New Information Threads - Your Help Needed!

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If you want to write the thread between the three of you ( @Toffeewoffee, @Goth Mummy and @madguinealady) then that is fine!

I just want the thread to reflect the various challenges and responsibilities that face a family in their daily life, including issues with daily time management, piggy life span and piggies as prey animals, parents' responsibilites and managing chores and care, children's responsibilities at various ages and what children actually learn from who? (i.e. leading by example); family pet vs. childrens pet; what kind of piggies (adult rescue piggies vs shop youngsters); handling/biting/overanxious or too boisterous children, how to keep the interest going/toy making; other pets/noisy homes; new pregnancy; allergy; piggy death etc.

Parents should hopefully be able to consider honestly whether piggies are really appropriate pets for their children and whether they themselves can manage the daily supervision/care. There is no outright "right or wrong", but the thread will hopefully guide parents towards a responsible approach.
 
@Wiebke that's fine, I can draft something out over the next few days and send it to @Toffeewoffee and @madguinealady and you.
My personal opinion is that guinea pigs do not make good "children's pets" but they do make absolutely excellent "Family Pets". Even if the nominally "belong" to the child ;) I can provide photos too if you need :) My two children are almost 3 and 8 years old. They require different levels of supervision and guidance according to their ages. Obviously the pigs are mine really LOL.
 
Goth Mummy said:
@Wiebke that's fine, I can draft something out over the next few days and send it to @Toffeewoffee and @madguinealady and you.
My personal opinion is that guinea pigs do not make good "children's pets" but they do make absolutely excellent "Family Pets". Even if the nominally "belong" to the child ;) I can provide photos too if you need :) My two children are almost 3 and 8 years old. They require different levels of supervision and guidance according to their ages. Obviously the pigs are mine really LOL.
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@Goth Mummy, I agree with your completely - there is no ideal children's pet that isn't stuffed!

It would be good to have a thread that addresses all those issues honestly, but that also shows that when done properly, pets can be a valuable part of a child's life. I have grown up with guinea pigs as a family pet myself; my sister and I got our own pair after the family piggy died aged nearly 10 years old and we had amply proven that we would look after our own piggy responsibly and reliably.
 
Hi,

I'm not offering to cover this as I don't have the answers but more hoping someone with experience could create a sticky for me...

The pregnancy & baby thread has fantastic stickies regarding baby care and pregnancy care etc.. (thanks so much to @Wiebke for her excellent advice and knowledge).

However I feel the forum could benefit from a bit more information re baby care going forward (once they are weaned) and also preparing said babies for new homes.

I was thinking of maybe a comprehensive guide as to what is safe to feed at what age and maybe the best veggies to start with and maybe an ideal list of what are starter veggies and how long to leave between introducing new veggies.

Ie: week one feed X&Y and then continue this for x days then introduce x and so on.

I think this would be especially helpful for people with orphaned babies or in my case people with babies (who could have been orphaned for all I know) who do not know why they have babies so young away from mum.

It could include when it is safe to feed a little grass, dandelion etc.. (I've not dared feed this to mine as not sure of they are old enough yet)

Also advice to pass on to new homes, ie: Can they be rehomed to outdoors environment. How much should they weigh to be kept outside and what temp does it need to be at night before they can live outdoors?

The minimum weight / age for rehoming (I believe this to be minimum of 6 weeks and 400gms) - please correct me if I'm wrong.

I am hoping to get mine used to most veggies before I rehome and will be rehoming them with a list of veggies they have had so that the new owners have full info of their veg history.

Also if it could include something about weights that would be fab. I know that there is no hard and fast rule with weights as pigs are all different but is there a time when you should be worried about the amount of weight your pigs are putting on? Ie in the short time I have had them 4 of my 5 have put on 80-100gms each but one of my boys has only put on around 40gms, should this be a worry? to clarify on average 4 have put on approx. 40-50gms per week and the boy has only put on 20gms per week.

are there any signs to look for that may indicate that a certain baby is not thriving and what extra little things can be done for said baby to improve its chances (other than normal illness signs)

I am in process of putting together a care booklet for the pigs I rehome and I will be doing a front sheet containing all the info I feel the new owner needs to know. I am happy to send this front sheet to the author of this sticky (if it gets the go ahead) to attach as a download if wanted!

