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Hello from MN

SillyMolly

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Oh okay, I sorry for the mistake. Molly eats hay but it doesn't help with her teeth so much, so I sometimes have to bring her in to have her teeth tirm. I hate bringing her in though since it scares her so much.
 

peachyteen

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Oh okay, I sorry for the mistake. Molly eats hay but it doesn't help with her teeth so much, so I sometimes have to bring her in to have her teeth tirm. I hate bringing her in though since it scares her so much.
it's not that it doesn't help with her teeth, because it does. but some pigs teeth grow faster than they can grind down eating hay.
 

bpatters

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some pigs teeth grow faster than they can grind down eating hay.

If that's true, I've never heard it in all my years on guinea pig forums.

If a pig is eating enough hay, and doesn't have jaw problems of some sort (elongated roots, abscess, wonky back teeth, etc.), the chewing motion will keep the front teeth ground down. But if you feed a pig enough veggies so that it doesn't eat enough hay (or just doesn't eat it for some other reason), then the front teeth may need to be trimmed. But that's an unusual circumstance, and certainly not normal.
 

SillyAna

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Hi, I am Lola SillyMolly's roommate. I just came home from work and she told me about this group. I have been reading you guys comments. I have been very happy since got my first guinea pig Ana. I got her on June 15, 2015. The vet said that she was around 6-11 months. I named her Ana May Lillian. I did not give her a last name at first because I don;t have a real family that I actually felt loved by. But when i tarted to date my boyfriend now fiancee had basically been calling her his daughter so we call her Ana May Lillian Cuevas. I was going to move out in march so I want get Ana a friend and on October 23, 2015 she was only 15 days old then. She is in her teenage years right now and thinks she is boss. I had to switch her into a different cage until she is a little older and does not bother Ana so much. Her whole name at first was just Oreo. My fiancee said that she looked like an Oreo Cookie. So that is why her name is Oreo. SillyMolly kept calling her Cookie so her full given name is Oreo Cookie Cuevas. She is a doll and at first I didn't think that she was going to like me. She kepted squeeking for my staff so I though that she didn't like me. But my staff told me if I pay more attention to when I pick her up she would prrr very loudly and be happy. I did notice that and then I really did realize that she loved me like she was saying "You are my mommy and no one else. You could never be replaced." Ana was my first guinea pig and I love her dearly and I have also come to love Oreo as well. I am also from Willmar, MN. I am working at a thrift store called goodwill. I buy my supplies and share my veggies with SillyMolly to give to her guinea pig Molly as she does the same to me for my two.
 

SillyMolly

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Molly does have a problem with her teeth, and she doesn't seem to like to eat hay very much. She's starting to eat it more, to my relief, but we still struggle with the teeth issue. Thanks for all the facts, I finding myself learning more and more as a Guinea Pig Mom. All I want is Molly to have a happy, healthy, and loving life so I appreciate all the comments I get that teaches me a little more about Molly (Molly is thankful for it too) :)
 

SillyAna

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Molly is a very great guinea pig in my opinion and you are a great mother SillyMolly. You have done a lot of things to try to help her. Hopefully she'll eat more and more hay now that I have given her a hay bag. Does she eat her hay out of it more and more now? Maybe if she keeps eatting the hay she will have less and less problems with her teeth.
 

SillyMolly

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She's starting to eat a little more of it, she just seems to prefer fresh lettuce. She's getting better little by little, but she still has problems with her teeth
 

SillyAna

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That is good maybe she'll get better and better each day. Hopefully her teeth will also get better. She is still yet young as is ana. Also maybe try the hay they have at blue bird pet shop that BS mentioned about that she told themthat we need better hay here in willmar.
 

SillyAna

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It is soft hay like the kind that i had from the petsmart when I got Ana
 

bpatters

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Cut back on the lettuce -- hay is way more important. It should be 85% of a pig's diet, 10-12% veggies, and the rest pellets.
 

