Info/Help/Advice

[kez_s]

Hi

We decided a few weeks ago to bring our guinea pigs indoors as the weather was getting pretty extreme and the garage may not be warm enough. I read some time ago about bringing them in over winter and bedding,etc., and loved the idea of the fleece, so I purchased several, but it's not working out!

Our GP's are shedding hair at a rate I just can't keep up with and I don't want to put it near my washing machine for fear of breaking it, they are pooing in crazy quantanties, I mean I timed it recently and in 45 mins they had quarter filled a babies nappy sack - I would have to sit there 24/7 to be able to keep their cage in a reasonable state, they are also weeing for England and I don't know what to do, I have read all about your spot/checking and my guinea pigs seems to poo 10x the speed of all yours, their fleece can be covered within a few hours, the hair is awful, it's just becoming one layer in a silly amount of time.

They get fed a bowl of veggies in the morning, some at night and then hay, nuggets and some treats. Is this too much?

Any help would be so appreciated as I don't know quite what to do next!

 

[kez_s]

Bump - anyone?

 

[wales1000]

personally I dont use fleece, but I use Vet bed - my cages get very messy and they look a right state every time I get homes from work, but I do hoover all my cages out every night to remove old food and poos as there must be hundreds of poos! I have a routine every night, where I take out all the old hay, food etc and then go around and hoover all the cages/runs out then do their waters/dried food and hay. It is crazy how much poo they do for small animals. I do use fleece for their runs, but I usually hoover them off before I wash them.Sorry I am not really much help!

 

[daleksarah]

i use fleece it looks great really lovely and tidy and then i put my piggies in it and within minutes its a mess!my boys poo lots as well.i do have a cat litter tray in the cage with hay, in they do wee in there but also wee everywhere! i have to brush my fleeces off before puttin them in the machine

 

[kez_s]

I was initially using newspaper and fleece, have now changed to newspaper, towels and fleece. Their hair is EVERYWHERE! Do you think it's because they were outside as I don't ever recall being covered in as much hair as I am now.

I think I also may be feeding them a bit much as they get two pet bowls FULL a day, too much perhaps?

Is there anyway I can get them to poo in one area as they are pooing everywhere even in their bowls, their houses, etc.,

 

[Salt n Peppers mum]

I was initially using newspaper and fleece, have now changed to newspaper, towels and fleece. Their hair is EVERYWHERE! Do you think it's because they were outside as I don't ever recall being covered in as much hair as I am now.

I think I also may be feeding them a bit much as they get two pet bowls FULL a day, too much perhaps?

Is there anyway I can get them to poo in one area as they are pooing everywhere even in their bowls, their houses, etc.,

Kez I think they are moulting from being outside. Once the moultings settled down they'll be less hair as my indoor piggies dont shred that much at all. Try brushing the fleece down before washing.

I think we all have the same problems with our piggies pooing and weeing whenever and wherever they like. They do tend to poo/wee where they eat and sleep. With this in mind, (and the way that works for me) is the sleeping areas I have a fleece waterproof puppy pads, which a lady makes on e-bay. Each evening, these are replace and washed. I find their fleece and towels dont get much on them as I have worked out the system of where mine tend to 'go' so I do a full strip, towels the lot at least every week. I have cat litter trays filled with hay, they get in, eat wee and poo, each evening these get emptied, washed out then fresh hay back in.
So anywhere they spend the most time must be easily washable and dryable.
Fleece puppy pads are the paw print ones in this picture

Piggies eat all the time when their not sleeping (mine do anyway) I always have a bowl of nuggets down but to be honest they eat hay ALL the time so only have to fill this up every other day. Make sure they have plenty of hay and give them a change, Timothy, oat wheat barley, readigrass, orchard, the more they sit in their hay box munching hay the more they will toilet in there too.
I have a large area to clean with my cage but I've just about got into the rountine of things and I'm sure you will too - x>>