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HAIR TRIMMING
When I was first smitten
by the wee ones it was quite a time before I decided to take on a long-haired
variety. Everyone kept telling me that they took a lot of grooming and hair
trimming, people were wrong of course, unless their guinea pigs were destined
for the sows of the guinea pig fancy.
I trim the under hair of
the rear end of my long-haired guinea pigs quite drastically, after I have
flicked back the topcoat. On some long-haired guinea pigs this underhair does
not grow long, but it takes time to find out which ones they are. In most
longer haired guinea pigs the hair growth on the rear end is uniformly long so
the undercoat does have to be trimmed back, if it isn’t then it will
quickly become soiled and knotted.
My sows I always trim by
standing them on a towel and holding them steady with my left hand on their
backs. My boars, however, I always trim on a towel on my lap WITH MY LEFT HAND
CUPPING THEIR TESTICLES. These tend to dangle, or kind of drag back if they are
on level ground and can get hidden in the hair and can get cut. The fact that a
vet friend of mine admitted that he too had made a slit in a guinea pig’s
scrotum has not lessened the guilt I feel about the time I did it. Perhaps it
has a lot to do with the fact that I am male and if there is one thing that one
chap does not do to another chap; it is to inflict damage on such a delicate
quarter!
HEART ATTACK
It is vital to
differentiate between a heart attack and a stroke in guinea pigs. The main aim
of the game of course is to identify those that are showing signs of being
likely to have a heart attack. Those that keel over without showing any tell-tale
pre-attack symptoms invariably die but in the main most show these symptoms
beforehand and, usually; very effective action can be taken.
There will be slow gasping
breaths from deep down in the diaphragm and when the heart is listened to it
will be slow and very uneven. Note, an uneven heart beat alone can be detected
in many perfectly healthy guinea pigs, and human come to that matter, so do not
get overly concerned if you happen to come across a guinea pig with this
symptom by chance. The guinea pig will also be extremely lethargic and
definitely off its food.
When these two symptoms
are seen it is a matter for urgent veterinary help for it will need a
prescription only medicine in the shape of the powerful diuretic FRUSEMIDE and
sometimes other drugs. In most cases 0.2 sub cut injected FRUSEMIDE will do the
trick and have the animal back breathing normally, and back on its feet within
a couple of hours. The reason this drug is so effective is that it quickly
flushes out the kidneys, which immediately eases the workload of the heart.
Sometimes, though
thankfully not very often, a guinea pig can have a chromic heart problem.
Though at first it is wise that it is given FRUSEMIDE, the overuse of this drug
can deplete potassium levels, which is the last thing you want to do with any
kind of heart problem. The use of herbal diuretics and foods is very beneficial
with these animals. I use Potters Watershed at a dose rate of 0.4 daily.
Parsley, celery and of course, the proverbial dandelion are excellent diuretic
foods. These foods should be fed regularly to guinea pigs that have these
chronic heart problems.
HEAT EXHAUSTION
I dread hot spells for there
will inevitably be a spate of heat exhaustion from owners who do not heed
warnings about locating their hutches where they are out of the glare of the
sun. Seldom do I get cases where the guinea pigs are kept in owners’
homes and I guess that it is because, in essence, if the temperature is fine
for humans then it will be fine for guinea pigs.
The symptoms are that the
animal will be flat out, panting heavily and with a high temperature. Immediate
action is necessary and it is drastic. Get a towel and soak it in cold water
and wrap the guinea in it for it is essential that the temperature is brought
down as quickly as possible. As soon as the guinea pig begins to stir
itself leave it for about half a minute longer, then take it out, for
there could be a danger of going the other way and chilling it.
Under no circumstances try
to syringe it water or offer it until it is up on its feet and the breathing is
back to normal. When it is offered water, either hold a drip feed bottle to it,
or if it is used to a water bowl, put a bowl of fresh water down for it. If it
has been caught in time, recovery is usually very rapid.
HICCUPS
In one of my books I
referred to this as heaving hiccups and it can be very alarming when it is
first seen. The animal looks as though it is trying to vomit, its whole body
being thrown forward with the violence of it. As this invariably occurs when
the animal is eating, I am convinced that it is nothing more serious than the
same kind of thing human beings can suffer from and we refer to as
‘something going down the wrong way’.
