[Gpdd] [Care]--new to digest

[warmbreath at comcast.net]

Hi and welcome to you and Lulu. GP's are much smarter than most people would 
ever give them credit for. I recommend you go to www.guinealynx.info and 
study there.  They also have a very inexpensive guide to care and disease 
and gives opportunity to keep track of her weight which is one the most 
important ways to tell how she is doing esp. since GP's rarely will show 
signs of feeling poorly since in nature they are prey animals. This is a 
self defense mechanism  to not show weakness; therefore to be good parent 
slaves we have to devise ways to tell in advance if they get a disease or 
condition that causes slow to moderate decline.

Find a vet now, one who is a specialist in rodents called a rodentologist, 
or an "exotics" specialist.  We could write books here about what most vets 
dont know about guinea pigs and finding one at the last minute is very 
difficult.

Lulu is right about treat foods like yogurt drops. They should not be fed 
any of the so called treat foods marketed like treat sticks, honey sticks, 
anything with sugars, seeds and grains and never people food unless its on 
our permissible veggie list. Piggies eat all the time so they need Very low 
protein, low fat low simple carb foods. Her diet being over a year old 
should consist mostly of high quality pellets made from timothy hay, and 
loose timothy or grass hay.  They fresh greens like romaine, red, bibb 
lettuces, baby greens, parsley and cilantro. If she is not gassy small 
amounts of kale or cabbage is fine. Limit carrot to the size of a baby 
carrot, but dont chop her food, she needs to knaw allot to keep her teeth 
trimmed properly. Skip spinach, esp. packaged spinach as its hi in oxalates 
that cause stones, and the bagged variety as it has been contaminated too 
many times. A leaf of home grown spinach is fine. Peppers are good if home 
grown or organic, but regular ones have large pesticide loads, I wont eat 
them myself, but they are high in Vit C which is especially important to her 
so grow some if you can, if you live in a colder climate there a short 
season varieties I have grown by the bucket on the 45th parallel.

 I use filtered tap water which you should do if there is much hardness or 
minerals in your water as many people have piggies that get bladder stones 
or sludge. Dont add anything to the water and wash her veggies before 
serving, I use the filtered water.   She should have nice wet looking but 
well formed poos pretty constantly.

Exercise in a safe place is very important but you have no doubt heard that 
those big "hamster" balls are no good for piggies as their backs wont bend 
that way so its dangerous. Dont ever use any kind of shavings, esp. cedar 
for bedding. I use newspaper with a small layer of a "Carefresh" alternate, 
and hay to munch in the corner along with a pigloo as basics. If your cage 
is large enough she will pick one corner as her toilet so you can stack a 
thick layer of newspapers folded in half so you can just throw the wet ones 
out allot.

Hold her every day, as a single pig she should be kept in the room you spend 
the most time in so you can talk to her and she can watch the activity. 
Single pigs, esp if the house is empty during the workday can suffer social 
deprivation. getting a second pig is desirable but sometimes piggies have 
their own ideas who they will and wont live with so ask us for bonding 
advise, and of course try to adopt from a shelter or rescue.

I'm sure others will have many other suggestions, they big thing is change, 
the minute something changes write us or if its serious call the vet and 
write us.
Good luck and welcome again  Sandy and Shipwreck Sam