Monday, April 9, 2012

Do cavy's need additional vitamin C?

By Allan Bakier


Guinea pigs can't provide their own C-vitamin, so you've to ensure that your pets gets adequate vitamin C in their daily feed.

How come cavies need vitamin C?

You may be having vitamin and mineral pills to be sure to consume enough vitamins, but you should also make confident that your guinea pig receives adequate vitamins. Distinct from most other mammals, guinea pigs are unable to form ascorbic acid in their body system.

The ways to give your guinea pig vitamin c

The good news is, you can effortlessly give your guinea pig vitamin c and you can attempt this number of ways:

When you give food to your guinea pig with fresh greens, choose produce with extra high content of C- vitamin. Use for example, parsley (that guinea pigs love) which includes approximately. 40 times as much ascorbic acid as carrots. Also sweet peppers, broccoli, rose hips and orange contains a lot of C- vitamins but you should only give the orange along with other citrus fruits once per week, because the level of acidity that they consist of may affect your guinea pig teeth's if the get it too much.

Try to find feed pellets made especially for guinea pigs - they usually are supplied vitamin C

Ascorbic Acid droplets can be put into drinking water.

Sadly vitamin C rapidly stop working in water, so it's not the ultimate way to do it, and you can risk that your guinea pigs do not like to drink water mainly because it tastes wrong

If your guinea pig is expecting, it should have double the amount vitamin c usually!

Shit Vitamins

if you realize that your guinea pig consumes some of his own feces, do not be concerned, there is nothing amiss with your guinea pig, when it eats its own feces it reuse some minerals, vitamins and bacteria that it needs to be healthy. If you look hard if you notice, that it only consumes some waste that looks somewhat different, they are smaller and appear softer.

Indications of vitamin c deficiency

Already after 2 weeks without vitamin c, your cavy well-being is influenced.

Be on the lookout for the signals because they may be a sign of that your guinea pig doesn't get sufficient C-vitamin: diarrhea, losing weight or eating less than usual. Also a neglected coat is usually a sign of ascorbic acid insufficiency.

When you eat your own everyday vitamin think that also your cavy needs vitamins and healthy food.


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Saturday, April 7, 2012

Guinea Pigs - Cavies and Kids - Are They a Good Mix?

By Bob Matthews


If kids are older and moderately responsible, they can (and should) take on a role in the custody of your family's guinea pigs. With the words: O.K, we'll get a guinea pig - but you must take care of it, many parents are almost tempted to completely abdicate their pig care responsibilities and assign them all to the child. This is almost never a smart idea. While caring for any living being is a great learning opportunity (and the parent may even tell the kid that they are fully in control of the animal's health, safety and welfare); ultimately , the final responsibility must always remain with the responsible adult.



While full accountability for your pig's welfare should never be given to a very small child, it is actually a good learning experience to allot specific tasks to the youngsters in the family. If the jobs are a life-critical - such as those concerning food, water or supplements - the responsible parent must monitor the situation to be certain these obligations have not been neglected. Your pigs' lives rely on it! The parent should give occasional praise and positive reinforcements when the job is well done and they should give reminders and negative consequences when the job is neglected, forgotten or done poorly. Owning a pet is an excellent learning opportunity for your youngsters - but those lessons shouldn't come at the expense of your pet's health, safety or well-being.

If the task is less life-critical - like cage-cleaning or giving the guinea pig daily attention and exercise - then monitoring does not need to be as rigoruous. Nonetheless this does not mean that you can simply delegate the task and walk away. Remember that in the end the accountability for your pigs ' safety and well-being falls on you - the responsible adult. Also remember the monitoring of tasks is for two absolutely different and important reasons: 1) to insure the care, comfort and safety of your pet (s) and 2) to teach your youngsters to be responsible, caring and respectful pet-owners. So whether or not the task isn't important to your pigs ' health or safety, it is still an important part of your children's transformation into a responsible adult and community member.

