I am new and I have some questions

[MCR_Rox]

Will you be able to provide it with enough Vitamin C? It is very, very hard.

 

[standuprookie]

Will you be able to provide it with enough Vitamin C? It is very, very hard.

It is not, guinea pigs should be getting enough vitamin C if they are getting the proper amount of veggies, but providing veggies would be hard if you have very cheap parents as Meggie already said she does.

 

[fourbwabbys]

You keep saying your parents are will to take them to the vet.

But are they willing to pay?

Let's just say you give them the veggie diet you posted before. Most likely, your pigs would end up with bladder stones. Depending on the severity and the vet, it can cost you up to $1,000 or more!

Now, you buy from a pet store.
Mites- My vet visit was $93 for a pig that was not responding to Ivermectin. That's even before she investigated further, and she's not even the expensive vet in the area!

URI- Spaz's vet visit was $63 for a URI.

Lice- Vet visit, revolution, etc. approx: $90

Fungus- vet visit and meds, approx: $60

And most likely, it will be emergency care since you'll end up just loving your pet oh so much that you haven't researched enough to catch early signs of illness. When you notice symptoms that the average person would notice, it's often too late. Your pig will be too far gone to survive.

So Emergency vet care- $65 walk in fee

Your "$8" pet store pig will end up costing you

drum roll please........ $371

Does that "cheap" pig look very satisfying now?

 

[this_lil_piggy]

Yes maybe I have been flipping back and forth but I am serious when I say that my parents said I could get a pet when I pass this school year. They said that they would be willing enough to take the guinea pig(s) to the vet. And they also said that they would be more then happy to pay for all of the food that guinea pigs need in their diet. My mom and dad said that when a guinea pig gets sick they will take it to the vet ASAP. I hope everyone believes me because I sware to god I am telling the truth.

I have no doubt you are probably telling the truth. You sound like a girl that stomps her foot, and gets her way. My problem is I don't think you or your parents have a true grasp of exactly what the costs and demand on time are going to be to maintain a pig. I don't think your parents view a guinea pig as anything more than just a means to appease you and your desire for a pet. I don't think they are going to view this animal as a family pet that needs 100% proper care. From the things that you yourself have said, I have no doubt your parents are going to view it as a 'disposable rodent' that they will only willingly supply a minimal care for to keep it alive to make you happy.
A head of lettuce, and whatever you can find in the fridge isn't going to be sufficient to provide it the vit c it needs. And, your parents might be willing to take it to the vet "when it is sick", but my concern is how serious things will have to be before they consider it sick enough to need care. Guinea pigs hide their illnesses so that they won't be eaten by animals in the wild. Often times when they are very very ill the only symptom might be that they lost 4 oz of weight, or their nose is running a little, or they aren't as active as they were yesterday. Your parents are not going to see and understand that something so simple and seemingly harmless could mean the pig is about to die and needs help.

 

[Jenah]

Maybe we should all just stop replying to the thread and feeding whatever emotional need Meggie is looking to fill. I am going to force myself to. I'm only getting more and more frustrated - and I know many are as well.

So let's just collectively walk away. We've had our say [more than once] and provided the explanations and tools to give Meggie a fantastic headstart.

Who's with me?

 

[pink piggy lips]

Yes, Jenah. She's been helped and cautioned. I'd frankly rather help a newbie who comes in here genuinely wanting to learn the best advice he can for caring for his future piggie (without changing the story a million times and rejecting the asked-for advice). It's useless to bother with Meggie anymore.

I am tempted to keep coming back to at least see what is posted here, though. I couldn't believe the first 4 pages. I read them aloud to my husband as we both gave each other purely hopeless looks.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I will still be reading and responding when necessary to this thread as I am a mod. But I still think Meggie would benefit more from a stuffed animal at this point.

 

[OSUCavies]

Meggie, as much as you probably don't want to listen to the things everyone is telling you...you really should believe it all. All of these responses are coming from CURRENT guinea pig owners. Some have 2, others have an entire HERD of them and know what they're talking about.

