Petfinder.com forums :: View topic - March 21-27 Guinea Pig adoption and care w/Shannon Cauthen! [ ]

Join us March 21-27th and celebrate Adopt-A-Shelter-Guinea Pig month! This month we are excited to welcome Shannon Cauthen of Cavy Care, Inc.

Cavy's (Guinea Pigs) are one of the least understood of the Pocket Pets, but Shannon Cauthen has more then 15 years experience working with these delightful creatures. She is considered an authority on cavy's and operates the largest rescue/shelter in the US. Getting Cavy's out of the lab and into your heart as the pocket pet with personality. These delightful creatures make remarkable pets and Shannon Cauthen has made it a life long commitment to showing just how wonderfully they can be by offering education as well as rescuing, offering for adoption and sanctuary to those guinea pigs to old to risk another transition. With more then 15 years experience working with this little South American native, she runs one of the most highly recognized shelter/rescue/sanctuary's in the US having been featured in such magazines has 5280, Associated Press, New York Times, the LA Times as well as writing for the Small Animal Channel.

Welcome Shannon!

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:23 pm Post subject:

I know that guinea pigs need vitamin C but was wondering why? How much do they need and how do you know if they are getting enough?

Shannon's Answer:

Just as in humans Ascorbic acid is essential to growth. Since guinea pigs cannot produce their own vitamin C, it must be supplied in the food they eat or supplemented to them in some other form. Guinea pig pellets are already fortified with vitamin C but only keep for 3 months. Freezing pellets with keep them as long as six months. A diet high in vegetable matter that contains vitamin C like parsley, cilantro, Timothy hay, beetroot, tomatoes, or grapes are well loved and an easy solution. You can substitute with human vitamin C tables but should not exceed 50mg, they can contain rose hibs. Vitamin C in the water only lasts for 3 to 4 hours and there are better ways of providing it rather then in a water bottle. Fresh vegetables are the best route to a good diet just like humans.

A diet of 80% hay, 10% pellets and 10% vegetables and fruit is the new recommendation. Hay is very high in vitamin C and should be available all the time. Splitting up the feeding of veggies/fruits should be split up to two times per day and the pellets left down all day as long as the are clean.

To go into greater detail Guinea pigs lack the enzyme to convert L-gulonolactone to L-ascorbic acid and there for require ascorbic acid. The biologic oxidation and reduction systems depend on it for proper functioning. If it is absence, bone and blood vessel abnormalities will develop, and the animal will suffer enlarged adrenal glands, bleeding in the limb joints, rib muscles and intestines. Young animals can develop bone abnormalities as a result.

How much vitamin C does my cavy need?

The average guinea pig needs between 10 and 30 mg/kg daily for good health. There is no risk of over-supplementation with this vitamin as any excess is released through the kidneys.

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:04 am Post subject:

I'm a little embarrassed to say my guinea pig sometimes eats his own poo. Is there a reason why he'd being doing this and is there a way I can prevent it?

Shannon's Answer:

This is a normal practice in may herbivores. The practise is called coprophagy. The bacteria provided by the softer poop (they make two kinds) helps to keep their digestive track operating normally as this bacteria insures the guinea pig is getting the most from their diet. Usually a guinea pig will reach down between their legs and catch the softer stool preventing it from hitting the ground. The ones you find in the cage are those that are of no benefit to the guinea pig except to evacuate the waste material from their system. (But they make great garden fertilizer.) You may have heard the saying a cow chews it's cud. Well this is the same act on a much smaller scale for guinea pigs. Babies will eat the softer stools of their mothers to get their digestive tack on line and often a guinea pig with digestive problems will be advised to get some of these poops from another guinea pig owners healthy guinea pig to get their system back on line. Guinea pigs are healthy animals as long as their digestive tracks are kept healthy. Only a proper diet including fruits and veggies that are nice and ripe are the ideal component of their diet. Veggies and Fruits that have mold or a soft are not ideal for a guinea pig. The rule of thumb is if you won't eat it because of it's condition a guinea pig should never eat it for the same reason.

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:29 pm Post subject:

I have a 6 1/2 yr old male gp and am thinking of adding a friend for him. I was told that spaying a female is dangerous and was recommended to get another male. IS this a good idea?

Thanks!

Shannon's Answer:

Hello Puppymom57,

There are many schools of thought on this very topic. One is if your guinea pig has been alone all this time then he isn't going to know anything different as long as you are spending lots of time with your fellow. If you are not spending time with your guinea pig then letting that fellow pick a new companion would be the next step. Someone around his own age, some one slightly younger but a a baby. Putting an adult this age with a baby is like giving your grandfather a baby to care for and compatibility is rare. Being able to let him meet on neutral territory with the creature would be ideal and offering him several choices of companions, a place to start. Watching their posture when interacting is important and it is important to remember that they will play out this same dance again when you get home. It may even become more animated and aggressive and owners who have an additional cage available would be truly ready for this experience.
Guinea pig posturing what it means on the first meeting:

1. First they will greet, trying to smell under the chin and then smelling the bottom. This means do you trust me or are friendly if the receiver permits the behavior...smelling the bottom means I know your rank in the heard

2. Then they will move about each other smelling and reenacting the behavior in number one. They may add purr and rumbling and/or teeth rattling to this as they do so. If they are compatible right off the bat, one will gently lick the others eye or ear flap and they may even lay down together or act completely uninterested in the other..

3. Males will mount males, females-females as a way of saying literally "I will be the top guinea pig in this relationship." Just like in human couples there is always one individual who is the front person and one the support. It is the same for guinea pigs. If one allows the other to mount and not take it to step four then you can be fairly comfortable they are a fairly match.

4. Guinea pigs will rattle their teeth, this is called shaking their sabers. Minor teeth rattling is OK. Major teeth rattling is not. If a guinea pig yawns then that means see I have huge teeth and can hurt you. Then a guinea pig will move to striking with their teeth like a head butt to indicate that you are not getting the better of me and than finally when they head butt but come back with hair in their mouth that means the next strike will be a bite. Separate them immediately. This is a pairing that is not going to work.

Now with males this can be a pair that will get along today, tomorrow, a week a month and then for no apparent reason have a falling out, something is said and they will never go back together again. Any kind of fighting especially rolling around in the shavings is an indication that they are not compatible and should not be living together. Guinea pigs will fight to the death and there are many who do not want a companion. They don't mind sharing floor time but they can not share the same cage. So with this knowledge and knowing your guinea pig only as you do can you make the decision of what is best for YOUR guinea pig.

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