[Gpdd] re: [CARE] <new guinea pig owner questions>

[Lauren Cordeiro]

Hello Zahra's mom and Mr. Al Crispy,
 
Both of my gpig's nails are solid black, which can make clipping a bit nerve-wracking. But first, before you even cut anything, get yourself some styptic powder - it may save your pig's life. It can be found usually in a small container at almost any petstore, probably in the grooming section or with bird supplies (it is used when clipping wings). I use one called "Kwik Stop." Styptic powder clots the blood if you accidentally cut the "quick" (the tissue under the nail with the blood vessels in it, that appears pink in light-colored toes). Unfortunately, this has happened a few times with my piggies, and I immediately dip their paw into the container and keep dipping until the bleeding stops.
 
You are right; 18" X 12" is much too small for a gpig. At a minimum, I would say a cage should be at least 6-7 square ft, with plenty of room for him to run around and "popcorn" when he gets excited. And any surface a gp would be standing on must be solid, not wired. A great site to go to is www.cavycages.com , to learn how to make a simple "cubes and corplast" ("C & C") cage. These are made using the DIY plastic-grid storage cubes that you can buy for $10-$20 at Walmart or Target, and a sheet of coroplast which you can find at a sign-making shop (the site lists stores where you can get both of these things around the country.) This is a cheap and fun alternative to a lot of the small and expensive cages you would buy at a petstore. Also, you can make the cubes so they form a "roof" over the cage, to prevent toddlers from sticking their hands in (or pigs from escaping - my Pooh Bear is a climber/stunt man). 
 
Neutering is not necessary for a solo pig, or even if you got him another male companion. My brother and sister pigs were both neutered, and honestly this hasn't resulted in any behavioral change in either. I dropped them off for surgery the same day around 7am, and picked them up at the end of the day. You should note that anesthesia is more risky on pigs and small animals than on cats or dogs or people, and so I wouldn't recommend unnecessary surgery. However, I found a great vet with ample experience performing the procedure, who offered a safer "laser surgery" option over the traditional scalpel. Something you should do right away is find a good exotics vet experienced in gp care before a problem arises. While this is not impossible, it can take some time.

What kind of food are you feeding him? Assuming he is an adult piggy over a year old, a pellet food based in a grass hay would be best. Please avoid the kinds of foods that contain fattening seeds and nuts and other things that could actually be a choking hazard. Check the label on the food, but usually a pig should recieve no more than 1/8-1/4 cup of pellets a day, as they are very rich. He should recieve a constant supply of grass hay like timothy or oat, and if he is over a year, avoid the alfalfa which is too high in protein and calcium.
 
You can add a vitamin C supplement in the water, but usually you could meet his daily Vit. C requirement with various daily veggies. (Pellet foods are also usually fortified with vit. C, although the vitamin does not have a long shelf life, and I would not depend on it). Seagull's gpig Compendium has a list of the estimated vit. C content in various veggies:
http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/Guineas/VitaminC.html My vet recommends 25-50mg daily.
 
Daily exercise time out of his home is great. Also give him various things to explore, like tubes, oatmeal canisters, boxes, and hidey-huts. My pigs like to hang out in those big litter pans made for rabbits, which they also use for that purpose. They like to have a big pile of hay (that I put in a small cat litter box) that they can jump around and burrow in.
 
Finally, here are some good sites that will help you get oriented in pigdom:
http://beanmakers.com/
http://www.cavymadness.com/
http://guinealynx.info/main.html
http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/
http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/Guineas/
http://www.cavycompendium.com/forums/
http://www.cavyspirit.com/
 
Ok this is wicked long so I'm going to stop and let you take a look at some of those. Have fun!!!
 
Lauren, Piglet and Pooh Bear
 
 


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th