Guinea pig boarding - the start of an idea - can I run it past you?

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Teejay

Teejay

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Hi all, well, we're going away in June and the plan is for my elderly parents to care for the piggies......but they know absolutely nothing about piggies and they aren't....erm.....how shall I put it.......very particular when it comes to pet care! I know I would worry about the boys while we were away, so I've been looking for a local piggie boarder. I visited one yesterday, lovely girl, but I don't think she knew one end of a gunea pig from the other.....we would've been her first 'clients'.........and it was a completely unsuitable set-up.

Anyway, it got me thinking.......I could come up with a really good set-up to offer high-quality piggie boarding myself. What do you think........

I now have two three-storey cages (long story!), and I have a load of grids/connectors, so I could offer very flexible indoor accommodation, catering for solo piggies all the way up to large-ish groups. I also have the space in the house for people to bring their own cages if they prefer.

I have a good stock of fleece, vetbed and Megazorb, so I can offer a range of bedding options to suit. I spot clean my own piggies in the morning, and I do a full clean every evening, so I would naturally do the same for any 'boarders'.

I know about suitable diets for piggies (I follow the Ratewatchers diet for my own two). I would provide veggies twice a day and basic pellet/muesli feed inclusive in the daily boarding rate; people could bring their own dry feed if they preferred.

I could offer a piggie collection service for people who don't drive (at a reasonable mileage rate).

I have a large securely enclosed run, on grass, which is currently divided into two halves with metal grids, so I could offer at least an hour of daily supervised run-time (weather permitting), or floor time as an alternative if the weather is unsuitable.

Our house is clean and tidy, there are no dogs, no children and we don't smoke. We do have 3 cats, but we take every precaution to keep the cats away from the piggies (and, anyway, only one of the cats is even vaguely interested in the guinea pigs, the other two cats are far too old and lazy to even notice them!)

My own piggies live in the lap of luxury and want for nothing - it goes without saying that any 'boarders' would be cared for to exactly the same high standards.

I was thinking a daily rate of £3 per solo pig, £5 per day for a pair (living together), but that would include all bedding, hay, dry feed and veggies.

I acknowledge that I'm a realtively novice piggie owner, but I think I've picked up a load of experience in the short time I've had my two boys....we've been through (and dealt with!) serious illness, castration, behavioural problems, the works!

Do you think people would go for it and want to board their piggies at my 'hotel' while they were on holiday?

Tracey
 
Sounds like a fab idea! Do you need to apply for a licence to set up a business like that?
 
Sounds like a good idea. Do you need some sort of insurance too?
 
Great idea, you will need insurance but I'm not sure how much that is but I think lots of people need thier gp's looked after whilt they are away:))
 
well it sounds like you have just about everything you need to be a responsible piggy boarder, if i wasnt across the ocean i think id be comfortable leaving them with you :) good luck!
 
Just a thought, maybe charge a bit less and tell people to bring their own food. Unless you are planning on stocking lots of different brands... just thinking of picky pigs or upset tummies lol
 
There's no harm in giving it a go - could be the start of a great venture doing something you love. I'd love to foster piggies for my local rescue but would struggle to part with them mallethead so have thought of offering holiday relief to the wonderful fosterers who need a break :(|)
Keep us updated with your plans.
 
Hi all, thanks for the replies and input. Yeah, I had thought of insurance, but that's really easy to arrange and relatively cheap. I don't think you need a licence as such.

To Bailey - yeah, I think asking people to bring their own dry feed is far more sensible. My two only eat P@H nuggets, they turn their noses up at the other, posher, more expensive brands!

I've been thinking about it some more.....I would ask people to complete a questionnaire beforehand, giving information like the medical history of the pig, any specific piggie 'likes' and 'dislikes', any quirks of behaviour, any tips and hints (e.g. do they prefer their hay from a rack or from the floor), etc. I'd also ask the owner to give permission for me to take the piggie to my own (very good) vet should there be a medical emergency.

Tracey
 
Sounds good - to me a boarders collection/drop off service would be so useful as I don't drive.

I use the small pets hotel in Kidderminster as I have 1 rabbit, 2 guineas and a Chinese hammy to board. We take Monty guinea with us. Mollie there has a 7 foot hutch which Leo loves.

Place we used before in Gornal was good really nice familyand they collected and took our hutch as they only had one spare but they did have dogs including dog sitting services and young kids so doubt Leo got a peaceful holiday! They have closed I think.

I'd say to ask people to bring their own food - I have always taken my Burgess food for ours.

If you decided to take bunnies too - you would need to ask for their myxi/vhd cert - I have to take Leo's paperwork everytime.

I won't add a link to where mine go as not sure if I can add links that advertise? But if you google it you could have a look - know Mollie there would not mind!

As a small animal owner I've experienced great, good and not so good pet boarding, I'd not go away if I did not trust the pet sitter - does worry me with Leo being 14 but I totally trust where he goes now which is good.

Good luck with the plans:)
 
I use a piggie boarding place near where I live (she is also on here from time to time and runs a rescue), she charges me £8 per day for my group of 4, and that will be living indoors as that is what they are used to.

She offers indoor or outdoor boarding, their bedding, cleaning, fresh food, hay etc but we take our own dried food (as per her request).

She has our details from previous boardings but makes sure she has all the details of the piggies, our vets (or if we would prefer to use her cavvy vet), contact details etc.

I think she charges £3 per single, £5 for a pair and I know £8 for 4 each day.
 
My local rescue runs a boarding service too, she charges £5pd or £8 pd for 2 piggies and you have to take your own food.
 
It's a good idea. You don't need a license for small animals, just cats and dogs.

Insurance is a must.

