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Any guinea pig owners here?

Any guinea pig owners here?

Old 07-14-2011, 09:50 PM
  #11  
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I get sprouted greens at the grocery store for my indoor cats. They graze on them like small goats, and I'll bet guinea pigs would love them too.
And I won't feed my turtle iceberg lettuce because it is almost totally lacking in nutrition. If you give her any salad mixings at all, make them a little bit of dark, dark colored ones.
And as for the Vitamin C, remember that they are Guinea Pigs which were and probably are used as test subjects with human medicines and they are like humans, they can not make their own Vitamin C like animals do. They have to get it from foods.
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Old 07-14-2011, 10:00 PM
  #12  
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Oh my kids and I had a guinea pig once. It was so cute and cuddly. We would get it those alfafa blocks and it loved them. Sometimes we'd give them a little grass from outside or clover..not a lot. He loved lettuce and grapes. Be sure to watch his front teeth. They can grow so long they cannot eat and will starve to death. Ours would not use the chew blocks and the vet had to file his teeth.

No one could open the refrigerator without hearing the little cheep cheep because he knew his food was in there.

Good luck they make great pets.
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Old 07-14-2011, 10:44 PM
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Make sure you buy guinea pig food-it has vitamin C in it. Don't substitute rabbit pellets-it doesn't. Also they don't do well on wire-floored cages, messes up their feet.
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Old 07-15-2011, 04:32 AM
  #14  
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Heya! I'm not a guinea pig owner myself, but I have friends and acquaintances in the rescue community who work with them primarily. They're fun little critters! If you get the opportunity, finding a guinea pig forum can be very beneficial. If get end up in a last-minute situation where you desperately need advice, they're often the best rescources in a pinch due to members' experience. Pro-rescue forums tend to have the most info, though of course not always.

The guineapigcages.com site is a fantastic resource. For the medical side of things, Guinea Lynx is a very good reference.

http://www.guinealynx.info/

For example, their information on diet:
http://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html
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Old 07-15-2011, 06:12 AM
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Your baby is too cute. We had two pigs - the girls and I still miss them. They both lived until they were about 7 years old. We would buy them veggies at the store and when they heard the bag rattle, they would start squealing. They were way too much fun. Now that the kids are gone and hubby and I travel a little more, pets other than a cat just don't work out. Remember - broccoli will give them gas! LOL
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Old 07-15-2011, 06:44 AM
  #16  
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My kids had guinea pigs. They are so cute. We fed them pellets of some kind. I think we got them at the pet store. However we found out not to use plastic bowls as they will eat them (plastics are made from soybeans). Their little ones are born with eyes open and a full coat of hair and start eating the food right away. We used wood shavings for their pens. My youngest was bitten by one and it was quite painful but they are generally not aggressive.
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Old 07-15-2011, 08:05 AM
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I had one years ago in my preschool classroom and she loved being passed around the circle from kid to kid as we all practiced being gentle and speaking softly while we held her. She knew when I got there in the morning that it was her breakfast time so she would yell---REEEEEK REEEEEK REEEEEK---- and I'd get her some greens and fruit. Oh, and when the kids got snacks, she'd yell for one too...so she got a piece of graham cracker when the kids had theirs. Great pet!!!! Oh---we loaned her to a family for awhile to get pregnant and she had three babies, born completely furry and eyes open. They were soooooo cute!!!!!
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Old 07-15-2011, 09:12 AM
  #18  
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We used to have guinea pigs. Don't give them celery as it is too
stringy. We gave our guinea pig pellets that are found in pet shops and farm supply stores.
Give it a water bottle.
My husband made a cage for ours. We put newspaper on the bottom so we could change it often
We had a little house about the size of a shoe box at the end of the cage so they can get some privacy if they want it.
One of ours lived 10 years.
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Old 07-15-2011, 10:00 AM
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I had guinea pigs but had to give them up because my son was allergic. Funny thing was, she was pregnant when I got her so in 63 days we had 4! The babies are almost as big as Mom! (poor Mom!) I loved my Wilbur. I'd put her in my pocket and take her to school to pick up my kids. She LOVED apples. If anyone in the house ate one,she could smell it and whistle till she got some. i remember she liked to play with toilet paper tubes! She'd throw it in the air & run after it and start all over. She played until she tired of the game and then she'd shred it! The only thing I don't miss was cleaning the cage every other day!Peeeew! Enjoy your baby!
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Old 07-15-2011, 10:17 AM
  #20  
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My Girlfriend use to have a GP and it was her only pet... She use to let it run all over her place and she even trained it to potty in a litter box. (unbelievable) I actually watched it do it's thing and I was "amazed" I guess they are pretty smart little creatures and easy to train with treats. The GP's name was Mr. Bojangles. he was a cuddler too!
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