I am going to buy a guinea pig

[charlieandanna]

[font=Arial]hey im new to this web site, and im very interesting in buying some cavies, i have had cavies before, but i don't have any at the moment, i have rabbits and dogs and other animals, and i know enough about cavies to have some, i know they need a daily supply of vitamin c, and they need regular grooming, and bathing every six months or so, i know they like to be in pairs, and they need a good varity of food, eg pellets vegabels fruit, and because they chew so much to keep there teeth from over growing they need a chewing bar, i have 4ft hutches to keep them in, and any guinea pigs i get will get handled daily and they will get tons of tlc. [/font]

Anyone got anymore tips on looking after them, or has anyone got any cavies for sale ?????? i would really like rough coated guinea pigs, or [font=Arial]Abyssinian[/font], but might consider other breeds, plz e-mail me or post here if u have any for sale, thanks.

Anna xXx

[GunieasForEver]

Glad to hear your getting some new piggies you could buy rescue ones or ones from a shop there always in need of good homes. I dont know anyone who gives pellets to cavies there for rabbits and as for vitimins that is all suplyed in guniea pig food, dont give your new guniea pig rabbit food as it doesent have the right vitamins in it that is why guniea pig food is diffrent from rabbit mix, rabbits dont need as many vitamins.

Chewing bars can be very fatning i cut my gunieas teeth down but if you dont know how just take them to the vet they only charge £3-5 to have them done.
But if you do it yourself watch the tung as you could easly cut it off
You could try putting a small apple branch inside thats suposed to be the best thing for teeth.

Long haird need grooming and brushing every day but if you have a short haired the dont need a lot of brushing or bathing
Hope this info helps and enjoy your new guniea pig

[VoodooJoint]

Firt off. Don't buy from a pet shop. Read this link to find out why. http://cavyspirit.com/petstores.htm
There is tons of info available on this site and others. What you will need to get started is:

a big C&C cage http://www.cavycages.com/

Good hay Alfalfa if young (under 6 months) Timothy if older.

Good Pellets some of the best are Oxbow http://oxbowhay.com

Lots of appropriate fresh veggies.

Here is a great diet for nutritional info. http://www.guinealynx.info/nutrition.html

Most of all stick around the site and learn more. There is a wealth on information available from our members.

[daftscotslass]

Visit http://www.guineapigrehome.org.uk/gp/centres.asp

There are several rescue centres in your area. Opt to adopt!

[charlieandanna]

thank you for the advice gunieasforever, i wouldnt give my guinea pigs rabbit food, in all the pet shops in my area they sell this food called super rabbit excel and super guinea excel, and it is vet recommend its not cheap stuff, and all my rabbit love it, is it right to use hay for guinea pigs bedding rather than straw cuz straw can irritate there eyes ??? and the hay is good for them to eat too.

I expect i will take my guinea pigs to the vets to have there teeth cut, cuz even though i do most of those things on my rabbit, rather than taking them to the vets, i imagine it would be harder to cut teeth on guinea pigs, and i wouldnt want to hurt them. How often do they need there teeth cut ??? i spose i depends on the guinea pigs ????? i know everyone says not to buy any pets from pet shops, but i have found some perfect guinea pigs in this pet shop near me, and i think im going to buy them, i know the family that owns the pet shop, and all the animal they sell have health check ups from the vets and they all come with guarentees and proper breeders supply the guinea pigs to them, they are pedigree [font=Arial]Abyssinian[/font], and i know they will need grooming but i can manage that, i mean i have alot of [font=Arial]experience[/font] with my angora rabbits !!!

Thanks for everyones help, i like this web site, on most sites all the people reply saying, oh you cant get a guinea pig or rabbit cuz you dont know enough about them and then they try and quiz you on what you know, and i just think thats wrong, cuz im like well these people that are being cockey saying this to you, at one point they were complete novices.
dear me some people, .


