Guinea Pig Connection

Should Guinea Pigs Be Housed Outdoors?

In the comments section of one of our older posts, Katherine Buchanan asked about housing guinea pigs outdoors here in the U.S. She wrote:

I am curious: as a child in England, our piggies lived outside year round, in their hutch under a covered porch in summer, in their hutch in an unheated shed in winter. They had sawdust on the floor and a big box of hay to sleep in in their sleeping box. They grazed outside in an ark with a sleeping box from April until October.

Are they a different breed of piggy? I have never heard of anyone keeping a guinea pig indoors in England (maybe a garage but never in the house). And if you waited for it to be 65 they would only go outside about two weeks a year!

Ours (brothers) lived happily until 8 years old and were never sick.

We are keeping them inside because that is what we were advised (although we did take them out on the grass on a warm day this week and they loved it, especially clover). I am just curious why they are treated so differently. We live near San Jose so it is pretty warm 9 months of the year, although cold at nights.

There are many reasons for the difference in housing practices over here.

• Veterinary knowledge has evolved over the years, and vets have learned more about how sensitive guinea pigs are to drafts, breezes, extreme temperatures at either end of the thermometer, and climate control (or the lack thereof). Warm temperatures, humidity, and sunny weather lead to heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and sunstroke. Cold temperatures and drafty or damp weather can lead to colds, pneumonia, and upper respiratory infections.
• In many areas of the U.S., it's not uncommon for there to be as much as a 30- or 40-degree difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures. This is very hard on guinea pigs, even in well-insulated cages.
• Guinea pigs become acclimated to climate-controlled environments. Keeping them inside for half the year, then putting them outside -- even in warmer weather -- can be a shock to their system if the transition is not managed carefully.
• Guinea pigs housed outdoors are in danger from feral cats and stray/wild dogs, raccoons, foxes, and snakes. In the U.S., we have predators that England doesn't (or, at least, I don't think it does) -- bears, wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, cougars, and more. (Here in Connecticut, there's been a problem with coyotes going after cats and dogs.) They're all coming into populated areas with increasing frequency (the price we've paid for over-developing the land), and they're all looking for a meal...any kind of meal.

While there may be very small pockets in the U.S. where the temperatures are moderate enough year-round to accommodate outdoor housing for guinea pigs, most areas are not suitable. And the threat from wild animals is cause enough for concern. For all the above reasons, you will not find many folks in rescue on "this side of The Pond" who support outdoor housing.

When Is A Sneezing Guinea Pig Something To Worry About?

In the comments section of an earlier post, Elise asked about a pet guinea pig that seems to be sneezing a lot.

Without any other information to go by, it's difficult to know if her pig's sneezing is worrisome or not. At its worst, sneezing could be indicative of an upper respiratory infection (URI) if it's accompanied by any of the symptoms listed on this GuineaLynx reference page. 

At its simplest, a pig's sneezing could be due to dusty bedding, which happens frequently with pine bedding and sometimes with aspen or wood pulp products (like Kaytee Total Comfort).

Slightly more complex, but still solvable with some diligent observation and detective work, is the possibility that a pig's sneezing is due to an allergy or sensitivity to any of the following:

• pine or aspen bedding
• laundry detergent and/or fabric softener being used for washing cozy cups, cozy sacks, fabric tunnels/tents/hideaways, towels or blankets used in the play area, towels or blankets used to cover the cage at night
• air freshener products used in the home (including the low-intensity plug-in fresheners)
• carpet cleaning or deodorizing products (which leave strong odors)
• household cleaners (which leave strong odors)
• perfumes, colognes, after-shave products, and other scented body care products

If your pig isn't showing any other signs of a URI (and continues not to), and the bedding you use isn't dusty, you will want to start working through the above list of allergens. It will be an ongoing process of elimination for a few weeks, but if allergies/sensitivities are the culprit, your hard work will pay off.

Building A Play Area For Your Guinea Pigs (Part 2)

Once you've built a play area for your furry friends, what do you put in it?

Play areas need things that cater to guinea pigs' instincts to tunnel, explore, and hide. These objects do not have to be fancy or expensive, though you’ll want to maximize the benefits of playtime by providing different items and toys than what your pigs have on a regular basis in their cage.

Homemade Options

• Take a paper grocery bag, cut a hole out of at least one side, and lay the open bag in the play area, creating both a tunnel and a hideaway.
• Cut the bottoms out of empty super-sized oatmeal containers (and remove the plastic ring typically found at the top of the containers) to create usable, chewable, disposable tunnels.
• Take a small paper bag, cut random holes on the top and sides, and then stuff it with hay (preferably something different than what they ordinarily have in their cage).
• Take a segment of a wrapping paper tube, cut random holes in it, then stuff it with hay or with lettuce leaves. (Wrapping paper tubes typically do not have the glue on them that paper towel and toilet paper tubes do.)
• Take a new, clean plastic dishpan, cut one or two holes at opposite ends, and turn the dishpan over to create a sizable combination hidey house and tunnel that’s washable and affordable.

Store-bought Options

• Purchase the large-sized Chube or Chewbular tunnels, which are colorful, chewable, and disposable. These are perfect for even the pudgiest adult guinea pigs.
• Purchase PVC pipe or landscape tubing, both of which make for washable tunnels. Both are available at places like Home Depot, typically at half the price of the plastic tunnels found in pet stores. You can often find Y- and T-shaped tubes, as well as elbow (curved) and straight tubes. Where adult guinea pigs often outgrow the diameter of the plastic Funnels in pet stores, most of the landscape tubes and PVC pipes are wide enough to accommodate all but the pudgiest pigs.
• Fiddle Sticks tunnels/houses, which are big enough to accommodate a couple of snoozing guinea pigs.
• Fleece and fabric tunnels, tents, cozy cups, and cozy sacks. You can make your own, or purchase them; they're often found in the same aisle as ferret supplies.
  

