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Small pets

Is it usual for guinea pigs to pee so much?

6 replies

kahori · 23/07/2014 20:01

Hi all super furry experts, plus2new here under (yet another) name change Grin

Hope all the furries are coping well in the heat.

I'm trying to decide what to do regarding our bedding situation. The piggies are sleeping in the wooden hutch overnight and spend the day in the travel cot run. I have started putting them out on the grass for short periods but so far they are no keen.

My problem is that they pee sooo much. I am using newspaper and hay at the moment and the paper is constantly soaked.

I am having to do a full clean out of the hutch and run every day and finding it hard to keep a supply of newspaper in and keep on top of the cleaning.

I've heard of people spot cleaning daily and then a full clean every few days but there is no way we would manage this. They are prodigious poo-ers and this I can cope with but the wee is smelly are messes up their run.

I am also conscious of the fact that a wet environment isn't healthy.

I've been looking at these

bedding

mats

flooring

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 23/07/2014 20:31

Hi kahori - yes GPs can pee flipping rivers Shock
The time to worry is if their pattern changes - like if they suddenly start drinking loads and you've ruled out everything ( hot weather, leaky bottle that you think is being drunk)
Hunching when they pee, 'crying' painful noises.
Blood in pee.

These are 'get to the vet' signs.

My boar (neutered 11 days ago) is in his part of the Pighouse and though he pees alot, he's tidy .

My two new sows (10 months) are in a cage separate but chatting distance can give a puppy pad a good challenge. I put 3-4 under the newspaper, works for GP3 but with the girls, their floor is wringing if I leave it two days.

I put wood cat pellets (Natures Best or similar) which are recommended for small furries on their paper , it will last them 3 days if I scoop the manky bits (deep layer) with hay on top.
I've seen this used in a PetShop (nice petshop) in their rabbit enclosure. It's quite soft under their little feet but not dusty.
GP3 will have puppy pads, newspaper and hay, he's fine.

Newspapers - I poach from everyone I know, get the free ones from supermarkets, Underground stations, sometimes I even have to buy them

I haven't had sows for years (my DD had boars) so I'd forgotten how much they can produce.
And like our boar, they never seem to drink .

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kahori · 23/07/2014 20:42

Thanks 70, I think what I need so is an absorbent layer under the newspaper and maybe some cat litter. I think I haven't been making a deep enough layer.

What sort of puppy pads do you use? Would cheaply pound shop ones be ok? I've seen them but worried puppy pads wouldn't be safe.

Love the sound of your tidy boar. My two are so messy. Their worst habit is trampling their poo in a puddle of pee Sad

Do you know if the hemp stuff is any good?

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 23/07/2014 20:53

Boars in pairs I think are messy, always trying to outdo each other Grin GP1 used to pee as soon as he got into the Pighouse , even if he'd peed he still had some in reserve (in his spare bladder Grin )

I've tried all kinds of puppy pads, luckily mine aren't chewers - but I always make sure it's well under the paper.
The ones I have now have a sticky strip which is handy.

The only bedding I tried was Megazorb but they never seemed to pee in the handily placed piles.
Check your cat litter is small animal friendly though , some have really sharp granuals, and some have silicons for absorbabcy that I wouldn't give to piggies.

I looked in the equine bit of Decathlon last week but they didn't have bedding, I need to take a trip out to a saddlery to have a prod about.
If you try hemp, there's one called Auboise which is recommended but don't get one with citronella, (pigs noses are right in their bedding)

Paper shredder maybe? We have a confetti cut shredder and all pig-safe-paper goes in there. (The bits of paper do go everywhere though )

When GP3 was neutered, I gave him towels and fleece to sleep on (he wasn't allowed hay as bedding -he had hay in looroll tubes ) so his bedding just got wee/pooh on it.
Fleece wicks through so it stays dry , the towel soaks it up.

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FernieB · 24/07/2014 12:57

In this heat, I've just been putting a thin layer of newspaper and changing it daily. Usually they have a thicker layer of paper and it's changed every 2 days (or daily if they've been in all day). They're just having hay in their igloos.

They pee rivers and hardly ever drink and the poo is endless. Their digestive system must be very fast to process everything so quickly - no sooner is it in one end than its coming out the other.

I don't buy newspapers but my mum and her neighbours save theirs for me so I have a constant supply. Smooth is a broadsheet boy but Scruffy likes the tabloids. Very occasionally we are given a financial times - makes the cage look prettier.

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kahori · 24/07/2014 19:46

Grin at piggie newspaper preferences.

I was tidying the cage the other day and the newspaper had a big close up picture of a tiger in it. I actually deliberately turned it over in case it would frighten the piggies!

I bought a pack of puppy pads in a discount shop today and I've used them with a layer of newspaper over so hopefully the extra absorbency will help.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 24/07/2014 20:53

I pick up copies of The Metro when I go to Larndan.
I can rely on it to have a photo of Boris Johnson , so I arrange a BoJo mosaic for them Wink

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