I don't specifically recall how I came across two guinea pigs when I was a teenager, but they didn't last to long as my parents about two weeks later made them disappear. Until recently I didn't really appreciate the upkeep that needs to be done and more than likely as a teen failed to see the needs that one has to have to keep guinea pigs healthy. More than likely why my parents made them disappear. To be frank I contemplated the same issue when one was bestowed upon the household when I ended up taking in yet another son and his family. Within days they made taking care of a guinea pig look easy peasy compared to the challenges of living with them. Thus far that has saved what's become known to me as Ms. Piggy. What do you want me to say, it was better than whatever I couldn't remember they named her or flat out calling her pig while sitting on the toilet and her looking out her cage at me. That's where she's been situated this whole time being here, in a long cage sitting on a dresser in the back of the bathroom.
Her arrival was earlier than the rest as the apartment building they were living in decided to do a bathroom renovation and they didn't know they had a pet, which they didn't want the added cost of having had a pet deducted from any deposit, or at least I was told. Ms Piggy was supposed to be here for a couple days, returned back home until they moved in a couple weeks later. Paying fifteen hundred a month plus utilities just became too overwhelming to keep up with. Then came since we'll be moving in any way you might as well keep her there. I was instructed to just make sure to keep her dish full of these green pellets and make sure her water bottle stayed full. That situation deteriorated rapidly as guinea pigs drop pellets of poo everywhere and they pee a lot. All I had to offer was words of condolences for what I thought would be temporary living conditions. It really didn't change much after they moved in, she did get cage changes that were rather sparse in bedding, but the feeding regiment was rather blah. Here she sat in that cage day and night with nothing to do but eat green pellets, drink water, poop and pee. What a life. Not.
So, I took it upon myself to start reading up on guinea pigs. I thought about investing in one of those wheels so she could get some exercise, but they aren't recommended for guinea pigs as they can injury the spine. Guinea pigs also have eyes that are set apart, so they don't view things straight forward therefore posing a risk of falling off a wheel and getting injured. The cage had ample room for a wheel but not quite enough room to buy tunnels they can run around in. You could put one in there but then there's that poo and pee thing always going on whereas it'd be hard to keep the tunnel clean. It was already bad enough because they insisted upon this paper bedding that is expensive that even one package didn't adequately provide coverage for the entire cage. So, I decided upon changing up her diet for some spice in her life.
Doing so wasn't that hard to add some enjoyment to her life because they are prolific eaters. That, I told her, I could help her with. It cost literally pennies on the dollar unlike the expense that would have come with buying paper padding had I opted to take on that challenge. They weren't even up to par on that themselves so things were just a bit to slack in that department for me though they insisted I couldn't use pine bedding if I wanted to. It was much cheaper; you got a lot more bang for your buck, but they said she'd eat it and it wasn't good for her. I couldn't help keep wondering why pine was labeled in the stores for use by guinea pigs as being fine. I kept arguing with them over it and I guess it came down to pine having dust and if they inhaled it it could harm them. Then I ran across dust free and nontoxic pine for use with small animals. I actually bought that pine and came home with it. They about flipped out. They insisted she'd eat it and get sick. I told them a well-fed pig, to which she definitely was at that point, wouldn't be interested in eating wood.
Each morning she gets her ultimate favorites, two baby carrots, a piece of celery, a piece of lettuce, a green bean, fresh parsley, cilantro and dandelion greens. In my foray of becoming a guinea pig chef I recently discovered she loves a thin slice of beet alongside all that. Every other day it's a quarter inch part of banana or thin slice of apple added. She prefers a solid piece of banana to an ripen fully or overly ripened banana. She literally hates broccoli, turnip greens, turnip blubs but loves a tiny bit of a salad cucumber once or twice a week. She also doesn't care much for anything with the word choy attached to it. It's been an adventure as I make my way through the produce section at the store trying this or that to see what she likes. Kale is also on that list, one of my faves also. It's also crucial for guinea pigs to get two piles of Timothy hay about the size of their body each day to keep their teeth from growing long. In the afternoon her brunch consists of the hay and what's called Nature's Salad, which is a mix of pea flakes, oat flakes, wheat flakes, marigold, parsley, alfalfa, nettle, red beet, dandelion, plantain, wheat, puffed wheat, puffed maize, edible leaves, maize flakes, cornflowers, carrots, melissa, red clover, peppermint and rose petals. She loves the stuff; she gets about half of a third cup of that with her pellet mix added alongside with the hay. I repeat the fresh veggies for dinner and before going to bed she gets another round of the brunch mix up to hold her over until morning again. She's not wanting for pine wood chips anytime soon. Needless to say they kept running in telling me she was eating the chips, we saw her, she had it in her mouth! I'd go in there and there'd be no wood chip in her mouth. It took a day for them to get use to the idea she was safe using the chips. She has a much better environment because you get a ton load more chips than what the paper bedding offers. We've hardly put a dent in the pine chip bag, we've changed the cage twice now and the bag still looks full. That's adding a comfy two-inch layer of wood chips across the length of the cage. I do buy the paper bedding, but it goes inside her house over a layer of pine for comfort and better absorption when she pees. You can actually stand to go a whole week not cleaning the cage except in spots she soils frequently.
She is a much healthier and happier Ms. Piggy, she doesn't eat every single bite of what she's given every day, but she's not without spice in her life anymore. Throw in some edible balls she can roll around trying to chew on and it's a big improve over what she was use to. The other day I told my grandson if you take that paper bag, tear off a couple pieces where there's no ink, roll it in a ball it'll keep her busy pushing them around in her cage. A little while later I go in there and she's literally talking to me, almost like she was distraught I had disappeared and she was going to have to eat paper, lol.
When they move, they want me to keep her. I told them I am out of keeping pet's long term. I still have one cat left after my twenty some year-old cat passed away a couple months ago. That's probably going to be the last cat for me. I incurred hundreds in vet bills in the last year between my dog I had to put down and my aging cat who passed, it's hard to take hits like that. I'll probably tell them I'll take her then proceed to find her a good home where she can have other guinea pigs to be around. It's been an adventure learning about the upkeep and care, there's a whole lot more to consider when deciding to buy or adopt a guinea pig, besides if I kept her I'd have to go buy her a castle to run up and down in, lol. Looking back at that time when I was a teen I really can't fault my parents for making them disappear, you really need to be able to take on the challenge of caring for them properly.