HollyLeaf

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@SillyMolly, maybe you could try a different kind of hay? She might take to a different brand more.
 

blessedmom

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Hi, I am Lola SillyMolly's roommate. I just came home from work and she told me about this group. I have been reading you guys comments. I have been very happy since got my first guinea pig Ana. I got her on June 15, 2015. The vet said that she was around 6-11 months. I named her Ana May Lillian. I did not give her a last name at first because I don;t have a real family that I actually felt loved by. But when i tarted to date my boyfriend now fiancee had basically been calling her his daughter so we call her Ana May Lillian Cuevas. I was going to move out in march so I want get Ana a friend and on October 23, 2015 she was only 15 days old then. She is in her teenage years right now and thinks she is boss. I had to switch her into a different cage until she is a little older and does not bother Ana so much. Her whole name at first was just Oreo. My fiancee said that she looked like an Oreo Cookie. So that is why her name is Oreo. SillyMolly kept calling her Cookie so her full given name is Oreo Cookie Cuevas. She is a doll and at first I didn't think that she was going to like me. She kepted squeeking for my staff so I though that she didn't like me. But my staff told me if I pay more attention to when I pick her up she would prrr very loudly and be happy. I did notice that and then I really did realize that she loved me like she was saying "You are my mommy and no one else. You could never be replaced." Ana was my first guinea pig and I love her dearly and I have also come to love Oreo as well. I am also from Willmar, MN. I am working at a thrift store called goodwill. I buy my supplies and share my veggies with SillyMolly to give to her guinea pig Molly as she does the same to me for my two.

I noticed you said you had to put Oreo in a different cage until she's older. Read some forum posts on here about that (I've learned so much from browsing the posts here!) because I learned with my piggies separating them was a bad idea. Mine are boys though, but that usually means they bicker even worse during puberty especially. The picking on each other is necessary and won't stop unless you let them work it out. It's totally normal. I was almost in tears several times as my boys seemed to hate each other for a while. I was about to separate them when I started reading about it and learned not to do so unless they were actually drawing blood. After a few days, it got better and then sometimes would get bad again but after a couple of months they were so close! They just had to determine who was gonna be the Alpha.
 

SillyMolly

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@HollyLeaf I tried Oxbow Hay, but she wouldn't eat that at all, and I also tried the hay from Walmart (I think it's called KAYTEE) she seems to prefer the Walmart brand more. Are there any type you would recommend?
 

SquigglyPigs

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:O I come from Willmar too! I grew up there and then moved during high school. Crazy to find someone from that little town on this forum!
Back on topic...my pigs' favorite hay is from kmshayloft.com . I buy the bluegrass hay for them because it helps a bit with my allergies.
 

blessedmom

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I order my hay from SmallPetSelect.com. It's much better quality than in store and less expensive. They usually have discount codes so be sure to google "small pet select discount code" before ordering! I got the cutest free GPig ring and a bumper sticker with one order!
 

urofan

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Welcome to the Guinea Pig Cages Forum.
 

HollyLeaf

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@HollyLeaf I tried Oxbow Hay, but she wouldn't eat that at all, and I also tried the hay from Walmart (I think it's called KAYTEE) she seems to prefer the Walmart brand more. Are there any type you would recommend?

I started out on a small bag of oxbow then when that suddenly ran out one morning i was going to check my local farm store, marties its called, but they were closed for the holidays. :( so i had to grab a bag of forti diet kaytee hay from walmart. Its not the greatest, but my pigs sure seem to like it. And as soon as i run out of that im going to try marties again and hopefully they will have some good quality locally grown timothy. :)
But i havent tried enough hays to really recommend one. Oxbow is good and ive heard good things about kms and small pet select
 

SillyMolly

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@HollyLeaf I think I will try finding local hay also. My dad would know where to find some since at home he has a flock of sheep and a Llama that he feeds hay (he lives in New Germany, MN), maybe they have some farm store in Willmar I could find some.
 

HollyLeaf

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Im sure you will find one. We are lucky to live in the midwest where its easy to get things like hay. :)
 
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