[Gpdd] Gpdd (Care) (New Piggies of Ari's; More Piggy Care Things)

[Ellen Garrison]

Thank you Ari for taking in the two guinea pigs. Also, welcome to this
digest, this is a great resource for cavy care. Everybody is very kind, and
just wonderful here!

We need more people like you in this world. It does not sound to me like you
are inadequate by any means.

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but the recommended amount of vegies
is about one cup per day for piggies. I always give as much hay as possible
too, usually timothy hay. We will sometimes use Oxbow oat hay or organic
meadow hay. I love the hay from KMS Hayloft, it's an online hay company in
Washington state. The third-cut timothy is the best ever. We live in a condo
in Hawaii.
We don't really have access to fresh grass each day, although I try to pick
some for the piggies now and then, and I do rinse it about 3 times in
filtered water. My piggies are always inside, I can't really take them
outside. Too many feral cats, loose dogs, and feral humans (ha). The 4 boys
each have their own 28" by 16" (71 cm by 41 cm) cage, sometimes I switch
them to larger cages, and they all sit close together on a twin size bed.
This size of cage, all four right up next to each other, takes up
practically the whole twin (single) bed.  I sleep on another twin bed right
up smack next to them, and my 4 girls are in two connecting Guinea Habitat
pens, which is basically the same amount of room per pig per square inch.
We use newspapers to line the cages and with the girls, I ensure the
newspaper goes up and over each side and corner of the pens, to make it
easier to clean up when we change the bedding, which is e.o. day.  We use
towels and top them with fleece blankets.  I like to line the cage with just
one medium sized bath towel, put a small terrycloth towel folded in three
corners where they like to sit, pee, and poop. We also have a hideaway for
each pig, either a fleece hut lined with a pad, from Jen's Custom Crafts; a
pigloo, lined with a tiny fleece blanket; a small type cardboard box with
newspaper; or a small paper bag.  They like to chew on the two latter of
these. Basically, I change the small towels daily, the entire bedding e. o.
day, and wipe the cages out with water or water and distilled vinegar.
Then the whole cage bottom is washed about once a month, if not twice a
month, with hot water and dawn detergent (liquid dish soap), or chlorine
bleach, or white vinegar, All the cages are fully washed every 3 months when
we worm the pigs.
We always use reverse osmosis water in glass or plastic sipper bottles, and
Oxbow piggie food. The staple that everypig loves, is romaine lettuce and
cucumbers with the skin. They especially love English hothouse cucs.
I don't know if that helps but hope it does a little. Oh with the hay, I
used to use the wore racks that go inside the cage bars, but the pigs knock
them over and trap themselves sometimes, so I just usually put the hay on
one side of the cage.
Thank you everybody for caring about piggies...aloha,
Ellen and precious Precious Piggies, bun and chin