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.