Happy Thanksgiving!

Well I decided better late than never! We peegs are thankful for abundant grass, arugula and Tuscan kale. We had a bountiful feast earlier in the day, but the cavy slaves were very busy with guests. Unfortunately we didn't get very much attention but oh the joy, we got lots of food and then took naps all afternoon. Have a good veggie day or in your case turkey day. Happy Thanksgiving!

The peegs,

Rocky and Honey

Got Vitamin C?

One of the most common things for guinea pig owners not to know is how important vitamin C really is. Guinea pigs require quite a lot of it, and there is no limit to how much they have. The first thing that passed into our minds was ORANGES! The problem with oranges is that they have too much sugar for it to be good for them. They can have 1-2 pieces of a mandarin oranges every 4 days. Otherwise, they can easily upset piggies stomach.  Options are everywhere for getting vitamin C for your guinea pigs. One thing out there is Daily C which are tablets that can be fed by crushing over wet greens, mixed with water and fed through a syringe, or apparently some guinea pigs will just eat the pill. Not our piggies! We cannot find a way to give it to our guinea pigs where they will eat it.

We gave them arugula (wetted) and sprinkled this over the top and they won't eat it. But apparently some pigs love the taste, maybe yours will? Another idea of how to give it to them is to put it in their water but there are 2 problems with that:

1. You don't know how much vitamin C each piggy is getting.

2. If a piggy really objects to the taste, they may stop drinking water which can lead to dehydration, or more severely, death.

Please make sure that your piggies are receiving vitamin C, here is a list of food for guinea pigs that are high in vitamin C.

How to make a Cuddle Cup

Not everyone is able to make these, for some people, it is just easier is buy one but you get a certain sense of accomplishment when you make one at home. You need a sewing machine or you should be good at hand sewing, otherwise the things you make won't hold together. We have used the same instructions for 4 different cuddle cups. What we have learned is that you need to keep checking back to the instructions because otherwise, you will likely mess up in someway that is fixable, but can make you irritated at yourself. We got our instructions from Ly&Pigs on the guinea pig cages forum. To see how to make these, click here

.

Sleeping Pig

When I walked up to say goodnight to the squeakers, I had a mini heart attack because Rocky was lying on her side. Then I realized she was just asleep. I always panic even though she has always slept on her side. Guinea pigs sleep so many different ways! Feet outstretched, curled up on their sides and sometimes with their heads on pillows! Rocky was sleeping at the top of the ramp and preventing Honey from going to the bottom of the ramp. Rocky was woken up for her green bean tips and carrot ends, and finally let Honey pass to the lower level. Fun Fact: Some guinea pigs sleep with their eyes open! Below are some pigtures of Rocky sleeping.

Guinea Pig Enrichment

Recently, Rocky and Honey have been trying to distract themselves with many things in their cage. We have:

1. A shoebox with fabric on top that they can jump on, or go in (we didn't make that an option in ours)

2. Paper Bag with the bottom cut off (or left on) can act as a tunnel and something to chew on.

3. A shoe box with fleece in it

4. A fleece forest which can provide LOTS of entertainment

More enrichment in the future!

We love you Estrella

On Friday morning, we walked in with a petsitter to explain the cage setup, etc. We noticed Estrella was panting hard and so we took her into the vet, hoping they could help her. They put her on oxygen but she was too sick. It turns out she had a sudden case of pneumonia, we had noticed she was losing weight, but not that substantially. We miss Estrella and mourn for her. Rocky and Estrella wrote a short poem.

     "She was an average pig,

Feisty, Mischievous, and Energetic.

She spent her life enchanting every pig and human she met. She was average in every way except, she was the star in our lives, she brought comfort and love where ever she stepped. She was the pigture perfect pig. She narrated her life in wheeks and squeaks and purrs. We love you Estrella."

-Rocky and Honey 

"Wearing argyle fur 

Wheeking loudly whe'er she roamed
Curled sweet paws - 'Strella"

- Cavy Slaves

Fleece Flippers: The way of life

When we first got our fancy C&C cage from Guinea Pig cages store, we were just using normal old fleece over towels and let me tell you, it is  SO much simpler to just use fleece flippers.  Sure, they are an investment but it saves time and irritation in the long run. The employees are very friendly and help you with anything you need/any questions you may have. Once you get your first fleece flipper, you can easily make more of everything (flipper cases, U-Haul pads and even coroplast).

The three parts

U-Haul Pads

Close up of U-Haul pads (moving pads) which you can get at your local U-Haul store (look online or call). They are made from recycled denim.  We got ours for $7.99 each for a 68x85" pad.  

Fleece

When buying fleece, it is normally a good idea to wait until a huge sale if you are buying any quantity of it. When getting fleece, you want to choose a fleece where debris won't get stuck in the fleece and it can be vacuumed/cleaned up easily. Wash/dry about three to five times on hot or until water does not bead on the surface of the fleece (wicking). Once you have washed it and dryer it, you can start your flippers!

Anyway, we have been using flippers for about two months now and it has really reduced how much bedding we use!

Rocky