Anyway only an idea just thinking out loud and I do know it'll be a lot of work for someone so I understand if it doesn't go ahead.
 
I will have a look into into extending the baby care threads after my holiday break; however, I have always felt strongly that orphaned and struggling babies need individual ongoing support via a thread. I will add an pointer to that effect to the guide.

@Briony_S In your case, as to adult foods: introduce only one new veg per meal and in a small (but not minute) quantity as part of a mix of veg, but babies can basically eat all veg pretty much straight away and they can also eat grass pretty much from the start. As yours haven't had grass yet (when they would have initially only nibbled on it and would have accustomed their guts to it slowly through as they would eat increasingly larger amounts during their gradual shift from mummy's milk (who would contain traces of her own eaten veg) to eating a full adult diet by about 2 weeks old), please introduce grass the same as new veg and start with a small quantity which you up over course of a few days.

Please keep an eye on your slow developer and have him checked by an experienced piggy vet in case there is an identifiable serious underlying problem. You could try to mix either some some complan powder or full fat goats milk into his mushed up pellets (please change 2-3 times daily). I know that some vets have been recommending thinned evaporated milk to forum members, but cow dairy is too rich for guinea pigs and I have reservations about it for that reason. I am also a bit wary of cat milk substitutes, but I know that they have been prescribed by vets. Full fat goats milk is the closest we can unfortunately come to guinea pig milk.

I have added the average weight to any age recommendation in any of the baby threads (3 and 6 weeks) to help in those cases where the weight differs noticeably in a baby, but I will make that clearer in the updated separation and rehoming thread.
 
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Wiebke said:
I will have a look into into extending the baby care threads after my holiday break; however, I have always felt strongly that orphaned and struggling babies need individual ongoing support via a thread. I will add an pointer to that effect to the guide.

@Briony_S In your case, as to adult foods: introduce only one new veg per day and in a small quantity as part of a mix of veg, but babies can basically eat all veg pretty much straight away and they can also eat grass pretty much from the start. As yours haven't had grass yet (when they would have initially only nibbled on it and would have accustomed their guts to it slowly as they would eat increasingly larger amounts during their gradual shift from mummy's milk at birth to eating a full adult diet by about 2 weeks old), please introduce grass the same as new veg and start with a small quantity which you up over course of a few days.

Please keep an eye on your slow developer and have him checked by an experienced piggy vet in case there is an identifiable serious underlying problem. You could try to mix either some complan powder or full fat goats milk into his mushed up pellets (please change 2-3 times daily). I know that some vets have been recommending thinned evaporated milk, but cow dairy is too rich for guinea pigs and I have reservations about it for that reason. Full fat goats milk is the closest we can unfortunately come to guinea pig milk.

I have added the average weight to any age recommendation in any of the baby threads (3 and 6 weeks) to help in those cases where the weight differs noticeably in a baby, but I will make that clearer in the updated separation and rehoming thread.
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Thanks @Wiebke there are on "normal" pellets not mushed as they do seem to eat them fine even the teenie girl. maybe that was where I was going wrong maybe he isn't managing as well as I thought! I will mush some up for him!
 
Briony_S said:
Thanks @Wiebke there are on "normal" pellets not mushed as they do seem to eat them fine even the teenie girl. maybe that was where I was going wrong maybe he isn't managing as well as I thought! I will mush some up for him!
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No, you were doing right, @Briony_S ! I am just trying to find a good way of supplementing him without syringing (danger of asphyxiation). You could try spoon feeding if you prefer that! If he had a mum, extra one-on-one nursing time would have been the answer, but that is not an option for a baby that has been separated before the end of the nursing period. I guess he is now past the nursing period anyway, so complan would probably be a better opion. Perhaps you want to discuss that with your vet?
 
I could do the boar problems i have encountered so far and I'm studying animal behaviour at university
 
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