Advice Needed On Travelling Long Distance With My Gp’s

Sarah0555

Sarah0555

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello!

I hope there are a lot of people out there that have experience in long distance travelling with their guinea pigs as I am really unsure what to do.

Me and my partner are going home for Christmas which is an 8hour drive from where we are. The only other time we have went away was for 5 days and we paid a company for pet home visits to come out and feed and clean cage.

I am really struggling on what to do. I don’t like the idea of relying on someone to look after them as obviously they are used to us and our routines. But i also worry if that journey time would make them unwell? It is a long drive and that’s excluding breaks - if anyone has done this type of travel with their piggies let me know of any tip please my other worry is them being in a new environment. We will be home for about 10days.

Again if anyone has done this, tips would be appreciated. Just worried about the length of time they would be in a small space.

Thanks
Sarah
 
We bring our piggies on our holidays in Greece, which is a between 3 and 7 hours of driving, depending on where we're staying. I'm using a cage (120 x 60 for three of them in the back seat), which I secure with the seat-belts plus additional straps.

Each piggy has a special "travel cave", i.e. a fleecy bedq which in turn is strapped to the side of the cage. They mostly sleep inside them, so they'd be safer in case of sudden braking. They walk around too - to get hay or a sip of water.

In my experience, the motion of the car relaxes them and they fall asleep very quickly. They're a bit nervous when we're not moving, i.e. during rest stops, but in general, they're well used to travelling and don't mind it. The top pig of the group, Maia, enjoys travelling a lot, and the other piggies take their cues from her. But you know your piggies best!
 
i have travelled to cornwall with some of my piggies and that takes 6 hours.i place them in a cat carrier.i put puupy pad,vet bed over this,lots of hay.i leave lots of watery veg,eg cucumber,lettuce,celery.stop every two hours to attatch a water bottle and give pellets.remove the water bottle and pellets after half an hour,then i set off again !they seem to travel very well.mine are used to travelling i ensure that i take them all out for a drive every two weeks ! :)
 
Hi! Thanks for this! Really helpful.

How do you set them up whilst you are away? My gp’s are in. 2x5 c&c cage and unsure wether to dismantle and take with me.

Sarah

RosieMaia said:
We bring our piggies on our holidays in Greece, which is a between 3 and 7 hours of driving, depending on where we're staying. I'm using a cage (120 x 60 for three of them in the back seat), which I secure with the seat-belts plus additional straps.

Each piggy has a special "travel cave", i.e. a fleecy bedq which in turn is strapped to the side of the cage. They mostly sleep inside them, so they'd be safer in case of sudden braking. They walk around too - to get hay or a sip of water.

In my experience, the motion of the car relaxes them and they fall asleep very quickly. They're a bit nervous when we're not moving, i.e. during rest stops, but in general, they're well used to travelling and don't mind it. The top pig of the group, Maia, enjoys travelling a lot, and the other piggies take their cues from her. But you know your piggies best!
Click to expand...
 
Thank you!

Really useful info here. Do you set them up same as home when your away or keep them in a smaller cage?

Also what do you do at rest breaks? Just keep them in the car ?

Sarah
RosieMaia said:
We bring our piggies on our holidays in Greece, which is a between 3 and 7 hours of driving, depending on where we're staying. I'm using a cage (120 x 60 for three of them in the back seat), which I secure with the seat-belts plus additional straps.

Each piggy has a special "travel cave", i.e. a fleecy bedq which in turn is strapped to the side of the cage. They mostly sleep inside them, so they'd be safer in case of sudden braking. They walk around too - to get hay or a sip of water.

In my experience, the motion of the car relaxes them and they fall asleep very quickly. They're a bit nervous when we're not moving, i.e. during rest stops, but in general, they're well used to travelling and don't mind it. The top pig of the group, Maia, enjoys travelling a lot, and the other piggies take their cues from her. But you know your piggies best!
Click to expand...
 
Sorry, I think my setup needs a little bit of explaining. The piggies used to be in a custom-made two-storey cage, and each floor was made of a Ferplast Plaza 160 bottom. Here's what the Plaza looks like:
images


In other words, each floor can be made into either a large 160 x 60 cage, or into two separate cages, one 120 x 60 and one 40 x 60.

While they're in the car, all three of them are in the 120 x 60 cage. When we're in the hotel, they're upgraded to 160 x 60, which is actually the bottom floor of their home cage. The benefit is that they're already familiar with the smells of the cage and its layout, which does minimize the stress of being in a new place. So I would definitely recommend setting them in a similar way as you would at home.

As far as rest stops are concerned, we make at least two (on the border and one on the ferry boat), but I don't think the pigs would mind not stopping at all - they have hay, pellets and water at all times, and I give them some veggies.

What's my main concern is an injury due to sudden braking, so I secure the cage as well as possible on the back seat with the seat belts and cable ties. I also cable-tie their cozies in the cage. Since they're sleeping in the cozies for most of the trip, I feel it's reasonably safe for them.

Sorry for the long post, I do hope it helps!
 
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