Also, even if you only take in a few boarders you will need to register as a self employed person.

Good luck :)
 
Hi all, thanks for that, all very useful information! I used to run a very small cleaning company, so I know all about registering as a business......oh joy of joys :{ tax returns....lol!

So my initial thought of £3 per solo pig and £5 for two sounds about right.......like you say, jomad1000, the more piggies there are, the less I could charge per piggie.....assuming they don't all live in separate cages, that is! rolleyes

I definitely wouldn't want to offer rabbit boarding; I'm incredibly allergic to them! I'd have to spend the week hooked up to intravenous antihistamines!

I would only offer indoor boarding, I just don't like the idea of piggies outside, what with the risk of foxes and all the horror stories of piggies being stolen from gardens.

To alisont; could you PM the phone number of the place you use in Kiddy? I'm still on the lookout for somewhere for Pud & Squeak while we're on our own holiday, and a recommendation from someone on the forum is worth it's weight in gold!

Thanks again, Tracey
 
It sounds like a very good idea and well thought out. Why not give it a go and see what happens, you may never look back. If it's not to be, then what have you lost? Obviously sort the paperwork side of things first.

If you decide to go for it, would you offer all year round boarding? Keep us posted on your decision.
 
Hi Cazz....I've already been onto a 'pet sitting business' insurance website for a quote, LOL! I don't let the grass grow under my feet you know, hehe!

Yeah, as I would only board piggies indoors, it could easily be a year round service. In fact, my husband and I were only talking about that earlier; it's amazing how many people take holidays in the winter months.

Tracey
 
I think it sounds like a fab idea! I bet you find yourself to be really busy with it ;)

The questionnaire sounds good. I know my pigs are pretty easily pleased, but it would be good for foods they disliked too. As an owner, I would be more confident in leaving them somewhere if I was being asked good questions about thier care

Good luck! :)
 
Hey it sounds like a great idea, you have the space and the set up all there so why not have a shot at it! It'd be lovely getting to meet lots of different piggies and get paid for it :)) Good luck if you decide to go for it xox
 
Teejay said:
Hi Cazz....I've already been onto a 'pet sitting business' insurance website for a quote, LOL! I don't let the grass grow under my feet you know, hehe! Tracey
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Yeh, I had read you had a good quote for insurance, clearly you would sort everything properly first. Sometimes I find it hard to explain exactly what I mean, or even understand what i'm thinking, lol.

Regarding the grass under your feet, the pigs wish it would grow a bit, so they could have some :(|)

When roughly in June do you go away?
 
It sounds like a good idea!

PS: Could you organise piggy care with a localish forum member for the duration of your own absence?
 
Oooh, this seed of an idea all seems to be turning into a bit of a 'go-er', to be honest.....to say I'm excited is an understatement! LOL!

To Cazz, I'm away in the middle of June for a week; as you're reasonably local-ish to me, do you know of anyone who may be able to care for my boys?

To Wiebke, you must've read my mind......I think I may start a new thread to ask that.

Tracey
 
Tracy, I don't know of anyone i'm afraid, our friend looks after ours, but they're not really pet minded, they do it as a favour. I'm looking for a more suitable solution. ;)

I could look after them for you, but we are away from the 7th for 10 days or so. Mmmm, do pigs like camping?
 
Hi cazz....clash of dates, unfortunately, but thanks for the offer! :)) We're away from the 12th for 8 days.

I did a bit of 'googling' last night, and I was shocked by the places I found.....one website proudly showed racking-style shelves of rabbit and guinea pig cages stacked up high in some sort of a garage (no windows, walls painted white, bit like a lab). I can';t think of anywhere worse to leave my lovely boys, to be honest.

The other place gave a price for 'guinea pig living with rabbit'.....eek!.......how can anyone who knows anything about GPs condone keeping one with a rabbit?

Makes me think that my proposed idea of a luxurious guinea pig hotel would go down very well with people.

What do you think of the name VIPiggies? LOL! Or Lap of Luxury is another idea I had. I did also toy with the name Piggie Parking, but I wasn't so sure about that!

Tracey x
 
Teejay said:
Hi cazz....clash of dates, unfortunately, but thanks for the offer! :)) We're away from the 12th for 8 days.

I did a bit of 'googling' last night, and I was shocked by the places I found.....one website proudly showed racking-style shelves of rabbit and guinea pig cages stacked up high in some sort of a garage (no windows, walls painted white, bit like a lab). I can';t think of anywhere worse to leave my lovely boys, to be honest.

The other place gave a price for 'guinea pig living with rabbit'.....eek!.......how can anyone who knows anything about GPs condone keeping one with a rabbit?

Makes me think that my proposed idea of a luxurious guinea pig hotel would go down very well with people.

What do you think of the name VIPiggies? LOL! Or Lap of Luxury is another idea I had. I did also toy with the name Piggie Parking, but I wasn't so sure about that!

Tracey x
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What a fab name!

Set yourself a website up quickly and claim the name before someone pinches it LOL
 
I thought the dates would class, shame.

I like the VIPiggies name, would it show up on a search engine?

I'm all excited for you. :(|)
 
I run a small guinea boarding business, I just do piggies for the simple reason they are what I know and love. I have found it really quite succesful in our area. There is some local competition - won't go into too much detail but she emailed me last year before she set up claiming to want to know about how I would look after her pigs, then lo and behold set up a rival business nicking my care information...anyhoo...

I enjoy it a lot, some of it is harder than others, and I am not always sure how to handle some owners, but the pigs are easy lol.

I would definitely suggest setting up a Google place place, I have one and if you google 'guinea pig boarding surrey' or croydon or in fact anywhere near here, guess whose top ;)
 
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