The Cavy(Guinea Pig) Lovers Club

[thesummerset]

So many cute piggies

[Methalis]

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[thesummerset]

[arcticwolf]

I love all these pigs/cages. I currently have a store bought cage but I am waiting for cc parts to arrive. I will be sure to post pictures of that once I have built it.

Woo! A fellow educated owner who believes in using large cages. :]

•Guinea pigs are unable to manufacture Vitamin C within their bodies; therefore, this vitamin must be supplemented.

This is only partly true. Guinea pigs do need Vitamin C, but they do not need supplements. A good brand of pellets, daily veggies, and a small serving of fruit once or twice a week is enough to keep your guinea pig healthy. Vitamin supplements can cause health illnesses such as kidney stones (correct me if I'm wrong there, I know they can be harmful but I'm not sure what the results are).
You should be careful when feeding oranges though, since too much/too often can cause sores in the mouth. Save those as a rare treat.

[Methalis]

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[Sadies]

My piggies:
Samsung is the white one and porcellinI is the texel.

This was when the piggies first met. They are both fully mature boars. Sadly we had lost two pigs the previous year and Samsung was lonely and so I was looking for another but we did not want a young boar as our boar is rather old and we did not want another lonely pig for a long time.
They are both in a grooming bath, that's why the floor is weird.



This is them on night 2 of them being together.



( Thought I would add that Porcellini had Trichiasis (which is when the eyelashes grow inwards) when he was a baby but it's all sorted and Samsung has fatty eye but there is nothing that can be done about that as the vet will not do surgery however it does not effect him. - Thought I would add that in case you were wondering)

[Methalis]

Your piggies are so cute!

[~Serenade~]

I love all these pigs/cages. I currently have a store bought cage but I am waiting for cc parts to arrive. I will be sure to post pictures of that once I have built it.

Woo! A fellow educated owner who believes in using large cages. :]

•Guinea pigs are unable to manufacture Vitamin C within their bodies; therefore, this vitamin must be supplemented.

This is only partly true. Guinea pigs do need Vitamin C, but they do not need supplements. A good brand of pellets, daily veggies, and a small serving of fruit once or twice a week is enough to keep your guinea pig healthy. Vitamin supplements can cause health illnesses such as kidney stones (correct me if I'm wrong there, I know they can be harmful but I'm not sure what the results are).
You should be careful when feeding oranges though, since too much/too often can cause sores in the mouth. Save those as a rare treat.

The only supplement for Vitamin C that can be given is either pure Vitamin C via oral syringe with the right dose or Oxbow Vitamin C tablets though they are not needed so most people don't give them. As you said they shouldn't have any other vitamin supplements as they aren't needed and can give them an overload of certain vitamins. One of my rescue pigs actually came in with a bleeding mouth and was unable to eat. Turns out it was because his owners were feeding him too many oranges and he had to be hand fed until he healed enough to eat on his own without damaging his mouth more. Vitamin C should never be given in the water, as that can make it taste weird, causing some guinea pigs to not drink it. Not to mention the Vitamin C degrades quickly in sunlight and water, therefore by the time they drink the water it won't be beneficial.

A great way for pigs to get Vitamin C is through Green Bell Peppers, they have more Vitamin C than an orange and are safe to feed daily. Each pig per day should have about 1/4 of a normal sized green or yellow bell pepper per day (Red are to high in sugar to be fed daily) I actually gave one of my pigs stones back when I didn't know much about Guinea Pigs. I thought I was doing an awesome thing by giving her vitamin supplements but they had calcium in them, which isn't good for pigs and causes stones.

[thesummerset]

Where do y'all order your bigger cages from? I need to upgrade now that my piggies are full grown ^^

[Methalis]

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