First Health Check!

Should I give a health check now? Or should I wait until they get more comfortable with me?

  • Health check now

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Wait until they get more comfortable with me

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    1
G

GuineaPigLover7891

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi! I’m a New Guinea pig owner! I have two wonderful boys: Patches (the older one) and Carmal (the younger one). I have the proper size cage so don’t worry. I’ve had them for a few weeks, and Patches will take veggies from me and let me pet him. Carmal on the other hand, will occasionally take veggies from me. None of them have been handled much by me. They just seemed so terrified when I did. I just found out that you are supposed to give them health checks once a week. I felt so bad when I realized I wasn’t giving them the proper care. I want to give them a health check. The thing is that I don’t want to ruin the little trust we built. So my question is should I give them the health check now? Or should I wait until they get more comfortable with me? Also tell me how you do the health check. Any help is appreciated! If you don’t mind can you also fill out the poll?


Thank you in advance!
 
If you go into the health and illnesses section, there might be a guide on how to do healchecks. If there is not you can start a thread asking how to do a healthcheck. I would go ahead and start doing it now, doing them one at a time. While they are on your lap or whatever you can put some veggies/hay/treats infront of them to distract them while you are doing the healthcheck 🙂
 
Do it now. You've had these piggies a couple of months already. They need to be weighed at least weekly as part of the health check. If you wait for outwardly visible signs of illness you will only catch them when it is already too late
 
Don’t worry that you haven’t done a health check before.
I only learned about them when I joined the forum and I’d had my piggies for a few years
 
Initially maybe. Don't worry though they soon get over it after having a bit of a sulk. When I 1st got Dexter he was so terrified he was like a wild animal in a cage. He didn't only hide from me, he squeaked and frantically tried to climb the bars to get away from me. It does come to a point however, where a certain amount of handling is necessary. Dexter learned that even though I was incredibly scary, that when I picked him up it wasn't a bad experience at all. I worried about this situation later down the line as well with claw clipping, grooming, etc, and when he had a UTI and I had to syringe him medication twice daily. In my experience, his trust only grew. I have had him for little over a year and I wouldn't even call him a nervous pig anymore. All I would suggest is to have some tasty treats on hand and talk to him calmly and make it as much of a good experience for him as you possibly can.
 
Lots of bribes are essential.
I find dill and cucumber work well.
Mine go to the vet nurse for nail clipping as I’m too wimpy to do it myself.
A piggy who knows it is loved and cared for and fed will eventually tolerate being handled for check ups.
 
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