outdoor vrs indoor
My opinion is that guinea pigs can be kept indoors and outdoors.
I had four guinea pigs and have now got two who are almost 6 years old and have lived in an large OUTDOOR hutch their whole lives.
The cage is perfectly safe and it is under our back veranda.
I also Knew a girl who kept her guinea pigs outside and guess how long they lived, 8 whole years!!!
So what I'm trying to say is what is wrong with keeping cavys outside?
***Deep Breath***
Drafts, Huge Fluxuations in Temperature, Natural Predators, Lice, Ticks, Fleas, Vandals, Yobs, Thugs.
Indoors you have none of these as long as you pigs are kept up off the floor at least by a foot. Temperature is more constant. Fluxuations of maybe 10 degrees c as opposed to 30 degrees outside. No problems with natural predators as they can't get in through the door and same goes for Vandals.
Yes Guinea Pigs CAN live outdoors. However it is BEST to keep them indoors. You should always do best by your pets, not by you, otherwise they are just entertainment rather than family members.
Here are posts I made on the same subject in this thread. http://cavycages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10872
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Post #13
I'm going to try to explain why GPs and Rabbits are viewed in so many places as "outside pets" and why this thinking is outdated.
Not so very long ago most families kept several animals as livestock. They may have a pig, a few chickens, goats or a cow for food purposes. They would have horses for travel a dog to protect and herd the animals and keep predators and vermin out of the barn or sheds and cats would roam the property to kill the mice. The children in the family might keep rabbits, both as pets and a food source, or more financially secure families might keep something essencially worthless for their children as a pet like Guinea Pigs. All of these animals were kept outside. They were livestock. Even the animals viewed as pets were kept outside because that is where animals belonged.
As technology and better availability to food at affordable priced came along the small clutch of livestock disapeared. Gone was the pig and cow. Pork and milk could be bought easily at a store. Soon the chickens and cows followed suit and then the horses once cars and public transportation became available.
The small pets stayed for many families. Dogs and even cats started coming into the houses. It was hard for people to get rid of their dogs and cats because they were personable. They had been such an important part of our lives that we willingly found a new role for them. Dogs and cats became our social friends but still the rabbits and the Guinea Pigs stayed outside in hutches.
Perhaps it is because rabbits and guinea pigs are quiet. They don't whine and scratch at the back door or come climbing in through an open window. They have been forgotten as the rest of the family farm disapeared.
Why is it that on a rainy night we sit inside with a cat in our lap or patting a dog's head while outside there are small, frail creatures huddled in drafty hutches? Many people over the years came to realize that perhaps outside wasn't the ideal place to keep small animals after all. They opened their homes and brought them in and have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with their pets ever since.
The idea of keeping rabbits and guinea pigs outside is as outdated as keeping a cow or a pig in the yard. These poor animals got overlooked as time progressed. They are in even more peril outside then they were in the days of the family farm. Now they dont have a watchdog to keep an eye on them or even the entire family constantly passing by them as they tend to chores.
Dogs, cats, crows, snakes, mice, rats, mosquitos, flies and other insects, rain, sleet, sun and wind and more are all potentially fatal to animals left outside.
Time to catch up with society and stop treating pets as livestock. People can cry all they want about how they love their pets that they keep outside, but the fact is you don't love them enough to bring them in to have them with you all the time. I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad but I simply cannot imagine not having my beloved pets in the house with me all the time.
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Post #32
Any full time outdoor living situation is not recommended. There is no such thing as a safe outdoor hutch. As explained earlier the animals are subject to temperature fluctuations, insects and parasites, and both animal and human predators.
To "do it right" your outdoor hutches must be in a stong and secure outbuilding with temperature control, electricity and constant human monitoring. If it was up to me that part of the forum would be closed down. I'm certain T has her reasons for keeping it even though I know she is as anti-outdoor hutch as I am.
To us outdoor environments means a supervised and safe playyard for part-time playing and grazing. If you noticed we do not have a gallery for outdoor housing, just playyards. We do not allow any substandard cages, including even the most luxurious outdoor hutch, to be featured in the gallery.
In just the last 2 weeks these are some of the things I have heard about happening in so called "safe" outdoor hutches
-2 baby Guinea Pigs getting stolen out of their hutches by humans.
-neighborhood dogs breaking into rabbit hutches and killing the rabbits.
-a hutch either not locked properly or tampered with. The GPs got out and are still missing.
-GPs dying due to heat or cold
-a neighboorhood kid putting his pitbull in an outdoor hutch full of rabbits to watch the dog kill.
