Super Piggy!

Guinea Pig Care

The links and information below is designed to help you learn detailed information about guinea pig care. Among the topics: a complete list of nutritious vegetable choices to feed your guinea pig, including which common vegetables are poisonous to guinea pigs; how to give your guinea pig cage its weekly cleaning; guinea pig facts; why you should NOT breed; and much more:

Complete Safe and Nutritious Vegetable Feeding List, including Poisonous Veggies!

Guinea Pig Facts

Barbering

Sickness and Quarantine

Cage Cleaning 101


Guinea Pig Do's
* Keep more than one guinea pig - they get lonely and like to be with their own kind.
* Provide large living quarters - a minimum of 7 square feet per guinea pig. When it comes to guinea pig cages, bigger is always better. See our "Cages" link in the left column for information on how to build an inexpensive larger cage.
* Provide fresh Timothy hay and Timothy pellets around the clock. If guinea pigs go more than 12 hours without eating, they can go into "gut stasis" and die.
* Provide a variety of fresh vegetables every day - especially those rich in vitamin C.
* Always quarantine a new guinea pig away from an existing piggy for at least 14-21 days. This means in a separate room behind closed doors. Wash your hands before and after handling the new piggy. Keep a smock or shirt handy for handling the newcomer, so you don't have to keep changing your clothes. Ask us if this rule applies if you're adopting from the Rescue.

Guinea Pig Don'ts
* No cedar or raw pine bedding - it contains phenols, which can lead to respiratory problems and liver failure.
* No foods with seeds - they can be a choking hazard. Also, use care if feeding celery, which has long strings that can be a choking hazard.
* Do not keep females with un-neutered males! All the males at the Rescue will have been neutered before being adopted.
* Do not allow small children to play unsupervised with a guinea pig, as injuries could result to the child or the guinea pig.
* DO NOT BREED. Not only are there thousands of unwanted but otherwise healthy and delightful guinea pigs available for adopton in the United States, but did you know that breeding the wrong breeds together can result in Lethal babies? Read more at this link.


Guinea Pig Diet
Timothy Hay
Alfalfa Hay
Alfalfa Pellets
Timothy Pellets
* Alfalfa hay should be given to babies under one year old and nursing mothers, due to the higher calcium content only needed during the first year of growth. Calcium after one year can be harmful, causing bladder sludge among other problems.
* Timothy hay should always be available to guinea pigs over one year old.
* Pellets should always be available, around the clock. Guinea pigs eat on and off during the day and night, and can die if they don't eat for more than 12 hours from "gut stasis." Feed alfalfa pellets to babies under one year of age, and Timothy hay pellets to piggies over one year old.
* CAUTION: Do not feed pellets with unshelled seeds, such as sunflower, as this can be a choking hazard.

Fresh Vegetables
There's nothing quite like the sheer joy you'll see on your guinea pig's face when you bring them their daily fresh veggies! View our comprehensive link at the top of the page for a complete vegetable list, but here are a few of our favorites:
* In the morning, one tomato wedge and one baby carrot per guinea pig.
* In the evening, approximately 12 hours after your first feeding, feed a mix of about three veggies, which could include Romaine or Spring Mix lettuces, kale, celery (with all strings removed!), parsley, cilantro, cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumber, collard greens, green or red bell pepper (not the hot, spicy peppers), apple slices.
* Do not feed too many fruits that are high in sugar. They seem to like veggies the most anyway!
* Select vegetables that are high in vitamin C, as they do not make this on their own and need it from an outside food source, just like humans. Healthy piggies need 10 mg / kg of vitamin C per day, which, if not supplied in their food diet, must be supplemented with crushed vitamin C tablets for animals, sprinkled most easily on the cut side of their morning tomato every other day. Vitamin C added to the water is NOT the best source.

WATER
Always provide your guinea pigs with fresh water, preferably filtered to take out any calcium for piggies over one year old. Change the water daily to assure freshness. Be sure to rinse the bottle and the sipper tube out daily, and put them in the dishwasher once a week to sterilize (you may want to use the air dry setting to avoid melting the bottle).

Health Checks
It is very important to observe changes in the behavior of your guinea pig, as they are extremely good at hiding illness! Lack of appetite should be taken seriously, because if a guinea pig goes longer than 12 hours without eating they can quickly die from Ketosis.

We recommend the following checks be performed:
* Weigh your guinea pigs weekly. A kitchen gram scale is adequate. Catching gradual weight loss early, before your cavy is seriously ill, is essential, and often weight loss is an early sign of illness.
* Trim nails regularly to prevent foot problems.
* Check teeth alignment and length. If they seem to be misaligned, or have changed, see your guinea pig vet.
* Trim hair around their bottoms if that area is continually soggy, especially on longer haired breeds.
* Check pads of feet for chafing, redness or sores weekly. To maintain healthy feet, keep cages clean and dry by changing cage bedding every week, and spot cleaning (removing wet areas) in between. Guinea pigs should never be kept in wet, soiled bedding, as this may lead to serious conditions such as Bumblefoot.
* If you observe any problems with your guinea pig, a trip to a qualified guinea pig veterinarian is recommended immediately.
* An annual vet check up by an experienced guinea pig veterinarian is strongly recommended, just as you would for your cat or dog.