As financially satisfying as a pet store cage may seem, it is simply not big enough for your guinea pig. Regardless of WHAT these pet store workers will tell you. They're trying to make a sell. They will tell you a shoe is big enough for a guinea pig as long as you act interested in buying it. The best way to go is asking your parents (who apparently do whatever you want) to build you a C&C Cage that will be a lot of FUN for your parents to build with you.

You must also remember, that as a younger person, teenager or pre-teen, you will soon start going through your social teen years as many of us did and decide that you want to go out with friends, go on dates, do this or that. Are you SURE you're going to have time for your guinea pig?! I know how I was as a teenage girl, I was never home. I was doing sports, cheering, taking dance lessons, going to parties, going out with friends, etc. A guinea pig isn't a pet that can just sit in a little cage all day, alone, and entertain itself with a few cheap pellets and a baby carrot thrown in the corner. You really need to think about what is going to happen in a few years once you've matured (hopefully) more and decided you don't have "time" for a pet. It happens to a lot of people, you just have to be mature enough to admit it and accept it.

You might want to let your parents check out this website and decide whether or not they're willing and able to do everything that you cannot do for the piggy. You will need BEDDING every week to clean out the poop and pee, you will need a VARIETY of veggies for your pig EVERY single day, you need unlimited grass hay (which can go pretty quickly, and will have to buy more), you need good quality pellets (NOT mixed ones), you need hidey houses, etc. NOT to mention, your piggy needs a lot of lap time and floor time.

Also, guinea pigs are not intended to be alone like hamsters. But if you are unable to take care of one, it IS NOT a good idea to get two.

I really hope you make the right decision and do at least a LOT more research than you have done.

Think ahead before you make any rash decisions about a pet. But, I know it's hard to do so at a younger age. Just know that you have a lot of changing that's going to happen in the next few years, please don't get a guinea pig because they're "cute" and then leave it in a small petstore cage in your room with no attention.

 

[Jenah]

Since I'm not replying directly to Meggie...I'm not really going against what I already suggested....!! But I did want to address this:

As financially satisfying as a pet store cage may seem, it is simply not big enough for your guinea pig. Regardless of WHAT these pet store workers will tell you. They're trying to make a sell. They will tell you a shoe is big enough for a guinea pig as long as you act interested in buying it. The best way to go is asking your parents (who apparently do whatever you want) to build you a C&C Cage that will be a lot of FUN for your parents to build with you.

Actually - pet store cages are VERY expensive. Especially when you get the biggest one you can find for your pet [like I had done]. We're talking an average of $50 - $90. And that was a couple of years ago - it may have gone up. The C&C appears to be MUCH less expensive. I did buy the Cubes @ Target for $14. I haven't bought Coroplast yet since I am experimenting with litter boxes and other materials I have at home. But even with buying the litter boxes (4 - used for varying things around their pen but all filled with litter and/or hay) and some Cable Ties, it STILL was UNDER $50. And larger. AND I can make it bigger, or redesign it. [like I did last night!]

There - I still don't plan to post directly to Meggie - but I admit that I will be curious enough to read!

 

[TX_2_Pigs]

Maybe we should all just stop replying to the thread and feeding whatever emotional need Meggie is looking to fill. I am going to force myself to. I'm only getting more and more frustrated - and I know many are as well.

So let's just collectively walk away. We've had our say [more than once] and provided the explanations and tools to give Meggie a fantastic headstart.

Who's with me?

You can actually put people on your ignore list. Click on their avatar and it brings up their profile. You have the option to add them to your favorites list or your ignore list. I think I am going to add her to my ignore list. I am tired of "listening" to her and annoyed that her parents won't just tell her NO!

 

[OSUCavies]

Actually - pet store cages are VERY expensive. Especially when you get the biggest one you can find for your pet [like I had done]. We're talking an average of $50 - $90. And that was a couple of years ago - it may have gone up. The C&C appears to be MUCH less expensive. I did buy the Cubes @ Target for $14. I haven't bought Coroplast yet since I am experimenting with litter boxes and other materials I have at home. But even with buying the litter boxes (4 - used for varying things around their pen but all filled with litter and/or hay) and some Cable Ties, it STILL was UNDER $50. And larger. AND I can make it bigger, or redesign it. [like I did last night!]

