Interested in Guinea Pigs...

[Mockingbird]

Hi! My name is Louisa, and I am 17 years old. I and my three younger siblings are homeschooled, and I am the animal nut of the family. Right now I am looking for a good pet for my sister. She is 11 and has Down's Syndrome. She is patient, calm and gentle. The ideal pet for her would be small enough for her to hold on her lap, friendly, gentle and live more than 5 yrs. It would also be ok with being taken outside(leash or pen) and maybe occasionaly to stores like petsmart. Our other pets are a rabbit(indoors, in my bedroom only, there would be no contact between the rabbit and guinea pig), two cats, a dog and a hamster. The cats and dog are fine with the rabbit. The guinea pig would be cared for by me, with her help. Would a guinea pig fit what I need?
Now for care info....what do I need to know about the care of guinea pigs? I have a cage that I *hope* will be good...It is 1.5x2.5ft, with 2.5 levels and no wire floors. I'm hoping some of the things I buy en masse for my rabbit will be OK to use for guinea pigs, like aspen bedding and timothy hay. What and how much do I feed a guinea pig? What do I put in the cage? I really have no idea how to care for guinea pigs, so any info is very welcome!!!
Louisa

 

[Merrill]

Guinea pigs are social animals, so if you don't plan to play with the guinea pig a lot you might want to consider getting a same-sex pair.

I think practically this whole board would advise you to rescue/adopt a pig rather than getting one from a pet store if there is a rescue in your area.

The small animal leashes aren't worth it. They're uncomfortable for guinea pigs and practically useless. You can take them outside but if they'd be on grass in a pen the grass should have nothing added to it, like fertilizer, etc. If not I would probably use a towel or something and then add the pen on top of it, but make sure they're not in reach of any grass, if treated, or treated plants, etc. And definitley not in direct sunlight, as it is very easy for piggies to die of heat stroke. And while out there you will need to supervise your pig all the time because of all the birds of prey and everything that can happen out there.

Most of the people here I *think* aren't pet store friendly. Well the large chains. They tend to be cruel to their animals, sell them with many health issues, or pregnant, etc, there's a variety of things wrong with the pet stores, so yeah. If you can find one you should go to a small locally own pet store that doesn't sell animals or cares for them properly.

Unless the dog and cat will never be in the same room as the guinea pig cage you will need to have a closed cage of some sort.

According to Cavy Cages standars, that cage is way to small. Have you considered building your own? It's very easy and inexpensive to build a C&C (Cubes & Coroplast) Cage and a 2x3 (the perfect size for one pig, I think it's about 7.5 square ft or so) should cost no more than about $30. There's more about it on the main site.

I'm pretty sure Aspen bedding is ok, but I'm a carefresh/towels user. But it should be fine, Timothy Hay is great, it should be available to pigs at all times.

I highly suggest doing some more research, considering you don't know anything about them, guinealynx.info is a really good site, so is cavyspirit.com

You should feed your pig about a bowl of pellets every day, and I highly reccommend Oxbow Pellets. You cannot feed them rabbit pellets though. You need to put a water bottle and some sort of a hidey house in their cage, like a pigloo. And then maybe a toy or two.

And a cavy knowledgable somewhat nearby vet is a must-have in case of any medical emergencies. I think there's a list of what to look for in a vet on guinealynx.info, and a thread of reccommended vets in their forum.

 

[Mockingbird]

I probably should clarify this..the petsmart in question DOES NOT sell animals....there is a shelter that adopts out rodents, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, birds and reptiles
I was planning on feeding oxbow pig pellets(my rabbit eats the rabbit version) and a local-cut hay that is almost as good as oxbow's. I think I will build a cage.... I have seen cages that big, but theyre too expensive
Thanks for the links..I'll go read up!! Meanwhile, if anyone had more info/advice it would be appreciated!!
Louisa

 

[CavySpirit]

Not sure how many other forums you've posted the same question on, but just wanted to point out that many responses have already been given on the Guinea Lynx forum. This info is for other knowledgeable members who try to respond appropriately to all serious inquiries.

 

[Mockingbird]

Cavyspirit, I'm not quite sure why you have a problem with me posting on this and the guinealynx forums? I always post on two messageboards when I'm beginning to learn about an animal, in case one has more of the "disposable animals" mentality. In this case, if I had only posted on one forum, I wouldn't be any worse off, but if the forum I first stumbled across had been one that said my cage was more than big enough, etc. then it wouldn't have been good for me, or my future pig if I just stopped there. I truly wish to learn from you, please allow me to do so
Louisa

 

[CavySpirit]

I don't have a problem with you posting in multiple places. However, there are some people here, like Treen, who make it a point to post detailed replies -- that can take a fair amount of time -- to posts like this. She doesn't need to if she knows that this exact same post has been replied to on GL. Just saving her and potentially a few others some of their generous time that can be applied to others.