Monthly costs of guinea pig

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Feylin

Post   » Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:46 am


Instead of using Carefresh, you can use wood stove pellets. Feline Pine is the same thing, just packaged for cats and more expensive.

I use the wood stove pellets and it's about $5 for a 40lb bag. Feline pine is about $10 for a 25lb bag. Even if you go with the Feline Pine it's WAY cheaper than care fresh.

THe pellets dissolve to sawdust when wet. You can put a layer of aspen shavings over top if you are worried about your pigs walking on them.

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Mash

Post   » Sun Jul 04, 2010 4:53 pm


Thanks everyone, your suggestions are much appreciated :)

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vanillapooh1979

Post   » Sun Jul 04, 2010 5:32 pm


My 4 pigs go through about 70lbs of hay in 3 months. I buy 70lb bales for 6$ at a feedstore. I use fleece a layer of towels and puppy pads in my main cage and then I use pine shavings in my kitchen box. I pay about 4$ for a 12cubic pack of shavings so one pack lasts me about 4-6 months and I change the litter pans every 2-3 days.

Carrie86

Post   » Wed Jul 07, 2010 7:02 pm


Hay and Pellets - Montreal Critters and Canadian Pet Connection both ship it for roughly the same cost. Flowertown Chinchillas also carries it for much cheaper if you pick up (disclaimer: they breed Chinchillas). I don't have a car, so that didn't work out for me.

Wal-Mart has a bedding called Critter care, which is the cheapest available (I've done the math) for a Carefresh-equivalent bedding. It'd be about $5/week for a 1x2, more if you clean it out more.

Also, don't forget veggies and all of the pretty things you'll want to buy them!

Another tip: don't buy anything without consulting here first. We spent soo much money on a cage and supplies that we don't use because they're inappropriate. You can save yourself alot of money by making sure you're buying the right things.

Where are you thinking about getting your pigs from?

jedifreac

Post   » Wed Jul 07, 2010 7:07 pm


Your set up sounds pretty similar to mine, so here are my estimates in USD.

Carefresh can be expensive (a 50L bag that is around $15 might last you 3 changes.) More affordable options might be Yesterday's News, a purina newspaper cat litter; or hard wood pellets (a type of animal bedding or stove fuel), or aspen shavings (which you can buy at a horse feed store.)

If you can find a feed store near you, you will save a lot of money, especially on hay.

Research how much Oxbow pellets will cost. This is important.

Research cost of veggies in your local neighborhood. Primarily, lettuce.

Research vet fees and have a slush fund. (I'm reluctant to reccomend guinea pig ownership to anyone who feels money is super tight, if only because vet fees can be astonishingly high.)

You can save a lot of money by avoiding toys and treats sold in pet stores, they are worthless--better, cheaper toys can be made using regular household goods!

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shadowkitten

Post   » Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:08 pm


Congrats on adopting :)

My girls get unlimited Oxbow timothy hay, and it takes them about 10 months to go through a 50-lb box.

We also use just plain aspen bedding for the kitchen area. It works just fine.

Edited to add: I definitely agree with considering potential vet bills. Maggie suddenly had an abscess back in March, and in the end it cost us about $400 (between the actual surgery, medication, and follow-up visits).

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Kat

Post   » Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:27 am


Ditto considering future vet bills. In about a month we spent about $1000 on two pigs. We haven't spent much since, but things do have a habit of happening all at once.

Cinnabuns Legacy

Post   » Thu Jul 08, 2010 3:36 am


There is a knock off version of Carefresh that costs, even where I live where things tend to be really expensive, at least two if not three times less than Carefresh. It's called CritterCare. And CritterCare isn't running a grant system (grrr) for classroom pets.

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Mash

Post   » Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:28 pm


Thanks everyone, your tips are very welcome!
Luckily, veggies are reasonably cheap where I live, so there are no problems there (and it will encourage me to eat more veggies too, if I always have to have some fresh stock ;) )
The alternatives to Carefresh sound good, and I have a hardware store down the road from me which sells wood pellets, so if they're the right kind (haven't checked yet), that could be a convenient option :) I could use CritterCare on top of that, if I go down that route.


Carrie86: I'm not sure where'd I get them from yet--it depends on availability/compatibility when the time comes that I'm ready to adopt :) When I search Petfinder, the rescues nearest to me (near Toronto) that pop up are Piggles Guinea Pig Rescue and Guinea Pigs R Us. When I look at regular shelters nearby, guinea pigs don't seem very common.

jedifreac: it's indeed the hay that I'm finding a bit hard to find; I have a feeling there should be a semi-local source I can find because I'm not TOO far away from farmland, but I think the internet may not be the best way to find it ;) So far I've mostly seen timothy/alfalfa mixes, and I've seen on this forum and elsewhere that it's pure timothy that's wanted for adults (though is a percentage of alfalfa okay?)
Also, just so I can give a better idea of where I'm coming from, I'm luckily in a position where money is not super tight. I just like being careful, and I figure it's a good idea to think of expenses ahead of time so I can be sure I'll be able to meet them :)

jedifreac

Post   » Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:42 pm


Thank you for planning ahead and doing the research and please do consider adopting!

Timothy is best for adults, adults fed on alfalfa long term can get kidney/bladder/excretory system problems from all that excess calcium. Growing and young pigs (under a year) thrive on alfalfa but that's pretty much the age cut off.

My friend was able to find a local Timothy farmer on Craig's list in Michigan (the only one in the area) but your mileage may vary. If you live near a place with horses you will be on the right track.

Another option might be Orchard or Bluegrass hay. These and Timothy are grass hays. (Alfalfa is a legume hay.)

If you have space, you may be able to buy a BALE of hay for astoundingly cheap and then stash it in a shed or garage. That could easily last you a year.

3LittleMen

Post   » Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:25 am


For my 6 piggies, I try to factor about $250 a month for them. I don't need to buy pellets, hay, and Carefresh every month, but the months I do buy it usually come to about $250-$280 since I buy huge amounts from petfooddirect.com. Those months I make the big purchases don't factor in the extra cost of veggies/fruit, but since I eat it too, I factor that into my food budget haha. By keeping aside $250 for six pigs a month, I have emergency money for any vet trips and/or added goodies (buying new wheatgrass, chew toys, blankies, etc).

Kinda a little embarassed to admit, but I spent $80 on toys and special treats for their birthday July 9, and then $40 on all the veggies and fruit that they like. Needless to say, they didn't get ALL of it on that day, but this whole month has been a constant party for them. :-)

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Luckiest Girl

Post   » Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:10 pm


We get Natural Critter Care from Walmart for bedding, and we really like it. The small bags (6L, I think) cost about $2. We use a bag and a half a week, so it costs about $12/month. But we have fleece in most of our cage, bedding is only in the "bathroom" and "kitchen" areas.

You'll also want to consider that you might get a heart pig. Heart pigs need meds every day. We spend about $40/month on Truffle's furosemide and elanapril. And if the dose isn't right you'll have to make more trips to the vet than for a regular piggie.

Not trying to scare you, but it's a recurring expense we didn't think about originally and we now budget for it.

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