Well if you decide to get fleece and other things, it does sound rather expensive. Plus, I had a hard time finding coroplast for anything less than 30-40 bucks. I finally found a place that sold me red coroplast for 30 bucks.

But, aside for the price, people just would rather BUY one than actually put them together. I think they see these pictures and go "Oh my gosh, I could never build!". I know I did at first. Luckily my boyfriend helped me out. But I'm sure most of it is laziness and not wanting to look for all the things to make a C&C cage.

 

[OSUCavies]

I will admit, I spent a nice chunk of change on my cage. But it was also because I wanted to make it as nice as possible and I was willing to do so.

We decided to rivet the coroplast instead of using tape or whatever. So we had to buy a riveter tool from Lowe's which was like 30 bucks, itself. The fleece and towels and mattress pad that I bought was about 60-70 dollars altogether. We bought about 30 dollars worth of cubes (2 boxes). So, altogether we did spent a nice amount with fleece and everything. But in the end, it looked so nice that it didn't even matter.

Some people can get away with spending the minimum (15-30 dollars on cubes and 15-20 dollars on coroplast) but of course there are those that to the extra mile and spend even more to make sure their cage looks the best it can.

 

[Jenah]

I, too, have spended a nice chunk of change as I'm figuring out just what to put their pen [cozy beds, etc.] I think that many folks here do.

I was more directly addressing the cost of pet store cages. They are expensive. And the "basic" C&C cages [as described here in the forum] as a general rule do tend to be less expensive to put together. Again - that is generally speaking.

That was my only point. =D

 

[OSUCavies]

I, too, have spended a nice chunk of change as I'm figuring out just what to put their pen [cozy beds, etc.] I think that many folks here do.

I was more directly addressing the cost of pet store cages. They are expensive. And the "basic" C&C cages [as described here in the forum] as a general rule do tend to be less expensive to put together. Again - that is generally speaking.

That was my only point. =D

The ones that I've seen that petstores usually try to sell you are usually between 50-60 bucks, so I've seen.

Not that I would EVER buy one, but in the end, it can be around the same price actually as buying cubes and coroplast.

Like I said, most of it is people not wanting to spend the time to build one.

I'm NOT saying a petstore cage is okay, I'm just saying I can see why some people want to take the easy route and just throw down 50 bucks for a cage that's way too small instead of going and actually finding all the materials they need. People are just lazy.

 

[MCR_Rox]

Pretzel's old cage was $50 or $60 dollars. I saw it at Petco while I was there. His cage wasn't nearly as big as my 2x3 (in grids) C&C cage. C&Cs are way cheaper.

 

[OSUCavies]

Pretzel's old cage was $50 or $60 dollars. I saw it at Petco while I was there. His cage wasn't nearly as big as my 2x3 (in grids) C&C cage. C&Cs are way cheaper.

They are definitely the better deal, by far.

But as I said, people don't want to do the work of building one. They think it's better to take the easy way out.

 

[MCR_Rox]

Maybe if they make one, they'll have enough money for a vet visit as soon as they get them.

 

[OSUCavies]

Maybe if they make one, they'll have enough money for a vet visit as soon as they get them.

Let's hope so.

 

[liveoaks]

Hi, Meggie.

I have a daughter who's just your age, and her name is also Meg. She also has ADD and tends to be a little depressed, so I've been watching your posts and thinking of my own daughter.

I believe everything you say: that your parents are supportive and want to help, that you love animals and want to care for them nicely, that you're not as irresponsible as some people think, and so on. I also admire you for continuing to come back and post when it really can't be much fun to read some of the posts that have been posted here. It would be easy just not to come back here, but you've come back, and I really admire that. I'm not sure I could do that sort of thing, even now.

It's probably pretty confusing, having people here tell you that piggies MUST be treated a certain way and acting as if you're irresponsible if you do anything else, and then having the people in your own world tell you that doing simpler things for the guinea pigs would be just fine. It is confusing, I admit, and I again admire you for continuing to struggle with the contradiction and try to figure out what you should do.

