Holiday Care

[Guinea Newbie]

During the Christmas period we are away. I contacted our local rescue back in October who also does boarding, but unfortunately they are full, so the person who babysits for us is going to come and look after the guinea pigs. My question is how often can I expect her to come and check up on them? Ideally I’d like this done twice a day but don’t know if this is a bit beyond expectations? (She only lives 5 doors away)
Their usual routine is:
Mornings- nuggets, hay top up water refill.
Evenings - veggies, hay top up,
water, also clean cage in areas of wee and poo.
Ideally I’d like to keep to this as this is what they are used to. They’ve taken a long time to settle with us incurring bladder infections and weight loss and they have only recently stabilised. I am actually quite glad that they aren’t going to board while we are away!
Can I expect her to visit twice a day or is it too much to ask?

Also, cleaning the wee/poo areas daily? Is this too much to ask?
We are of course paying her.

Thanks

 

[Siikibam]

How long are you away for? That would determine whether she cleans the cage or not. I don’t think I would make her poo pick daily... I think once a day should be enough. Changing their routine for that short period of time shouldn’t cause any issues. So they can have their veg.

I know it’s different, but we once went away for the weekend. My niece and her had checked on the pigs once daily and they were fine.

 

[piggieminder]

I would explain their usual routine to her and ask how much she feels she can do. I used to look after various animals for neighbours where I used to live and didn't mind going in twice a day as they were close by. Once a day will be fine if that's all she feels she can manage.

 

[Guinea Newbie]

Thanks for your replies.
We are away 5 nights. I am more concerned with the pee areas getting very wet. If they aren’t done daily they will be sodden. I can put an extra thick layer of wood shavings down.

How often do people with wood shavings tend to spot clean the pee areas...? Maybe I am doing it more often than most others do.

 

[PigglePuggle]

Do you have any fleecy pee pads your piggy sitter could put down over any damp areas?
When we go away my daughter normally piggy sits and apart from blatantly overfeeding apples and pellets she mostly does ok! But often piggy sitters do better if there is a well defined area to clean, like wipe out the hay tray with kitchen roll daily, or put this fleecy pad here after 2 days, rather than relying on them to know which bits look damp, and how damp is too damp!

 

[Guinea Newbie]

No, we don’t have any pee pads because we use wood shavings. I usually clear out the end of the cage that they wee in each evening. It’s usually about 2 scoops of the dust pan into a bin bag and then down with the fresh shavings and hay. The piggies just go down to the other end of the cage while I do it. Is it too often to ask someone else to do it daily?

 

[Siikibam]

Speak to her and see how she would feel about doing it daily. How many pigs are there in the enclosure again? It seems rather a lot if you’re clearing out two dust pans worth a day. Do you do a shallow fill?