Saturday, May 22, 2010

Guinea Pigs?

I have a few Q's regarding my guinea pig..

He is just healing from an abscess that he had developed on his mouth/chin area. It is scabbed over - is that normal? He is still on his antibiotics, anything more I should be doing?

Also, I am wanting to get another piggy as a friend for him. Any suggestions about introducing another piggy into the equation? I know that Guinea's are very social and do very well in pairs - anything more I need to know to make the transition easy? Any do's %26 dont's ?

Thanks!
Answers:
I used to breed guinea pigs. I love them with their little squeaks. Leave the sick one alone. If it's scabbed over, it is just about healed. You can introduce another pig anytime. They love company and don't like being alone. Be careful in you mix sexes, they breed fast. One thing that always fascinated me about them is when they have a baby, it is born with all it's fur, hopping around in minutes and eating out of the dish. It's the only animal I know of that will do that. and they are so darn cute. Now you make me want to start all over again. they like cedar for their bedding and it smells so nice. Good luck and fun with them. Give them balls to roll around the floor in, they get great exercise and it keeps the fat down.
I wanted to see what others had to say today, I guess from the thumbs down, we 3 are not considered to give you good advice. So from the first 3 of us who answered, thumbs down to the who gave us the same. I think we all have good advice. don't you?
A healing abcess will scab over. Nothing to worry about. Keep giving the meds like you were told.

As to getting another one. Get the same gender as you already have. (breeding isn't as easy as it seems, and there are already too many GP's in shelters)

Don't rush it. Leave them in seperate cages where they can see each other. Gradually let them sniff and get used to each other, and let them meet outside the cages where there is lots of hiding places and space to get away if they need to.
I would wait until your first gp is completely healed. They can get stressed out easily, and may delay healing.

Actually, wood chips is not a good bedding despite what pet stores tell you. The oils and scent from the wood is corrossive to their fragile tracheas and predispose them to respiratory infections. Hay or newspaper is a better bedding.

All the other recommendations were good.

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