We have illustrated lists of recommended play area items on one of our Squidoo pages, and on Amazon, that include items not mentioned here.

As your budget will allow, have a variety of toys that you can swap out every few weeks to give your pigs new combinations of toys to entertain themselves with. You’ll have as much fun watching them respond to your creative ideas for their playscape as they’ll have playing in it!

Building A Play Area For Your Guinea Pigs (Part 1)

Are your guinea pigs bored?

If they’re spending 24/7 in their cage, with outings only for lap time, they’re guaranteed to be bored. And likely a little pudgy. And maybe a little less interactive with you than you'd like.

Many new owners don’t know that guinea pigs benefit greatly from out-of-cage playtime, preferably on a daily basis. Playtime gives you a chance to interact with your pigs, setting up interesting playscapes for them to explore, hand feeding them healthy treats, and even just sitting by the play area and talking with them. A good play area provides ample room for a good run, games of “chase” and “hide and seek,” and general rummaging about for treats and such. It also gives them a much-needed change of scenery from their cage, which contributes to good psychological health.

Guinea pigs need to get out for at least two hours a day, every day. Guinea pig playtime is good for the humans as well; even if you’re not playing with your pigs the whole time, it's very relaxing to curl up with a good book or a good movie nearby while your guinea pigs entertain themselves.

Play time starts with an enclosed play area — a space that gives guinea pigs plenty of room to run and romp without risk of finding, biting, or getting tangled up in electrical wires and without risk of getting stuck under or behind furniture and appliances. This means that the play area must be fully enclosed.

The Fence

The play area, at minimum, should be the same size as the cage but preferably 1.5 to 2 times larger than the cage (or even larger, if you have the space). You want the fence to be high enough to prevent pigs from getting loose, but not so high that it looks like you’re trying to contain a Rottweiler puppy.

You can create the perimeter of the play area using either the small pet fences sold at pet stores (you may need to buy 2 or 3 to create a large enough play area) or using Neat Cubes (available at places like Target). The Neat Cubes let you build a play area that’s long and rectangular, L-shaped, U-shaped, or a just a really large square. Just fasten the cube squares together (with the round connectors) as you would for storage cubes or for C&C cages.

If you have baby guinea pigs, Neat Cubes, similar storage solutions, and many pet fence products are not suitable for them until they are several months old! The open spaces in these products are large enough that a baby guinea pig could get through and escape, or could get partway through before getting stuck — and getting hurt. For the few months that they're that little, use storage cube solutions with mesh panels. Later, when the babies are older and bigger, you can replace the mesh grids with the wire grids and move the mesh grids off to another purpose.

The Play Area Floor

Start by purchasing an inexpensive piece of vinyl flooring remnant (from Home Depot and other stores) and cut it to the desired size for your play area, with a couple of inches to spare all the way around. This creates a solid surface for your pigs to play on, and protects your carpets and bare floors from the moisture that would otherwise soak through the towels and potentially stain your floors.

On top of the flooring remnant, place old bath towels, lightweight cotton or fleece blankets, or yardage of fleece or terry cloth from the fabric store. These materials are washable, soft, warm, and give your guinea pigs' feet needed traction while they play. Wash these materials at least once a week in warm or hot water and fragrance-free detergent.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about toys...

Where To Find Adoptable Guinea Pigs

Through our blog and Squidoo pages, we get a lot of questions like "If we don't live in Connecticut and, therefore, can't adopt from you, where do we look to find rescue pigs closer to us?"

You can start in the following places:

• Petfinder lets you do a search limited to your state to find postings for any rescues operating in your area.
• Guinea Pig Adoption Network has listings from private owners needing to find new homes for their pigs.
• Save-a-Piggie has listings usually from private owners, and some from rescues.
• Guinea Lynx keeps a list of rescues in the U.S. and beyond.
• Guinea Pig Home has a list of rescues, as well as listings from private owners.
• Cavy Madness sometimes has a short list of notices from private owners, and calls from shelters or rescues who are at or close to capacity, on its Adopt-a-Piggie page.

If you do live local to us, you can find our list of adoptables here.

As a final note, no responsible owner or reputable rescue would ever put a note on their adoption listing or Web site stating that they'd ship guinea pigs anywhere. Guinea pigs would never survive the trip in the cargo bay of an airplane. Anyone who is willing to gamble otherwise is not someone you want to deal with. Move on to another option -- and cast out a prayer for the guinea pigs in that person's care.

March Is Adopt A Guinea Pig Month!

Ah...our favorite time of year...when the humble and ever-so-lovable guinea pig has an entire month dedicated to expounding its virtues!
 
To help mark the occasion, we'll be appearing at the Rabbit & Small Critter Care Fest, sponsored by the Newington branch of the Connecticut Humane Society, on March 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Download Newington's Critter Care Fest). We'll also be publishing an article -- "More Guinea Pig Myths Debunked" in the March 2009 issue of Pets Press.

If you'd like to help us mark the occasion and support guinea pig rescue, check out our Zazzle gallery. Our volunteer Aimee uploaded three new magnets and will be adding new note cards as well.

Stay tuned!