In point of fact, guinea
pigs cannot vomit and this is why I think it is a more violent reaction in
them. What usually happens, though not always, is that after a few of these
heaving hiccups, it will cough and the heaving will immediately end. The good
news is that though I have seen this occur in many guinea pigs I have never
been aware of a single one of them have any ill effects from it.
HIMALAYAN
This breed has similar
markings to those of a Himalayan cat, which is called pointing. The coat colour
is white but the feet, ears and nose can be either chocolate or black.
HOUSING
This is the number one aid
to health in guinea pigs. Get it right and the overall health of your stock
will be greatly improved. Get it wrong and it can be the cause of all manner of
ailments.
As I have stated many
times, I much prefer indoor housing, for not only are the conditions that are
good for human well-being identical to the requirements of guinea pigs, but
when you are living with guinea pigs, awareness of developing problems, which
is always the case when they are in your home, can be vital in making an early
diagnosis and giving treatment. The golden rule is, the earlier the diagnosis
the better the prognosis in most guinea pig problems.
The range of accommodation
for indoor housing is limited only by the imagination and D.I.Y skills of
owners. They can range from a simple wooden box with sides that are high enough
to prevent the occupants from escaping to the kind of purpose-built pens that I
house my stock of eighty in. In essence, I have done no more than run a glass
front, two and a half feet from the wall down the whole length of my living
room, then at right angles run another glass front from the adjoining wall to
make an L-shaped enclosure. In here I house about forty sows. This shorter part
of the L is made up of a pine bunk bed frame, which has given me a second floor!
The boars, which have to
be kept in pairs of course, live in three foot by eighteen-inch pens. I have
three of these tiered in a flat-pack kind of high cabinet of the type that can
be purchased very cheaply from any D.I.Y. store. The other four pairs of boars
live in the upper part of the bunk bed frame, across which I made a base, which
was partitioned into four pens.
Friends of mine have used
space between the fireplace breast and a right-angled wall. Many people fit
shelves in these alcoves but by bringing the ‘shelf’ to the level
of the chimney breast, about eighteen inches from the wall, and fitting a glass
front across it, they were perfectly big enough for boar pens. Like me they fit
subdued lighting, which makes it an even more attractive feature to a room.
I always say that if you
can smell a guinea pig then it is probably a sick guinea pig, so being
odourless they are ideal indoor companions.
If guinea pigs are to be
kept outdoors then there are many precautions that have to be taken to avoid
risks to health and general welfare. One of the biggest problems now is the
danger of them being taken by the ever-growing urban fox population so this
means that hutches must be firmly secured, as high as possible against a wall
with nothing beneath them which a fox can climb up on.
Hutches must be sited in
areas that are not damp but shaded from the heat of the sun in the summer time.
In the winter time either the hutches should have extra insulation in the shape
of covers or the hutches should be moved into a shed.
Recently, manufacturers of
hutches have been far more imaginative and there are now hutches being made
that are like children’s Wendy houses, many of them with two or three
floors. As the occupants of these hutches seem to use all floors I think they
prefer them to the older style hutches. At first I thought they would be more
difficult to clean out, but in point of fact they are easier for the whole of
the fronts of them are hinged and open up, giving great ease of access.
HYDRO THERAPY
I cannot understate the
value of this as an aid to various problems that guinea pigs can suffer from.
On one occasion I demonstrated the technique, on a TV programme, upon Saskia, a
lovely sow who had to have my assistance in delivering a large baby, which left
her very weak in the rear end.
It is also invaluable in
recovering stroke cases and for guinea pigs that have suffered from strains.
The one time it should not be used is in elderly arthritic guinea pigs for it
could make their condition even worse.
What it amounts to is
nothing more than getting the guinea pig to exercise with a little bit of
swimming. The two golden rules are to wait until the guinea pig is beginning to
try and move around a bit more and always keep the hands under it when it is
first put into the water to support its body and give it confidence.
Initially I use the
kitchen sink and then graduate to a bath of tepid water. Guinea pigs, like all
animals, can swim and as you lower them into the water they will immediately
begin to kick out with their back legs and do a doggy paddle. Restrict
the first session to a couple of minutes but as they grow stronger the time can
be extended. Quite a few of the guinea pigs I have treated this way seem to get
a taste for this therapy and swim up and down the bath quite happily providing
there is a hand they can climb onto. They will invariably get panicky if they
only have the slippery side of the bath to gain a purchase on so put something
in the bath. I use a large up turned ceramic dog bowl for them to rest on.