It does not need to be said that tasks assigned to kids should be age-appropriate. That is, life-critical jobs should be assigned to older and more responsible children. Less critical tasks can be allotted to younger and less able children. In either case, be sure to stretch your child by letting them do everything that they're capable of and by intermittently adding new and harder jobs, but also be sure to give parental aid, coaching and guidance with any portions of the job that your child cannot perform correctly.

It's a great learning experience for children to be involved in the raising of a pet. Nevertheless all tasks assigned should be based on your children's age and ability. And at no point should you as a parent relinquish full responsibility in the situation. Ultimately , the accountability for your guinea pigs ' health, safety and welfare rests on your shoulders.




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Friday, April 16, 2010

Looking After a Pregnant Guinea Pig



Guinea pig pregnancy can last up to seventy days. However, some may have shorter pregnancy depending on the number of baby guinea pigs they carry. Having more babies simply means shorter pregnancy. Usually, they have easy and healthy and easy pregnancy.

However, some of these tiny creatures may also experience severe health-related issues just when they are about to give birth.If you are dealing with pregnant one, it is important to take note of some useful information about its condition. During the initial four weeks, there isn't any obvious change in terms of the behavior or the physical attributes of these animals.

Guinea Pig Popcorning Explained


You will see the big change in the last four weeks of the pregnancy when they become huge and really plump. During guinea pig pregnancy, these animals can get large, almost double their normal size. You can also witness the movement of the tiny babies in the final two weeks.

It is highly recommended that alfalfa hay be fed to them as it has higher protein content as compared to the usual Timothy hay. To prevent the hair from thinning away, you may opt to increase their fiber intake. It is likewise advised that the Vitamin C intake be increased in order to avoid experiencing toxemia.

How to Exercise Your Guinea Pig


A caesarian birth is the best method for these a pregnant guinea pig. If the babies are becoming too active and tending to give the mother a difficult time to move, then consider those are indicators that your guinea pig is ready to give birth.

The birthing period usually lasts approximately 20 minutes and each baby is normally released between 4 to 5 minutes. The normal number of babies is 3 but there are cases when only a single baby is born. After the birth, have your pet checked by a veterinarian.
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Monday, March 22, 2010

Guinea Pig Health Problems

Here is a short list of common guinea pig health problems, with symptoms and suggested treatments. You should act fast when you notice that something is wrong with your pet piggie. Cavies are very fragile and their health can deteriorate quickly.

Grass seed in the eye: A guinea pig's eye will turn milky blue. Look carefully and you will see the seed, like a fine hair, in the eye. Grasp the seed between the thumb and forefinger and pull it out carefully.

A turned-in eye: Your pet's eye has one blue eye that appears to have a veil over it. Lick your finger and press the eyelid up, away from the eye. You may have to do this several times before the eye returns to normal.

Abscess under the throat: A seed or prickle can sometimes gets caught in a guinea pig's throat. This causes an abscess. Which appears as a lump under the skin. When this happens your piggie may not look sick, but if the abscess bursts on the inside your pet will die.


If an abscess on the outside bursts it will leave a smelly hole and pus. The area should squeezed gently and bathed with an antiseptic safe for guinea pigs. Keep it clean and dry until it heals. If in doubt about any lump, take your pet to a vet.

Impacted rectum: Male cavies sometimes gets hard lump of waste matter stuck in the rectum. This smells awful. If this happens to your piggie, soak its rear end in lukewarm water until the matter can be removed with a mist cotton bud.

Heatstroke: This is a big killer. If your pig lies panting on a hot day this is a sure sign. Put your pet in a cool place immediately. It can be dipped in cool, not cold, water. In hot weather, it is a good idea to fill plastic drink containers with water and freeze them., wrap them in a tea towel or pillow-case and place them in the cage.


If you have concerns about the healthy about your pet guinea pigs quickly consult a vet or medical expert as quickly as possible. Guinea pigs die very quickly when sick. Not taking action puts your pet in immediate danger. you intend to have some guinea pig pets then please visit this guinea pig care site.

Nicholas Kemp is an online educator and speaks and reads fluent Japanese. After living in Japan for 10 years he returned to Australia and started his own online business. He teaches Japanese with the help of his Japanese wife and has produced several multimedia rich products that help people read and speak Japanese.
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