From Anna xXx

[VoodooJoint]

Originally Posted by charlieandanna

i know everyone says not to buy any pets from pet shops, but i have found some perfect guinea pigs in this pet shop near me, and i think im going to buy them, i know the family that owns the pet shop, and all the animal they sell have health check ups from the vets and they all come with guarentees and proper breeders supply the guinea pigs to them,

You have been to the breeders? You have seen the conditions they come from personally?

Guess what. If these breeders are selling their animals to pet shops then they are not responsible breeders. "They would never sell animals to animal wholesalers, at animal shows, to pet stores, etc. Such selling means the breeder does not fulfill their commitment to these animals. "

Please do not support the pet industry. Animals are not objects that should be bought and sold on a whim. By supporting a pet shop all you are doing is confiming the "animals as objects" attitude and perpetuating the problem.

Breeders will breed more, stores will stock more, more homeless animals end up in shelters and rescues.

If you do get GPs please make sure to get a same sex pair. Do not begin breeding them like you do your rabbits.

[charlieandanna]

I think its upto me were i buy my animals, i just want friendly advise, not people telling me what to do, and yes i breed my rabbits once or twice a year, but me and my family keep most of the babys, and i am experianced in caring for them, so plz dont post on this message "I am going to buy a guinea pig" again unless you have something nice to say. sorry if u take that the wrong way im not trying to be nasty. Can you answer something though, if u think that pet shops dont treat the animals right or something, then if i got one from there wouldnt it be good cuz i was giving a guinea pig that was in need a place to live for the rest of its life, plus it wouldnt end up in a shelter or dead, cuz it would be getting a really good home for its life, im sorry i just think, its up to the people that buy the guinea pig were they get it.

no offence to anyone, sorry.

Anna xXx

[VoodooJoint]

Originally Posted by charlieandanna

I think its upto me were i buy my animals, i just want friendly advise, not people telling me what to do,

I did give you friendly advice. I advised you not to buy from pet shops. Here is more info why http://cavyspirit.com/petstores.htm

Originally Posted by charlieandanna

yes i breed my rabbits once or twice a year, but me and my family keep most of the babys,

What happens to the ones you don't keep? Do you realize that every litter you breed causes rabbits in rescues to lose potential homes? There is an overpopulation of pet rabbits, Guinea Pigs and animals in general. The world does not need more to be bred right now.

Originally Posted by charlieandanna

Can you answer something though, if u think that pet shops dont treat the animals right or something, then if i got one from there wouldnt it be good cuz i was giving a guinea pig that was in need a place to live for the rest of its life, plus it wouldnt end up in a shelter or dead, cuz it would be getting a really good home for its life, im sorry i just think, its up to the people that buy the guinea pig were they get it.

By buying a Guinea Pig from a store you are encouraging them to replace the sold animal with up to 5 more. The breeders breed more. Breeders like this http://cavyspirit.com/hollister_rescue.htm

You are not doing any of these animals a favor. By buying one or two you are possibly dooming 10 more to horrible lives. It is better to not support the process and rescue instead.

No one can force you to do the right thing and rescue. However, you need to know that this forum is owned by a rescuer. There are several rescuers on this board and most of the people here have adopted rather then bought their pets. We do not support breeding or pet shops. You will not get friendly help in supporting the very industry that makes rescuing neccesary. By buying from a shop you make our jobs harder.

You can take a little time and do the right thing. You can get educated about rescuing and the animal overpopulation problem or you can do the easy thing. Ignore the problem. Ignore what we are saying about not buying and go ahead and contribute to the problem we fight against.

It feels better to do the right thing, Please take some time and look into rescuing. We will be happy to help locate some wonderful GPs for you to adopt.

[Piglet]

Did you even bother looking at this:

Welcome to the Cavy Cages Forum. Share your ideas, questions, photos, and suggestions about housing and cages. You must be registered to post, upload photos, and add comments. For guinea pig care and emergency topics, visit the Guinea Lynx Forum or the CavyMadness Forum.

