Hi all,
I just acquired a new guinea pig yesterday, quite by accident. I was at the feed store to pick up some feed for my horse, and I saw a little hairy guinea pig in a cage (this store often sells local kittens, puppies, etc). The first thing I noticed was that he was in a totally inappropriate cage with wire floors that his feet could slip through. He was also had large patches of hair loss and had flakey, scaly, irritated skin. He was lying there and looking miserable... with no hay.
Turns out his previous owners didn't want him anymore, and were going to just "set him free" in the backyard. The feed store owner insisted that they give the piggy to her so she could find it home through her store. Enter me, the poor sap who couldn't stand to leave him there. He was free. I have had two guinea pigs before.
Anyway, he is home with me now, and he saw the vet this morning. He's in terrible shape--infested with mites, yeasty, and with what looks like a secondary fungal infection. He is so itchy that it causes him seizures. His nails were so long that he did not want to move much, and he probably is vit C deficient as well. Vet felt he was too debilitated for anti-fungals, but we did trim his nails, bathed him with HyLyt shampoo, and gave him his first dose of Revolution. He already seems more comfortable and is very sweet, easy to pick up, etc.
However, he will not eat any hay! He has grass hay from my horse's stash at the barn, and some Oxbow alfalfa hay just to try to tempt him. He acts like he's never had hay before. He will eat some pellets--they were feeding him a junky "guinea pig buffet" type diet that has little seeds and things mixed in with the pellets, and when I mixed that in with his Cavy Cuisine he just picked out the "goodies". Luckily, he will eat the fresh veggies I give him.
I'm starting to think he just has never been fed hay before. Given the overall evidence of neglect, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't bother to give it to him. But any suggestions for getting him to eat it?
So far he's just sitting on it. My last guinea pigs absolutely HOOVERED down hay like it was candy, so this is worrying me.
I just acquired a new guinea pig yesterday, quite by accident. I was at the feed store to pick up some feed for my horse, and I saw a little hairy guinea pig in a cage (this store often sells local kittens, puppies, etc). The first thing I noticed was that he was in a totally inappropriate cage with wire floors that his feet could slip through. He was also had large patches of hair loss and had flakey, scaly, irritated skin. He was lying there and looking miserable... with no hay.
Turns out his previous owners didn't want him anymore, and were going to just "set him free" in the backyard. The feed store owner insisted that they give the piggy to her so she could find it home through her store. Enter me, the poor sap who couldn't stand to leave him there. He was free. I have had two guinea pigs before.
Anyway, he is home with me now, and he saw the vet this morning. He's in terrible shape--infested with mites, yeasty, and with what looks like a secondary fungal infection. He is so itchy that it causes him seizures. His nails were so long that he did not want to move much, and he probably is vit C deficient as well. Vet felt he was too debilitated for anti-fungals, but we did trim his nails, bathed him with HyLyt shampoo, and gave him his first dose of Revolution. He already seems more comfortable and is very sweet, easy to pick up, etc.
However, he will not eat any hay! He has grass hay from my horse's stash at the barn, and some Oxbow alfalfa hay just to try to tempt him. He acts like he's never had hay before. He will eat some pellets--they were feeding him a junky "guinea pig buffet" type diet that has little seeds and things mixed in with the pellets, and when I mixed that in with his Cavy Cuisine he just picked out the "goodies". Luckily, he will eat the fresh veggies I give him.
I'm starting to think he just has never been fed hay before. Given the overall evidence of neglect, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't bother to give it to him. But any suggestions for getting him to eat it?
So far he's just sitting on it. My last guinea pigs absolutely HOOVERED down hay like it was candy, so this is worrying me.