Email:
cavycareinc@yahoo.com
Cavy Care Inc. is by appointment only. Thursday,
Friday, Saturday and Sundays.
We
would hate to miss you.
4343 S. Jasper St. Aurora, CO 80015
303-593-2195
Dr. Sharyn Esposito
Medical Emergencies
Aurora Animal Hospital
16677 E. Smoky Hill Rd.
Aurora, CO 80015
www.auroraanimalhospital.com
303-680-7305
Say
"Cavy Care Inc." sent you and the shelter will receive $10 off our veterinarian
care.
Number of visits:
Last updated on 11/20/2008 by the four pawed staff of CCI.
Many of the pictures on our site where contributed
and taken from www.flickr.com.
They are not intended as an endorsement
of our site.
Please click on the picture to see more
of the photographers work.
www.cavycages.com
for unique cage ideas for you that other folks have done.
"Guinea Pig" in
German: Meerschweinchen
Russian and Polish: word for them is similar, morskaya svinka (Морская
свинка) and świnka morska
French: Cochon d'Inde,
Dutch: guinees biggetje
Norway, Sweden an
Denmark: marsvin
Greek: indika xoiridia' or ινδικά
χοιρίδια
Portuguese: porquinho da Índia
Italian: Porcellino D'India or Cavia Peruviana
| Scientific
classification |
| Kingdom: |
Animalia
|
| Phylum: |
Chordata
|
| Class: |
Mammalia
|
| Order: |
Rodentia
|
| Suborder: |
Hystricomorpha
|
| Family: |
Caviidae
|
| Subfamily: |
Caviinae
|
| Genus: |
Cavia
|
| Species: |
C.
porcellus
|
|
| |
Lets
go shopping!
Habitat
Try
a coraplast cage...and get more bang for your buck with a little elbow grease.
Don't try to modify a rabbit cage by cutting the bottom out. The tray will be to
shallow for the bedding and unless you want to live with a vacuum in hand...then
get the proper cage right off the bat and be happy from the start. Dog crates,
rabbit cages, home made cages of chicken wire, and wood are sad, sad, sad
housing...
Other
cage necessities:
Bedding
Wood
base beddings last longer then paper, but paper based bedding are excellent if
you have allergies.
Beddings
not to use - Cedar, pine that hasn't been dried. Walnut shells, corn cob, and
pelted pine. The pelted pine bedding is proving to be to hard on guinea pigs
feet causing bumble foot. Newspaper while very cheap is very labor intensive and
unless you just want to change their cage every day...avoid it. Paper UNDER the
wood bedding is great. It can make cleaning a breeze. Cleaning day, just roll
the bedding up in the paper and deposit it in the trash.
More
on Bedding
Hay
-
Timothy
Hay - guinea pigs must have fresh hay available at all times. It
stimulates their digestion and keeping thing moving from front to back is
very important in a guinea pig.
-
Alfalfa
Hay - only for pigs under 6 months or pregnant or nursing mothers. Alfalfa
is to high in calcium to be feed on a regular bases.
-
Timothy
cubes or Alfalfa cubes of compressed hay.
Pellets
-
Pellets
- preferably timothy hay based. We prefer Oxbow Cavy Cuisine.
-
PETsMART
sells Nutriphase which is a great pellet if you have to purchase a pet from
a pet store.
-
Never
feed rabbit or hamster pellets or pellets with seeds or colorful bits. A
good basic pellet is all that piggy needs. The other stuff is like feeding
your guinea pig potato chips...they love it but it is not good for
them.
What Not to Buy
- Plastic Tray Liners
- Mineral licks, they are great for rabbits, not for
guinea pigs.
- Wood block chews, gnaw bones or wood blocks. Guinea
pigs like to chew what they can eat. They do not have a great capacity to
spit things out and chewing these items...well...
- Hay racks
- Carrot racks
- Exercise wheels and balls - these are
very bad for guinea pig's backs.
Good Toys
-
Paper bags
-
Small paper bags stuffed with hay or
veggies
-
Toilet paper or paper towel tubes - these
can be stuffed with hay or treats. Be sure they do not have a lot of glue
left on them.
-
Cardboard boxes with guinea pig size
holes cut in them. The less color they have on the box the better. Avoid
soda boxes.
-
Oatmeal containers, remove the plastic
ring around the top
-
Mirrors, or bells.
-
Small stuffed animals, be sure that they
do not have small button eyes that might get chewed off and stuck in piggies
throat.
-
Cavy cozies
|