How To Take Care Of A Guinea Pig As Your First-Ever Pet

Many individuals get to begin with both a cat or a canine as a pet. Since these are frequent kinds of pets, it’s possible you’ll have already got a basic concept of the way to handle them. You gained’t ever should be fully misplaced on what you’d have to feed your cat or canine for it to thrive.

Nevertheless, should you’re considering of adopting a guinea pig as your pet and have zero expertise caring for them, issues may get a bit sophisticated. Guinea pigs are cute little animals you’ll most likely get hooked up to fairly rapidly. For that cause, you wish to be sure you know the best strategy to handle your pet to make sure it stays part of your life for a very long time.

This text is a whole guideline on how one can handle a guinea pig as your first-ever pet. However first, let’s have a look at some fast pointers about your new pet.

Fascinating Details About Guinea pigs

It’s good to know a bit concerning the creature you wish to begin dwelling with. That mentioned, these details may curiosity you:

• Guinea Pigs have initially come from South America, the Andes particularly. They’re believed to have began as home animals, though the first goal was for meat. Across the sixteenth century, as they started to infiltrate Europe, they started to be stored as pets.
• By way of dimension, they weigh something from 1.5lb to 2.5lb whereas their size tends to vary between 8-16 inches.
• Their basic lifespan ranges roughly between 4 to eight years, relying on how effectively you handle them.
• By way of coat colours, you may select a hairless guinea pig if that’s what you need, however should you’re extra into coloration, you’ll not lack choices. You possibly can decide a black, white, or brown guinea pig or different distinctive blended coat selections.
• To distinguish between guinea pigs and rodents, you must watch for his or her delivery dimension. Guinea pigs will probably be a bit of greater and extra mature than rodents will probably be at delivery. They gained’t have a tail and will probably be typically smaller than the common rabbit.

You possibly can discover extra about guinea pigs by studying this specialised guinea pig weblog.

Are They Good Pets?

To find out whether or not a guinea pig will probably be a great pet for you, it is advisable perceive their nature. First, guinea pigs are pleasant creatures, and they’ll most likely adore it should you place them in a cage with one other guinea pig. Your piggies will possible get pleasure from it should you routinely work together with them by providing meals by hand to them or should you begin coaching them from an early stage while you play and deal with them gently.

Nevertheless, even whereas dwelling in your house, a guinea pig will nonetheless adhere to its jungle intuition relating to its sleeping hours. Your pet will possible sleep just for a few hours at a time, typically opting to sleep with its eyes broad open. Though you will notice your new pet energetic any day, they’ll possible be at their most energetic round daybreak and nightfall.

For meals, your guinea pig will possible get pleasure from contemporary meals, fruits, veggies, and hay, plus a great quantity of water day by day. Many guinea pig pet homeowners are notably in love with the lovable little squeaks they make after they’re giving them meals, you’ll most likely love them as effectively.

What Sort Of Residence Ought to You Construct For Your Guinea Pig?

You’ll want a bigger cage than you’d want for a gerbil or a mouse. Your flooring space would must be sufficiently big. A flooring space of roughly 100 sq. inches will sometimes do. If you happen to’re conserving two piggies, you’ll wish to multiply that by two and work with a flooring space of round 200 sq. inches.

You should use wire, sturdy plastic, or glass for the edges of your guinea pig’s enclosure; it doesn’t matter a lot. What you’ll be able to’t compromise on is the ground. Be certain that the flooring of your pet’s construction is strong—keep away from utilizing wire in any respect prices. Strolling on prime of a wire flooring will damage your guinea pig’s ft and even break their legs if they need to get caught up within the wires.

Though you may assume it’s a good suggestion to share a bed room together with your guinea pig’s cage, its sleeping patterns will interrupt yours a lot that you’ll possible hate the association. The perfect place in your cage is away out of your bed room and someplace the place daylight and night time are simple for it to comply with.

Contained in the cage that will probably be your pet’s dwelling, you’ll want:

• Paper or fleece-based bedding
• A meals bowl
• A water dish with a heavy base (so your guinea pig doesn’t tip the water over) or a water bottle
• A plastic or field home within the cage that acts as your pet’s hiding place
• Toys
• Mineral or wooden chews

How To Take Care Of Your Guinea Pig

Guinea pigs are creatures of routine. They love doing issues on the similar time day-after-day. So, as you learn to handle your new pet, take particular observe of this: when you decide a time for feeding, attempt to persist with it as a lot as doable. The identical goes for time to take it out of the cage to play. Ensure you do each this stuff while you’re most probably to be obtainable day-after-day. All of a sudden altering issues up may doubtlessly stress your pet.

Feeding Your Piggy

Your guinea pig will do very effectively with the identical sort of hay that rabbits eat by way of meals. These grasses are good in your new pet as they provide them the fibers and different vitamins they want. The grass can also be good as a result of guinea pig tooth are all the time rising, and the grass’s abrasiveness helps file them down frequently.

Guinea pigs don’t produce their very own vitamin C, but they want it. Because of this, you’ll want so as to add a variety of greens and fruits to their food regimen. The fruits and veggies you’ll be able to feed your guinea pig embody broccoli, pears, apples, collard greens, cucumber, candy peppers, parsley, and basil. Give them 1 / 4 to a half cup of those day by day.

Along with these, you may wish to purchase pellets in your guinea pig. Ensure you don’t simply decide any pellets you see first within the store, however guarantee those you get are particularly for guinea pigs as they’ve further vitamin c.

Water is one other factor you’ll want to ensure your pets all the time have. Be certain your water container or dish is heavy-bottomed, staying in place as soon as within the cage.

