Cavy Care

Book I HIGHLY recommend for ANY pig owner...

"Your Guinea Pig; A Kid's Guide to Raising and Showing" by Wanda L. Curran.

**This book is packed full of information for any pig owner whether it be pet or show or breeder, young or old (young at heart.) There is a great section on guinea pig health and sections on housing and feeding.

Due to my lack of time at this moment to put together what I have a vision for on a cavy care page, I am simply going to put what we feed and do for our pigs. There are many variations to this and the main thing you need to have is a good quality feed of 20% and a daily source of Vitamin C. Of course a clean well kept cage is manditory also. Never put cavies on Cedar Shavings...

We Feed:

Manna Pro Gro Rabbit Breeding Pellets

Vitamin C crystals from Puritain's Pride in the water.

C dosage is 1/4 tsp to 1 gallon of water. They need water at all times. We do not recommend using crocks or bowls, but bottles like the brand name ones of Lixits.

Treats are a nightly event and include anything from carrots to cucumber slices and green leaf lettuce to parsley. Never over do the greens.

And of course we supply hay. We feed what we have on hand and it can be:

Timothy Hay

Coastal Hay

Alfalfa Hay (our favorite to feed)

or Alfalfa Hay cubes

We clean our cages at least once a week. Due to our long hair variety and for odor control in general we use a pine pelleted wood bedding. Most times this is sold as a horse bedding in 35 to 40 pound bags at your local feed store. We also disinfect with ammonia for our cages and bleach our bottles and dishes as needed and at a minimum of once a month. Usually the dishes are cleaned out regularly with a bleaching monthly.

Our cavies are bathed as needed for shows which usually works out about once a month to once every other. We use regular human hair shampoo.

We also treat monthly with revolution to keep the lice at bay that can be picked up at any show. They are sorta like fleas and have to be kept under control. Humans are not able to get these lice since they are species specific.

Pregnant sows are watched closely for any signs of toxemia and given liquid calcium if needed.

We also adorn our cages with hanging bird toys and small cat toys that are made of hard plastic. We do not use wooden houses, but have been known to throw in a small cardboard box now and again. PVC large pipe sections are a great hide out for them also.