Frustrated What can I do if I'm out of town for 48hours?

[Ping Leong Li]

What can I do if I'm out of town for 48hours? I am really worried about my pigs. I live in Hong Kong and all of my friends live far away, can I just put a lot of food and a full bottle of water in the cage? >_<

 

[HollyLeaf]

Are you leaving one day and coming back the next? I don't think they will have any issues if you're only gone for that long. Just give them their full cup of veggies before you leave as well as toooons of hay and fresh water. Fill the pellet dish. Sweep the cage.

 

[CavyMama]

I would not leave them alone any longer than one day. If you have to be gone longer, get someone to come feed them. If family is far away, ask a neighbor. Don't just rely on adding extra food to the cage, you can't assume they won't run through it in one day or that the water bottle won't be emptied after the first day.

 

[G Rye Delara]

Actually I left my guinea pigs at home for a week because I left for a vacation in Hawaii.
As long as your guinea pigs are not babies and at least 1 year old or 7-8 months old it will be fine.
Make sure you have enough water to last, in my case I had to buy two water bottles and it lasted for a week.
Make sure to literally dump a whole bag of hay in there and just throw all of your vitamin C pills all over the place to ensure she won't run out of energy or die from starvation.
This is coming from a guy who left guinea pigs at home for a whole week and they were perfectly fine.

 

[Saylavi]

^nonetheless that is not suggested, as they're missing out on their veg

a day or two is fine. Extra water and hay, in a clean cage, if you have a treat ball use it to fill it with pellet food, any boredom breakers, anything that might delay them from getting to their treats. I used an automatic fish feeder for Luna and Stella when they were 3 months and I had to go to Rhode Island for a weekend, but then I also had Andrew checking on them...

 

[bpatters]

Can you get someone to come in and check on them? You could have veggies already prepared and just have the person put them in the cage.

Be sure to have at least two water bottles in case one of them gets blocked, or leaks all the water out.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

If I'm only to be gone overnight, I leave them with a couple of water bottles and extra hay and pellets. If I'm going to be gone more than one night, I make sure someone can come in at least once on the days I won't be there to give hay, pellets, and water.

I do this in case something happens to a water bottle, like leaking or getting knocked down or being plugged.

If I can't find someone to come in, then I look for places to board the guinea pigs.

 

[lunarminx]

No matter, I think she is going to leave them. So please add extra water bottles, extra dishes of food. Enough hay for 2 days, I would also give them a full day of veggies before you go, so they at least get one day of veggies.

 

[CavyMama]

Actually I left my guinea pigs at home for a week because I left for a vacation in Hawaii.
As long as your guinea pigs are not babies and at least 1 year old or 7-8 months old it will be fine.
Make sure you have enough water to last, in my case I had to buy two water bottles and it lasted for a week.
Make sure to literally dump a whole bag of hay in there and just throw all of your vitamin C pills all over the place to ensure she won't run out of energy or die from starvation.
This is coming from a guy who left guinea pigs at home for a whole week and they were perfectly fine.

@Ping Leong Li - take none of this advice. You never know what will happen while you are out. The water bottles could leak, they will pee all over the hay, they won't get fresh veggies. The cage won't get cleaned. You will come home to a LOT of poop and urine and a very stinky cage.

Don't leave for more than one night unless you have someone who can come to feed them and do a quick spot clean of the cage.

 

[Colorado Cavies]

We leave our pigs for the weekend all the time. We live 9 hours away from our family and go back fairly often, especially last year when we were planning our wedding. We would leave at about 4 or 5 on Friday night and were usually home around 6 or 7 on Sunday. It's fine. We never had a single problem. Make sure the water bottles are full and leave a LOT of hay. Like, more then you think they could possibly need. Don't worry about wasting hay, worry about them having enough. Give them veggies right before you leave and right when you get home. Give them plenty of pellets. I usually give them an extra serving just to be safe. If we are ever not coming back until Monday I get really nervous and I try to get Matt to have someone from his work come check on them. But 48 hours is totally possible.