2 Guinea Pigs from Hong Kong

[Merry]

No matter how huge a cage can be, it can never be as big as the "wild" and there isn't the natural bacteria to decompose their waste ... so, I guess that if I do not want a sick GP, I really need to keep them clean.

That's why you spot clean every day or two, and change all the litter every week. Putting lots of hay on top of the shavings will even allow the droppings and urine to fall through to the bedding so the piggies don't have to walk on them, and prevent the shavings from sticking to their veggies. Grids simply aren't acceptable for piggies to live on.

[Cutecavy]

I agree with Merry and Clover and the admin. You are simply watching your guinea pig fight for there lifes!! This is animal abuse and i was horrified to see the photos of your guinea pigs. They certently dont 'love' swimming, they are TERRIFIED of it!!

And you shouldn't use wire mesh! That can damage your guinea pigs feet. It seems you just thinking of what you want, you want to not have to clean the cage alot, well think about the guinea pigs, animals come first.

[FurryPal]

Cutecavy: The Guinea Pigs can swim - that's a fact. So parents who put their child in the pool to swim are abusing their child even if their child can float and swim -- UTTER RUBBISH! We are not born swimmer and we were taught how to float but GPs are born swimmers. One day, if I can take a short video of my FLUFFY swimming and post it in my BLOG, anyone who sees that would be CONVINCED WITHOUT DOUBT that he likes swimming.

I clean the cage EVERY DAY! Again, the huge amount of waste makes me think how people can subject their GPs to living in conditions so dirty and the wire mesh is also cleaned eveyday - and I was also horrified to see the amount of urine stains and hair.

In big cages, waste is not obvious does not mean that they do not exist. In the cage, I have a bottom layer of bedding. On top of the bedding, I have a plastic layer to catch the urine. On the plastic layer, I have absorbent paper to aborb the urine. On top of the paper, I have more bedding. This are all discarded daily at one wrapping and the sides of the cage sanitized.

If your GP is not producing enough waste, you are not feeding them well. Our GPs have liberal amount of greens, fruits, pellets, Timothy grass, Alfafa and treats. they are fed several times a day and have never been ill. They are so clean that we never hesitate putting them on our bed or carrying them in our arms.

I can see all your point of views and I understand how you felt about the wire mesh and the swimming. Our pigs and yours are living in a physical environment that are controlled by the conditions of a person's living area. We all have the interest of our pigs at heart and we know that our pigs have different personalities and talents. Just do not impose what you think is right on others.

If you let your kid swim and I accused you of child abuse - how would you feel? To me this does not make any sense at all.

I visit this forum quite regularly and I can see that people who have big cages are trying to outdo one another for the sake of their GPs? Perhaps. This is good business for the petshop ... more beddings, more this and that -- but if you have the time, money, and space to maintain, that's wonderful. If not, it's not fair to your pets.

So my advise is those who cannot "catch up" with the big cages is to keep it simple and keep it clean. Feed your piggies well and you will be rewarded with a healthy and happy companion for many years. We have had rodents of all sorts the last 30 years and they were different from how others had kept theirs.

[pennick]

Originally Posted by FurryPal

Cutecavy: The Guinea Pigs can swim - that's a fact. So parents who put their child in the pool to swim are abusing their child even if their child can float and swim -- UTTER RUBBISH! We are not born swimmer and we were taught how to float but GPs are born swimmers. One day, if I can take a short video of my FLUFFY swimming and post it in my BLOG, anyone who sees that would be CONVINCED WITHOUT DOUBT that he likes swimming.
.

I am not disclaiming that your piggy cannot swim. Your piggy can swim from morning to night as long as he has a way of getting out . Your statement about "So parents who put their child in the pool to swim are abusing their child even if their child can float and swim -- UTTER RUBBISH". No adult will take a child and place them in a pool even if they can float and swim and leave them there without a way out. So what is your point.

[Cutecavy]

I agree with pennick. No one would just plop there kid in the pool and expect her/him to swim and float. No way! No one would do that. However, you still need to relised you cavy baby is fighting for its life in the bath!!

[FurryPal]

No need to argue. They were NOT "plopped" -- they were lowered and watched. Please read before you comment. They do not swim from morn to night ... they were there for 30s to less than 5 mins and every second there were 3 pairs of eyes and two pairs of hands at the other end of the tub. Understand??

[pennick]

Originally Posted by FurryPal

No need to argue. They were NOT "plopped" -- they were lowered and watched. Please read before you comment. They do not swim from morn to night ... they were there for 30s to less than 5 mins and every second there were 3 pairs of eyes and two pairs of hands at the other end of the tub. Understand??

You are missing the point and not understanding the posts. I said they can swim from morning to night, its okay if they do, no one here cares. And yes they may enjoy swimming, maybe even love it. Maybe they dream about it. No one here cares about that either. What we care about is the fact that because piggies cannot voice their objections and because you have no escape route for them just by the slim chance they actually hate swimming, that is the disturbing part. And because you keep quoting on everything except the issue at hand "ESCAPE ROUTES" is very disturbing. The very last thing I have to say on this topic is. As long as you continue to have your piggies swim without any chance for them to decide when to get out except to wait for you to take them out then that is disturbing and abusive. And if everyone here agrees which they seem to do, you would think that maybe, just maybe, there is something that we are saying that may be true. JUST GIVE THEM A WAY TO GET OUT ON THEIR OWN. Is that such a big deal.

[salana]

If you build a larger cage, it won't be nearly as dirty. Your cage is only 34"x16", which is about 2x1 in grids. This is 1/3 of the minimum recommended space for a pair of pigs. They're probably sleeping in their pee because they don't have any choice.

I have two boars, one of whom is the smelliest, sloppiest, poopiest pig I've ever had. He's quite happy to sleep in his pee so I have to move his pigloo and hidey houses around a lot to keep him from peeing and pooping in the same place he sleeps. But with a 2x5 cage, there's plenty of fresh spots to put his hidey houses to help keep him clean.

[Cutecavy]

You are missing the point Furrypal. Your cavys cant speak. You say they 'love' swimming.. how do you know? They might and probally HATE it so much !! But they cant tell you cause they cant speak. Think about whats best for them! Not just entertainment for you!!!

[gourihello]

Furry Pal - if you're still watching this thread, email me. I'm in HK too. Be nice to have company discussing cavy problems!

gohoskote@yahoo.com.hk

[Eolith]

Alright, I can sense that this discussion has become dangerously opinionated, but I feel that I need to add my own two cents. If you look at the pictures closely, you can clearly see that the guinea pig is not frightened. If this were the case, the whites of its eyes would be showing and it would appear much more tense. FurryPal obviously has her own opinions on the cage conditions of the guinea pigs, and I think that she probably watches their condition better that a lot of people here. Put it in perspective. There are tons of people that couldn't care less if their guinea pigs had the correct selection of veggies or plenty of floor time and time spent being cuddled.

I'm sorry if some of you are vehemently against anything either FurryPal or I have said. I hope that you will not allow your anger or disagreement to cloud your judgement of our morality. I personally have a large flat-bottomed cage, and I rarely bathe my cavies at all, but I do not think that FurryPal is abusing her cavies in any way, shape, or form.