Vetbed: Is Vetbed good?

[Wodentoad]

Originally Posted by GizzyandMe

THEY DID!! And I was wrong and Gizzy is much better off cause I listen! I was feeding her Rabbit Pellets and Iceberg Lettuce and about a CUP full of green beans a day! Now she is on special Cavy food, frilly and romain lettuce and have a variety of veggies every day.

Oh I see my own shady guinea pig owning past. My girl lived on the colored bit stuff, had hay and lettuce as a treat and... ugh. If I'd only known back then.

As for the discussion on cats, I must add my own picture of my neighbor's cat who shared the indoors with my dog for about a year. You can tell because of the pictures below that he is a poor sad indoor kitty. I kinda miss him (I moved away).

[ferndalezoo]

I just don't like people being horrible about the way I care for my pets. How would you all like it if some people came along and accused you of neglect and told you everything you're doing for your pets is wrong?

I'd think long and hard about what they had to say.... I'd do some REAL research and soul-searching, and, in the end, I'd be VERY VERY grateful for their insight into helping me fix what I was (unknowingly) doing wrong.

Not everyone here is "perfect". Not all of us came here knowing everything, or even anything at all, about properly caring for guinea pigs. I know that when I found this site-- back as a lurker-- I was doing absolutely EVERYTHING wrong. I mean everything. Fang, my pig back then, lived alone in a very small pet-store cage, on corn-cob bedding (huge choking hazard). She ate the food that was mixed with seeds, etc (I thought those were great treats), rarely got veggies, and never got hay. The fact that she lived 5ish years is still pretty amazing to me.

Listen. Learn. If you stop being offended long enough to actually HEAR what's being said to you, you, and your pigs, might just be better for it.

[SheriMartini]

Let's for a moment consider Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

When housing animals outdoors, you have to bank on nothing ever going wrong. Everything would ALWAYS have to be best case scenario. Life is not always best case scenario. Cars leak junk, dogs/cats get out, gates get left open, grass gets treated, etc, etc, etc. All it takes is that ONE time for your animal to suffer the consequences of YOUR actions. We had an outside cat when I was young. Her name was Little Kitty and she was gorgeous! We let her in and out as she pleased, and she ended up getting poisoned by our across the street neighbor. He was a very cruel man...

You can't prevent every bad thing in life, but why not try?

The word "paranoid" has been thrown around quite a bit. I don't think attempting to prevent the worst case scenarios is "paranoid." It is ensuring that you are doing everything in your power to make sure your animals are safe and sound. All it takes is that one time... that one moment where fate takes over and something bad happens. How would you feel as a pet owner to know that your actions directly contributed to the death or illness of your animal? What if you would have brought them in that one night when the dog that never gets out... gets out. What if you would have put an extra frozen water bottle out the day it is abnormally warm? What if you would have put an extra blanket in there the night that it was abnormally cold? What if you would have left the door closed and that car wouldn't have been driving by? What if?

[crazywiggy]

Oh my goodness - I have been following this thread for a while but I have only just realised you mean your pigs are completely outside - with not even a shed for protection.

I don't mean to be rude but you are very lucky to still have any live pigs at all. Pigs are highly susceptible to excess heat or cold, drafts, damp, etc - things which can not possibly be prevented in a hutch. Not to mention the risks of predators, parasites, vermin etc that have already been mentioned.

Please don't make the mistake I did - my first ever pet was rabbit who lived outside in his safe hutch, which we believed was warm and comfortable because we covered it in bad weather. That poor baby died at less than two years old of pneumonia. So much for safe, well insulated hutches.

A shed alone is not going to be good enough either, as they are not well insulated. A colleague of mine keeps his pigs in the shed over winter but still complains that their water bottle freezes! Having slept in one myself I can tell you from personal experience that sheds are not warm, or draft free, or safe from vermin or insects etc.

Seriously, please don't get offended by people's comments on here. I know in the UK it is still considered normal for certain animals to live outside but that doesn't make it right. There is also a lot of bad info, in books, in pet shops, etc. It is so easy to make mistakes. Sadly, most people don't realise these mistakes until its too late and their beloved pets are dead. I found out the hard way - I sincerely hope you don't have to. Please, please get your animals into a proper, safe environment asap.