opportunity to look after your pigs! I know my parents* (*mum) has really enjoyed watching them do their piggy things - and has taken the best care ever over looking after them, without having any prior knowledge whatsoever (just my pages of notes!)

There are pet-sitters out there, which may be an option where you are. I would absolutely want good references, and still leave the lists! Maybe your vets have information of responsible pet sitters? We have a college nearby that teaches veternary nursing - that would be somewhere I would go to enquire about help - students always need extra cash!

If your piggies were adopted from a shelter, maybe they offer piggy-sitting services? It is another way for them to keep an eye on their pigs, and another few often will not make a huge differene. You would know the set up well, and it would be good to know you were helping a little financially too.

I remember feeling a bit stuck one year, and looked into the local kennels. There was one who offered facilities for ANY pet - they had outdoor runs etc for rabbits. I would be willing to pay for an indoor, heated (in the winter) space for my pigs, agin, I would provide my own food/hay/hideys etc. Maybe that is another idea?

Think have exhausted my thoughts! Maybe something will be of use? Maybe another member on here lives nearby - the ideal solution!!!

[kathrynj]

I am assuming that you live in australia as this thread is in that section. If so, the Australian Cavy Sanctuary in Brisbane boards piggies. Also I know two vets that do so also, so it may be worth checking that out

[PhoenixFeather]

We have neighbors who will look after our pets for us when we travel, but if they are not available, we often take our piggy with us when we travel. We have a large pet store cage that we use as a carrier, and we bring a shower curtain, old towels, 10 grids zip-tied together in a long line and then folded zig-zag so they lie flat, and the litter tray and a little carefresh. Then at our destination we lay out the shower curtain and towels and set the grids up in a 2x6 on top of it, and binder clip the open ends together, put in his litter pan and food, water bottle and hay, and voila, make-shift 2x3 cage. Some places we can leave this up all the time, but if we go to my parents' he has to go back into the cage overnight, when we pull out the trundle bed and use up his floor space for our own sleeping space.

It's a bit of a hassle traveling with animals (making sure to keep the car warm enough, gathering all their stuff, etc.) but it works out well.

[cookie_gal]

We use our local rescue, we're friends with the lady there and she is kind enough to give us a reduced rate. I know they are happy and safe there. They get floortime twice a day too in an enclosure filled with tunnelsand hideyholes etc too.

[Aertyn]

I've yet to be on a holiday whilst I've had my pigs (over 3 years) and the longest I've been away from them is 3 days (was in hospital) if we do go on day trips I have the boy across the road come over to check on them (morning and afternoon), I leave pre-measured food containers out, instructions for filling up water bottles and neatly labled containers of chopped vegetables in the fridge. And that's just for a day trip!

You can ask around, there are some people that have guinea pigs on ACS and GPC that will help you out by either finding a boarder or boarding them for you.

Would help if we had a location too.

[enchantingcavy]

who looks after the piggies while on holidays....what's a holiday again? LOL I've forgotten what one of them is like....technically I couldn't go away with more than 100 piggies to watch over same as you Nicole since having more than a couple of piggies I havn't had a proper holiday but it's something I'm willing to give up for them...after all I usually spend the whole holiday wanting to be back home with the guinea pigs or worried about them...but I could probably make it for a couple of days and have some of the lovely volunteers watch over the shelter while away...

When I was younger I actually used to bring my guinea pigs with me because we didn't have any neighbours we could trust. Our holiday home was set up well where the piggies could be set up securely inside the rental although if the owners had found out I'm not sure they would've been entirely happy...but yeah in saying this these would be relatively local holidays the furthest being 5-6hrs away and the piggies would be inside the car in large enclosures on towels munching away on vegies and other food for the trip...I think alot of it depends on who you have around to mind the guinea pigs...if there's someone you can trust it's fairly simple but in my case their was more risk of the guinea pigs not being cared for well being left at home rather than coming with us...back then their was no such thing as a guinea pig boarding facility or small animal boarding facility.

jess

[enchantingcavy]

Raspberryruffle from what I know some of the RSPCA shelters offer boarding and some vets but it'd be a matter of finding out their experience with guinea pigs and how they'd be cared for in their care and also if a local shelter or vet even does boarding...have emailed you with other suggestions.

jess

[raspberryruffle]

Thanks very much for all your replies. I will take them all into consideration!!

[QuackXP]

Since I’m traveling with my family I’m going to have a close friend come and check up on my pigs every other day. But because winters up here can get pretty bad I’m going to make sure they could go 3-4 days worth of supplies.

First thing is I’m going to get a gravity feeder and see if they will use it. I'll have my friend top it off every visit.

I’m going to buy a second extra large water bottle. Normally the two of them use a max of 1/2 of their normal size bottle a day. My friend will change both every visit.

I'm also going to install a second hayrack. I’ll have my friend max out the hayracks every day.

Veggies will unfortunially come every other day once a day. I know it’s not ideal. But my friend lives across town and already has a 1 hour commute home. Asking him to sop buy every day during the busy and snowy holiday season is too much.

I know it’s not ideal. But it’s far from unsafe.

I also plan on moving my computer into the living room while I’m gone so I can setup a webcam.

[kathrynj]

Quack, be very careful with the gravity feeder, I tried one, and came in to find my Mopsey stuck inside!

[Percy's Mom]

I was going to mention that as well. I've read several stories of pigs getting stuck in gravity feeders or getting claws or paws stuck. You might want to consider adding an extra pellet dish instead.

[QuackXP]

Thanks for the advice on gravity feeders. I was going to test it before I left. But i think ill just go with an extra dish. As it is now the dish that I have only gets half full when I fill it up.

I plan on there being way more food and watter than what they would ever need over a 48 hour period between when my friend will stop by.