-racoons trying to rip apart rabbit hutches. Luckily they made enough noise that the owner was able to stop them although this same person had their rabbits' toes bitten off in the past by racoons reaching the rabbit through the flooring wire.
People that keep their animals in outdoor hutches are playing with their pets' lives. Then, when the worst happens, they come on the boards whining about how awful it is. I have only sympathy for the animals that suffered. The neglectful owner gets nothing but anger and disgust from me.
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In this last week I can add a lot more unfortunate death, torture and abuse onto that list above. You can include the rabbit that was set on fire by the owner's friend. A GP that gave birth outside, all babies died and the mother died a week later. I can add more but it's making me mad just thinking about it. Now that the weather has turned cold for so many of us you can start adding in the amount of animals that freeze to death.
I wouldn't let my dog live outside. Sure he does his business out there and plays out there, but like stubblychin said:I had a whole other list of reasons, but after VJ's post, why be redundant?You should always do best by your pets, not by you, otherwise they are just entertainment rather than family members.
In addition to this, you can also keep a closer eye on them. If they're not feeling well, then you'll notice it a lot faster.
Over here it's more common to keep guinea pigs outside. If I'd ever have to put the guinea pigs in a shed, then I probably would. But it would be fully insulated, with heating, airco...um, a couch, internet connection, a fridge for the veggies, etc. Oh hell, it'd be easier to build a house extension.
I know that if mine were outside they wouldn't receive as much contact and attention from me. They're in my room, so I can easily keep a close eye on them
By the way I mainly did this post because I wanted to show my mum that guinea pigs are meant to be kept inside and if we get anymore thats where we should keep them.
thanks for the infomation anyway!!
What? That makes no sense - in your first post you were almost defending yourself and saying that there is nothing wrong with keeping pigs outside.
Thats because my mum said all that first post (what happened is true) so I thought I might type it in.
Anyway I wanted to know more infomation about it.
I think Guineas can be kept outside as long as they are in a wooden shed with a lock.
But I would never keep mine outside I keep mine in my room
I have had bromley inside and out so I know alot but from my opinion, inside is best. More interaction one of the main things. With bromely outside I would find myself checking up on him about 3 times a day mourning after school and night. Also one more time when he was out to run. But when he is inside I found myself always seeing him and taking him out more often him himself becoming less shy and more friends and play full.
If I could I would have all 14 in the house but I can't (live with parents & no space) So 12 of them live outside, 2 of them in my room. They have a heater in the shed and so they are kept warm enough. I spend all the spare time I have out their with them. I think if you really can't have them inside then they can be in a shed with a lock and heating.
Myspoiltpiggies - just out of curiosity, how did you make the decision to keep those two inside?
Well I have a group of eleven so I knew I wouldn't be able to make a cage big enough in the house. The other piggy is living on his own currently. At maximum I could fit two piggies in my room so it was either them two or the single pig. No way are them two my favourites if that was what you were thinking! I don't have favourites!
No that wasn't what I was thinking, sorry if I offended you. I REALLY was just curious as to which two it was for example babies or sick piggies.
personaly, i thinks it doesn't matter either way. i keep mine outside. aslong as the hutch is water proof and from animals too, i think it's fine keeping them outside, and anyway my too seem to prefure it outside.
oh yeah, and i also have to say that surly they have been wild animals and i'm pretty sure they didn't have houses as shelters.
Well then surely you would be wrong. The domesticated Cavy is nothing like the wild cavy at all. They are a d-o-m-e-s-t-i-c-a-t-e-d animal now. That means that their wild instincts and features have been so altered by humans selectively breeding them that they no longer have the skills or natural equipment to survive in the wild.Originally Posted by Looby
Actually they do. They use other animals' abandoned burrows, rock crevices and other natural features to hide and survive. Of course for a wild cavy that survival isn't long. In the wild a cavy, even a true wild/original one, can not expect a lifespan of over 1 year. Predation, illness and accident result in a short lifespan. By keeping your cavies outside you are subjecting them to a lot of the same dangers even though they are no longer equiped to deal with it--resulting in the potential for a shorter lifespan.
Around here it does matter. We do not condone outside houseing of cavies. It's high time the people that insist on treating their cavies like livestock come to grips with the fact that it will never be accepted on this forum.
I used to think that keeping a cavy outdoors, but I think that as a person that haskept their's out of doors, it's just not the same. You don't know them and they are just animals, not pets or part of the family.
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