All about home pets

In this article you may read useful advice about keeping, feeding and care of guinea pigs.

Guinea pig is a wonderful pet and it is easy to maintain it. In love and care they will live 5 - 15 years. Although there are deadly dangers waiting for your beloved animal during its life.

Most harmful for guinea pigs are:

1. Overheating - the animal can die within minutes. You must not place your friend in direct sunlight, especially in an aquarium, a glass jar and even cage.

2. Freezing and the draft. Guinea pigs are from warm countries, so they need moderate heat.

3. Food from our table.

4. Communicating with sick animals, especially with older guinea pigs. This is important if you decide to make a couple. New pig may look healthy, but has the latent period of some diseases. Therefore it is necessary to keep the quarantine: the "old" and "new" pigs should live separately for at least 23 days (incubation period for plague - very dangerous disease).

5. Grass with dew. It causes swelling tummy of the guinea pig.

For the maintenance of the guinea pig you must have equipment:

1. Home: suitable cage for rodents or birds after some modifications. You can also use an aquarium without a lid. If you have a cat you can close the lid of an aquarium for the two-thirds.

2. Drinking: you need special drinker sold in pet stores. It is worth buying and quite inexpensive. It is fixed to the wall of the aquarium or cage.

3. Shovel: you should have small plastic shovel for cleaning.

You may use wood particles, hay or cat litter as a filling of the cage. Wood particles should be large, otherwise the powder can get into the nose or even the airways of a pet. The filling must be changed every 1-2 days (use the smell as a signal: if it smells – you are late). The best option for filler is a cat litter made of pressed wood waste. Its advantages: economy (you may change it less often, when almost all the granules scattered, for example, after 3-5 days), and almost complete absorption of odors. Try different sizes of granules and select the most suitable. There will be no smell for 3-4 days.

What you should know about care of a guinea pig:

1. Movement. If the house is small the pig should be released for a walk in the fenced territory of a house or yard. Walking the guinea pig is a fun for the whole family, because these animals are extremely cute and funny.

2. Communicate. Guinea pigs are very "social" and affectionate pets. If a guinea pig is alone, it is sad. Since it is necessary to talk with it, take it in your hands several times a day. From such dialogue you will get a lot of fun and positive.

3. Light. The house of a pig, especially small one, should be placed in a bright place with a lot of light, otherwise rickets can develop.

Food and nutrition of guinea pigs

Guinea pig needs very little food. We must remember that these animals are strict vegans. So how to feed:

1. Grass, hay and straw should take up to 50% of the diet. In the summer it is a fresh herb preliminary dried. Do not give the plants that cause bloating tummy (as for the rabbits). In winter it is hay or straw. You can prepare it in the summer or buy at the pet store. Useful and favorite treats is grass dandelions.

2. Grain. It is about 30% of the diet. Best option is to buy a well-balanced food for guinea pigs. It is also suitable the mix for decorative rats or rabbits.

3. Fresh vegetables should take up to 20% of the diet. You may give cucumbers (but not early from the greenhouses because guinea pig can be poisoned by chemicals), carrot, apple. Sometimes you can treat you pet with cabbage leaf.

4. Little by little you can give crackers.

 The guinea pig should drink fresh water (change it daily). In the water it is very useful to add a few drops of lemon juice (calculated according to the volume of drinker). For little pigs it is also necessary to add calcium gluconate in water, especially in winter. To do this, take 1/2 tablets of the drug for 50-70 ml of water drinker, rubbed it, and pour in water. Lemon juice helps to dissolve calcium quickly.

Guinea pigs should not be given any food from our table: boiled, fried, salty, sweet and canned; grass with dew, fresh bread, beet, potatoes, legumes, berries, nuts.

The first signs of the disease of guinea pigs:

1. Poor appetite.
2. The pig is not "talking".
3. Diarrhea.
4. Runny nose or cough.
5. Obscurity, a desire to hide in a corner of the house.
6. Matted wool.
7. Inflammation of the eye (conjunctivitis).
8. Paralysis of paws.

A healthy guinea pig can sometimes sneeze when crumbs of the litter get into the nose. When you see that a crumb doesn’t come out, try to drop the nose with saline drops or boiled water (not hot or cold). Please note, if you notice any symptoms of the disease in the guinea pig, immediately contact your veterinarian! It is difficult to save already a sick animal. It is easier to protect your pet from harm.

Here you may watch the video how a nice and fluffy guinea pig is talking.

As you can see everything is quite easy. Be attentive to the little friend, and you will discover in it a real treasure.