This forum is run by a guinea pig rescue and is a rescue-friendly board. Intentional breeding and/or showing discussions are not welcome in this forum. For more information on breeding, see Cavy Spirit's Breeding Page.

You also must use proper English. If we bother to write our posts properly, then you should to. It is common curtesy

If you buy a pig from a pet store, then you are contributing to the pet store's cruelty with your money. You may think that on the outside the pet store is nice - big cages, ok hay, good bedding, but you have no clue what goes on in the mills and behind closed doors. Do you even know how some petstores kill pigs? They don't bother treating them because vetinary treatment is far too costly. THe easier option is to freeze them or whack them on the head.

Pet stores don't treat animals right. If you buy one, then another one will be put in it's place. You are not rescuing a life by no means, you are merely creating more space for another one to suffer. Is this what a loving person does?

Irresponsible people, mostly kids, are the ones responsible for pigs being in shelters. We need to save lives by adopting out.

Scotslass has kindly posted a link for you. There are loads of guinea pig wanting a home in Hamphsire, there is no denying that.

Yes, it is up to people where they get their pigs, but if you had the decency to read what this forum was about, you would see we prefer adoption than buying.

[Piglet]

I forgot to add DO NOT get a guinea pigs teeth cut. Yes, their teeth do constantly grow but you dhould put some wood in the cage to gnaw at. Also, by providing hay daily, their teeth should stay at a good length.

Hay should not really be used as bedding because it gets soiled easily. Pigs (who would) don't eat hay that they have urinated or pooped on. Try using megazorb www.megazorb.co.uk or vetbed from ebay, or fleece.

You said hutch, so I am assuming you're keeping them outside? It can get cold overnight in England, so I recommend bringing them in at night and during september to April

[charlieandanna]

please stop it. i feel like i am being bullied, im not a bad person, and this is [font=Arial]ridiculous[/font] and uncalled for, its not my fault that guinea pigs end up in shelters or die, i know the people that own the pet shop im getting these guinea pigs from, and they are good experianced may i add people. If i buy one guinea pig from a pet shop its not going to make a differnce to anything, and if i didnt buy it, some little kid, or un experianced people might of brought it and then it proberly would end up in a shelter.

i think i will unregister from this site, if all you people are going to make me feel like i have commited some crime.

And you call this site friendly, plus before you started critizing or whatever you are doing, i said how nice this site was and how different it was from the others, i spoke to soon.

From Anna.

Heaven knows why people act like they do sometimes, its never for the better, adios. I am so sure that everyone will think im some nasty person for what i have wrote, but i dont really care, i care about my animals, and being a member of this site, doesnt help them in anyway, it just makes me upset. I really only wanted a bit of advise about caring for them, if i wanted to be bullied i would have asked for it.

[charlieandanna]

thank you for the nice advise piglet. I will take it all into account when i buy my guineas

[Piglet]

If you truly cared for animals you would adopt and save a life. I just don't see what you have against shelters. I really do feel you just want a pretty looking abyssian (sp?) and that is the only reason.

Thanks, but other people did give advice too!

[Piglet]

Well if you are leaving us, can I give you a few website to help with care?

www.cavyspirit.com
www.guinealynx.com <-- check out the nutrition link, because there is a massive vegetable table that will come in very handy. Also, this website has a forum. I'm sure you'll be very welcome over there *manic laughter*

[charlieandanna]

thats not true at all, im exicted cuz i can get the one i wanted, but i would have got a short haired one, if one had come up. I have nothing against shelters. I just dont liek people telling me what to do, and it just sounds like your bullying me, and its upsetting me.

[Piglet]

I'm sorry if it seems like we are bullying because that is definately not our intention. I, alongside some other on this forum, don't sugar coat out answers. We tell the truth like it is and sometimes it can come across a little forceful. All we want to do if give out the best advice.