For the past week I have been sick and I avoid touching or being near my pigs because I know they have sensitive respiratory systems. However because of this while I have been sick all I have done is feed them and clean their cage at the end of the day. Do you think they are ok after such little interaction. And how much interaction should they have normally when you am not sick.
Hi
Hi
I m very sorry that you have been badly ill.
You have done the sensible thing that we do recommend. Don't go and cuddle or kiss your piggies when you are ill with an infection There are a few things that can potentially transmit. Strep throat, salmonella, potentially norovirus... Guinea pigs don't get flu, but they can die from streptococcus and pneumoccus infections (virulent pneumonia) as well as bordetella (kennel cough) from dogs with fatal consquences.
Your piggies have each other for round the clock company and they will get used to picking up their normal routine again quickly. It is OK to just have them ticking over while you are very poorly.
Mine had to do that for two weeks while I was very ill with Covid and needed a sit down and rest twice just for cutting a whole cucumber into enough slices. But they all survived the experience!
Interaction with humans can be a lot more than just cuddling sessions (which can be somewhat boring for piggies) and happen on many different levels when you make the effort to enter their world instead of just them your world.
1 Company and interaction
- Company of their own kind is the best enrichment
- Human interaction
2 Excercise
- Daily run time and exercise
- Race and obstacle courses
- Outdoors time and how to bring it indoors
3 Sensory enrichment
- Things for the nose and the palate
- Working to get their daily food
- Romping and burrowing in soft...
We do have a very helpful New Owners information collection into which over 15 years with literally tens and tens of thousands of questions have gone into plus ownership that in some cases dates back half a century have gone into. You may want to bookmark the link, browse, read and re-read again as you will pick up on different things at different levels of experience.
Contents Overview
1 What This Collection Is About
2 Guinea Pigs as Pets
- Family and Classroom Pets
- Sourcing Your Guinea Pigs, Common Pitfalls and Your Customer Rights
- Pet Owners with Anxiety: Practical Tips for Sufferers and Supporters
- Naming your Guinea Pigs and Finding Out the Breed
- Guinea Pigs as a Species: Facts, Development and Social Aspects...