Hoping to help you figure out your own way, let me tell you a little bit about my experiences with piggies over the years. I had a piggie for a year or so when I was your age, and now I've had piggies again for the past six years.

Your family and friends are right. You CAN keep piggies in a small cage like an aquarium, and you don't have to give them lots of hay, and you can buy them at a petstore, and you don't have to get them a companion. You'll still have a little warm ball of fluff to cuddle with, and it will be a lot more fun than a stuffed animal. That's what most people do. It's easier, and it can be cheaper, than what people here have been telling you to do. It's true that it's not ideal, but then, we don't live an ideal life ourselves, either, right? They won't live quite as long as they would otherwise, but then, I know that I could live longer if I ate more vegetables and got more exercise, and I'm still happy enough. Surely the guinea pigs will make do, just as we do, right? And they do. They get by.

But I can tell you something about guinea pigs who are treated that way: They are no fun to be around! They are boring little animals! It's true that they're still cuddly, but the fun of that really and truly doesn't last as long as you think it will. All they do is lie around in there little hidey house, and sometimes come out and take a drink, and eat pellets, and they just poop and pee all the time and you're constantly having to smell their pee and change their bedding, and it simply is no fun. In fact, it's really annoying! Cleaning a cage is like cleaning a toilet, remember? Worse, really, because you can't flush anything away first. So if you're not having a lot of fun with the animal, you really won't feel like cleaning the cage at all.

I loved my first little guinea pig when I was your age, but she got really boring after not very long, and we gave her to some friends. They enjoyed her more than we did because their dad thought that holding a piggie was a nice way to relax after work, and I'm glad we gave her a new home.

As an adult, I've had guinea pigs for six years. And during those six years, we've gone through different situations with the piggies. We started with two little piggies, and then one died a couple of years later. We lived with one guinea pig for a long while, then I couldn't bear it and got a companion for our now elderly piggie. We've always had a larger-than-petstore cage (2X3 grids), but some of the other things we've done different ways at different times.

Do you know what? During the times that our guinea pigs have to live in a small cage (traveling, for instance), I look at them and ask myself, "Why did I used to think these piggies were fun? They're boring little animals." When we had only one piggie for a while, it never did anything even in its big cage, and I wondered why I thought piggies were fun. And when I kept them for a while in my daughter's bedroom, they were no fun for anyone.

Do you know that the only times I've thought our piggies are any fun is during the times that we've been doing everything the hard way? When they are in a large cage, with lots of places to hide, with lots of hay to play in and eat (way more hay than I could buy at a petstore!), with lots of interesting veggies to choose between, homemade toys to play with, and our new little shelf to climb on, and there are two of them to interact with each other, and they're in the living room so that we can interact with them, then they're much more interesting. And our latest improvement is that I've gotten them up on a table, so that we don't have to bend over to interact with them - and boom, they're REALLY a lot more fun! My daughters have been taking them outside to play in the grass almost every day, something they never used to do. (And yes, guinea pigs ADORE grass, and don't care one whit about getting dirty there.) We sit around the piggies' table just for fun, and think of new toys for them, and laugh about what they do with the hay, and admire and pet them. In this rich, large, ever-changing environment, they're very curious and active animals, always poking their nose into different things and pushing things around and running around the cage and chasing each other - VERY, VERY different from how these same piggies act when ANY of these things goes away.

This is what the people on these forums know, that the people in your real life don't know. Guinea pigs are boring animals - UNLESS you're willing to spend a lot of time and a fair amount of money on them, and drive to all kinds of places to buy what you need, and give them a good space in your home. Most people who get guinea pigs don't get very excited about them for very long. The people on this forum do, and that's why they really want everyone to treat their piggies the way they recommend. Most people still won't, of course. But those people don't know what they're missing!

I wish you well, along with all the pets you ever get a chance to love.

 

[fourbwabbys]

I have a daughter who's just your age, and her name is also Meg. She also has ADD

Hmmm think you could be just a little less obvious there?


TROLLLLL?