Hello! New Guinea Pig owner!

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rosiea

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 1:15 am


I just thought you all might like to know how it went at the vet. Both of them got an excellent bill of health (besides Ms. Fancy Feet's teeth and her being a little overweight). He said the weight issue should resolve itself, since she's on a good diet now. Evidently, guinea pigs tend to be overweight if they're fed a diet of exclusively low quality pellets. When I gave her the greens today, she was bouncing all over the place! He's going to call me tomorrow with test results, but he's confident that they'll all come back good!

Oh, I forgot! It's so funny! Louie has been sitting in the chair across the room from their table, and he keeps trying to "talk" to them. It's so cute! It sounds like he's trying to make guinea pig noises! And they've been talking back to him, too!

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Hunybee

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 5:07 am


Total awe moment. ;). I'm glad they are both relatively healthy. Does anything need to be done withher teeth?

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Mom2boars

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 7:23 am


Aww! That is so sweet about Louie trying to make piggie noises! I'd love to see a video of that!

Glad they are doing well. Did she need any of her teeth trimmed? Did Mr. Fast Feet get snipped yet or is that a later date?

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rosiea

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 8:42 am


Yes, she needed her teeth trimmed, though her molars are fine. He wants to wait a while to snip Mr. Fast Feet, at least until he gets all the tests back, to make sure he's up to it. I was *very* impressed with this vet. He not only answered my questions well, he asked a lot of questions about their behavior, too. He also gave me a list of local resources for guinea pig stuff, and had a pretty positive attitude about me wanting to try making their pellets myself. He said he's never heard of that, but he's going to look into it to see if it's feasible. =)

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 8:58 am


Why on earth do you want to make pellets yourself? By the time you assemble the hay, the vitamins, minerals, stabilizers, etc. you'll need, you could buy a lifetime's worth of good pellets from Kleenmama or Oxbow. Not to mention the difficulty of getting it all ground up, mixed, extruded, dried, etc. You'd do better spending your time growing them fresh veggies than making pellets.

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Hunybee

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 10:44 am


lol, when you jump in, you jump in with both feet.

I'm glad you found a good vet. As far as I can find, there are only 2 in my immediate area. Like a new mommy, I checked them both out. They both seemed competent, but one did stand out as being more helpful and down to earth.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 10:56 am


Beware of anyone trimming incisors only. They may not know what they are doing. Read all the teeth pages, especially www.guinealynx.info/.html and www.guinealynx.info/_broken.html

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rosiea

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 12:35 pm


Yeah, I kind of have this idea that I wouldn't feed an animal anything that I wouldn't eat myself. I make my dog's food from scratch, as well. We have an extensive garden, and I've already planted some timothy seed.

I *do* have a quick question, though. As I said, we have a large garden, with all kinds of vegetables. It's surrounded by chicken wire, to keep the rabbits out. But it would also work to keep the guinea pigs in, to let them forage in the garden. The problem is, there are also many different types of flowers in there, and I haven't been able to find any info on acceptable or unacceptable flower foliage for them. Any ideas?

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rosiea

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 4:05 pm


Well, I just talked to the vet. All the tests came back A+! Fast Feet's neuter is scheduled for next Friday! After everything I've learned about guinea pigs, I feel very, very lucky that I have two very healthy little ones!

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Mom2boars

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 5:07 pm


Yay!! So glad they are both healthy!

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Hunybee

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 6:35 pm


I would not let them free range outside in the garden unless you are there to stand over them and watch them. Large Birds can swoop down in an instant. Also you'll need to make sure there is adequate shade.

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rosiea

Post   » Fri May 20, 2011 6:48 pm


Oh, I would definitely be out there with them...my guinea pigs are not birdy food! I haven't let them yet, mainly because I'm worried about the flowers. Will they eat them if they're poisonous to guinea pigs?

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