Bear in mind to keep away from giving grain merchandise to your guinea pig, comparable to bread and cereals. You also needs to not give it salty meals, legumes, sugary and fatty meals. These meals may disrupt your piggy’s gastrointestinal (GI) micro organism and result in loss of life.

Dealing with

When dealing with your pet piggy, it’s suggested that you simply accomplish that with each fingers. Use one hand to scoop at its backside whereas the opposite is across the midsection. That is extremely advisable since you maintain it this fashion, you’re approach much less more likely to drop it.

After getting picked it up from the cage, you may discover out that your piggy enjoys snuggling in your lap or prefers to savor the expanded free house and roam about by itself. There may be nothing mistaken with letting it do both of this stuff so long as you’re positive it gained’t get damage or that you simply’re sitting comfortably and gained’t drop it if it’s in your lap.

Grooming

Whilst you gained’t want to wash your guinea pigs, you may nonetheless have to identify clear them utilizing moist cloths or a child wipe. If it has hair, it’s possible you’ll home mushy brush as soon as each weak to brush its hairs. If it’s hairless, then it’s possible you’ll simply want a unhazardous lotion, ideally aloe-based, that you’ll run on it once in a while.

See these yellow tooth in your piggy? Don’t sweat them; they arrive like that and don’t want cleansing. What you may want to fret about are their nails. Due to this fact, bear in mind to get their nails trimmed each month to maintain issues neat.

Cage Setting

Your pet’s cage ought to ideally have one window and be positioned in a comparatively cool space. The cage is to be positioned someplace with publicity to regular lighting hours. Nevertheless, guinea pigs are additionally delicate to excessive temperatures, so it’s essential to hold them away from direct daylight.  Having good air flow for the cage may also assist hold clear air in circulation and assist hold the cage’s flooring comparatively dry.

Train

Try to be offering your guinea pig with play or train time once in a while. With out these, your piggy may turn out to be bored and agitated. Agitation can result in your guinea pig biting issues it shouldn’t or attempting to flee.

Another excuse to put aside time for train is to assist them get used to different piggies and people. With out sufficient interplay with different piggies or people, guinea pigs are more likely to turn out to be hostile and timid. To keep away from this, permit round 3-4 hours every day for them to stroll about freely in the home or yard.

If you wish to construct an appropriate cage in your piggy to train in, you’d merely should mark the place you need it to finish the border with a fence or one thing. Chances are you’ll then throw in stuff like sufficiently big pipes in your piggy to slot in, paper luggage, packing containers, and different gadgets you should use for leisure.

Socialization

As established, your piggy is a really social creature and can do higher with a associate than when staying alone. If you happen to select to have greater than two guinea pigs, be certain that just one male is in your cage to keep away from fights. Ideally, your cage ought to have one neutered male guinea pig and a spayed feminine. Furthermore, if you’d like your piggy to be playful, it’s essential to additionally permit it to begin socializing at a younger age.

Cage Cleansing

You must change your guinea pig’s bedding at the very least twice every week. However that doesn’t imply you must wait in your scheduled days to take away any moist spots, as you must ideally change these simply as quickly as they present up. This can make sure the cage doesn’t begin smelling unhealthy.

To disinfect the cage it’s a good suggestion to wash it utilizing an answer with 3% bleach in it at the very least as soon as every week on one in all your clear days. The perfect time for the sort of cleansing is when your piggy is enjoying outdoors the cage.

How To Discover If Your Guinea Pig Is Sick

Chances are you’ll discover your piggy out of the blue being much less alert and consuming much less day by day. With such indicators, it’s possible you’ll be anxious that it’s sick. If you wish to be sure you’ll be capable of take your pet to the vet as quickly as doable when it will get sick, then you must be careful for indicators or signs of illness.

Frequent signs embody:

• Extreme hair loss
• Weight reduction
• Troubled respiratory
• Irregular lumps
• Pores and skin lesions
• Soiled backside/diarrhea
• Nasal and eye discharge
• Lethargy
• Overgrown tooth

As quickly as you discover these signs, you must schedule an appointment together with your vet to have your pet checked as quickly as doable.

Whilst you can’t know upfront most instances what illness your guinea piggy is experiencing, there stay sicknesses which are commonest amongst guinea pigs as, due to this fact, ones try to be watching out for. These embody:

These will probably be just like how allergic reactions present up: runny eyes and nostril, sneezing, labored respiratory, and coughing, amongst different signs. These signs are commonest amongst piggies due to cages generally and bedding points. To keep away from them, you must change their bedding as a lot as doable.

Guinea pigs may also develop a illness referred to as scurvy because of a scarcity of vitamin C. Guinea pigs solely get this important vitamin when it’s supplemented to their food regimen, with out which they might begin creating dental issues. Moreover, their immune programs may step by step start to weaken. Over time, this may even flip right into a major problem for its reproductive system and its joints. To keep away from this, be sure that your piggy takes at the very least 10 mg of Vitamin C day by day.

A tumor can develop at any location on a guinea pig’s physique. Because of this, it’s very important to maintain checking your piggy for any irregular lumps. Often doing this may increasingly assist make it simpler so that you can discover as quickly as a lump reveals up. Lumps aren’t all the time tumors. Generally they’re simply pregnancies or fatty acids, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a good suggestion to remain alert and seek the advice of together with your vet over something you aren’t clear about.

Conclusion

Guinea pigs will be enjoyable to have as pets. They’re little playful and curious creatures you’ll be able to simply journey with due to their dimension and ease of dealing with. Certain, a mouse or a hamster could require much less upkeep than a piggy, however a piggy is by far essentially the most interactive of the pack, and it’s a top quality that’s stunning in a pet.

Caring for your new pet gained’t be that onerous if you understand all of the issues it is advisable take note of. With the information above, you can begin nurturing the brand new good friend in the home safely!