Burgess Pet Care

Wood Green, The Animal Charity Presents Story time – Guinea pig Adventures

Are you attenting the London Pet Show 2012?

Wood Green, The Animal Charity invite you and your children to come and listen to the adventures of wise Peggy and her nine friends.  The two chapters presented on both Saturday and Sunday at this years London Pet Show will follow the guinea pigs’ first few days at the Charity and the adventures they have during their quest to find a new family to love them.

Wood Green, The Animals Charity is also offering the opportunity for 10 children at each story time to interact with wise Peggy and her friends whilst they listen to the teacher reading the story.

To be in with a chance of taking part in story time visit the Wood Green stand to register, 10 names will be drawn at random 30 minutes before the story.

For further information about the charity and the opportunities available visit www.woodgreen.org.uk or follow them on Facebook www.facebook.com/woodgreentheanimalscharity

Guinea Pigs, also known as Cavies, make wonderful pets. They are small, gentle creatures who typically have a good nature, rarely biting when handled correctly. Many people do not know that when cared for in the correct manner a guinea pig can live as long as eight years or more.

Feeding your guinea pig a good diet of quality food is important and there are a number of things you should consider about your guinea pig’s diet:

Complete Food?

We believe that no single guinea pig food can be labelled as “complete”. Your pet’s dietary requirements are complex so you need to feed a combination of foods to satisfy his needs.  You should instead look for guinea pig food which is labelled as “Complementary”. Complementary guinea pig food will be a mix of several core elements. These elements should include hay and grass, which deliver fibre, nuggets, fresh greens and water.

The problems with feeding muesli

Guinea Pig Muesli is not the ideal diet for your pet, certainly if that is all you are feeding to him. Muesli might look attractive, with a mix of ingredients and colours, but an attractive appearance will not meet your pet’s needs. Because of the mixture of ingredients within the muesli your pet could quickly become a fussy, “selective” eater. The sweet elements within the muesli will appeal to his taste buds, so it is likely he will eat these first, ignoring the elements which are more healthy.  Selective feeding can lead to an unbalanced diet lacking in calcium, phosphorous and vitamin D.

Muesli can also lead to dental health problems. Your guinea pig needs to forage on fibre and needs to gnaw. Hay is naturally abrasive and helps to wear down the teeth. Foraging is a natural behaviour for your guinea pig and in addition to keeping teeth in good shape it helps to prevent boredom, improving mental and emotional health. For this reason, hay should make up the bulk of your pets diet.

Complementary Food

Burgess Excel is the UK’s number on Vet approved food for guinea pigs and to ensure good overall health you should seek to offer your guinea pig all elements of the Excel Feeding Plan. When you feed the plan as a whole you will be offering your pet the vital fibre, nutrients, vitamins and minerals that your fibrevore needs to live a happy, healthy life.

Have you entered our competition to win £1000 of Burgess Excel? If so, and you’re a CVS practice, you can also receive a free copy of the Burgess Excel Veterinary Guide to rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas. Terms and conditions apply- while stocks last.

CLICK HERE to enter the competition and get your free copy.

Did you know that similar to a cow your fibrevore (rabbit, guinea pig or chinchilla) ferments fibre to get its required daily nutrients? But of course your tiny little friend does not have the stomach capacity of a cow and so needs to operate a different system. This system is based on eating LITTLE and OFTEN, consuming sufficient quantities of fibre for good, healthy nutrition. But as with all living creatures, what goes in must come out…

Keeping your fibrevore’s digestive system moving is VITAL!

Fibrevores require 2 different types of fibre, which we call digestible and indigestible. Digestive fibre offers essential nutrients and the indigestible fibre keeps the digestive system moving. However, fibrevores cannot get all the nutrition they need from the fibre they eat as it passes through their gut. They therefore need to consume it again.

Have you ever noticed that your fibrevore has 2 types of dropping? The sticky droppings, often found in sticky clumps, are called caecotrophs. Your pet will actually eat these caecotrophs, from which they extract essential nutrition as the digestible fibre passes through their body for the second time. You have perhaps noticed that this happens mostly at night?

This behaviour evolved in the wild, where fibrevores eat little and often throughout the day, re-processing their caecotrophs when hidden away at night in their burrow.

The Burgess Excel range of rabbit food, guinea pig food and chinchilla food ensures that your fibrevore maintains good digestive health as it contains the optimum balance of vitamins, minerals, nutrients and added prebiotics whilst being high in beneficial fibre.

If you are considering owning a Cavy, otherwise known as a Guinea Pig, then housing is something that certainly needs your consideration.

Cavies may be kept both as indoor or outdoor pets (although through the bitterly cold winter months we would always advocate bringing them indoors) and you will find numerous different types of housing available. For an outdoor hutch you should go for wood, whereas an indoor cavy can be housed in a plastic cage with a metal mesh canopy. Whatever the material used, bear in mind that in terms of size bigger is better. For a single cavy the hutch should be at least 145 x 45cm. The more cavies you own, the bigger the hutch should be and there should always be separate areas for sleeping, toilet etc.

To avoid breeding you should make sure you only pair single sex cavies. They should live happily together (but fights can occur).

If your cavy lives outside make sure the hutch is not positioned in direct sunlight for prolonged periods. It should also be raised of the ground in order to deter predators. You should use wood or sawdust shavings on the floor of the hutch or cage and cover this with a layer of straw.

As with rabbits, cavies need exercise. Invest in a run and allow them to have some outside play time.

Cavies make great pets and with the right care, love and attention will live longer than their rodent relatives, up to around five years of age.

For more information on Guinea Pig Care please visit our Pet Care section.

The guinea pig is one of the most popular pets in the UK, but did you know these cute little furries actually got their name from a more sinister past…?

The little rodents were first domesticated over one thousand years ago by the South American Incas and they were bred by families who used them for meat. In the 16^th century the Spanish Conquistadors invaded and were immediately taken with these small, unfamiliar creatures. They called them “Cochinillo das Indas”, which literally translates as “little Indian pigs”. They began exporting them to Europe and after the Spanish dominion of Spanish Guiana the name “Guiana Pig” was born, changing later to Guinea Pigs.

Guinea Pigs became popular in the UK in the 19^th Century (and thankfully not longer for their meat) and were highly prized as show animals. They quickly became as popular as show rabbits. Unlike rabbits, Guinea Pigs do not vary much in size and on average will grow to about 20cm in length, weighing between 900 and 1,200 grams.

Guinea Pigs remain popular today as both a pet and an exhibition animal. They are very vocal creatures, emitting high pitched squeaks, especially at feeding time. They are social animals, so it is best to keep them in (neutered) pairs. They are great fun, making them an endearing family pet. Today, a guinea pig is also commonly known as a “Cavy” and their scientific name is “Cavia porcellus”.