Am I cruel?

[Goingtobeawesome]

My two piggies get tea about 4.30. They have just started squeaking so I looked at the clock. They could have tea now but if they are anything like my late cat they will end up with tea being demanded asked for at 2:30pm!!

[MilkTwoSugarsThanks]

Vair vair cruel, nasty and evil. Someone phone the RSPCA immediately.

[Goingtobeawesome]

Lol

[FernieB]

Very cruel and neglectful. They were clearly starving to death - why else would they squeak? My pigs can't believe yours are only fed once a day instead of the eight times daily that they tell me is essential for good health and adequate rotundness.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

So very cruel, my piggies are writing to London Mayor Boris Johnson (before he goes, he can do some great sweep on all the guinea pigs. If you live outside of London, we'll send Paul O'Grady or Joe Pasquale round)

Piggies (mine tell me) cannot tell the time and they don't understand all this clock changing nonsense (Hour forward/ Hour back pah )

Their bums will slam shut if food doesn't constantly push through their guts.

And the pathetic wheek is their laboured breath to make you understand.

Hopefully, order is restored and they are Guinea Two Suppers

[Goingtobeawesome]

They get breakfast, tea, supper and sometimes I hand feed them a blade of grass, etc from their treat bag one at a time...

Such badly treated piggies ..

And mine DEFINITELY can tell the time so I think it is you lot who are cruel that you haven't taught them the time .

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Quantum Physics
Trigonometry
The OffSide Rule
The Names of All the USA Presidents
All the Underground Stations and The Knowledge
Telling the Time

All things my pigs have refused to learn .
They just have the Bovvered look about them , then when the fridge opens.

[FernieB]

Mine have learnt Psychology, Telepathy and are accomplished at training the dimmest of humans to fetch veg on command.

[TimeIhadaNameChange]

If you're cruel then I think I'm long-due to go on death row. My guineas cannot believe that I make them wait until the morning for breakfast! As far as they're concerned, breakfast should be served no more than an hour after dinner. Being made to wait a whole 12 hours is simply torture, and the reason they are wasting away and are no more than skin and bones!

(I told the vet this when I took them there the first time. He poked one of them in their rather podgy belly and refused to believe they are never fed. The guineas are working on the looking-starved look as I type!)

I do feel a little bit sorry for them, since by boys were rather more fed on demand, especially when I was down to one, who got me very well trained (he was disabled, and getting a new cage-mate for him would have been fair on neither). When I got the two girls I decided I was not going to give in to their demands all the time, and have mainly stuck to it.

(Can see a fight for rehoming them starting very soon on this thread!)

[Goingtobeawesome]

I'm worried mine aren't getting enough exercise. They are currently inside in the biggest hutch I could get and sometimes go in their play pen in the kitchen. They were terrified the first time of the noise of me dropping a pan lid and escaped, so not at every day yet. I like them inside but wonder if the constant company is not better than a bigger hutch outside.

[TimeIhadaNameChange]

My girls don't do exercise. They stayed in the house all of last year as it remained cold and wet most of the time. I need to sort of the run before I can get them out this year, but I suspect they won't leave the hutch. They'll have to go down a ramp to the grass for starters, and I reckon it'll be too much for them!

To compare them to the boys: when the boys were in the kitchen they'd try their best to escape. They'd run to the door when it was opened to see if they could get out, and if they did manage it they'd split and run in separate directions. They'd also try and get through to the lounge, and would have a great time bumbling around there whenever they were successful.

One of the girls has escaped through an open door once in the year I've had them. They make no attempt to try and get out (the time she managed it the door was wide open). They spend 90% of their time there hidden under a box. They are used to being there now, and they're not scared, they are just lazy. Tbh I only tend to put them through once a week when I thoroughly strip their cage down, and I don't feel guilty. With the boys I did, and they'd come out every evening when they were inside and run around, but the girls don't run. They barely move.

[Goingtobeawesome]

It's quite a performance when they are in their play pen as I also have two cats..

[TimeIhadaNameChange]

Are they scared of the cats?

Mine aren't, nor were the boys. I wouldn't leave my cat in the same room as them unsupervised, as although things would probably be ok she is rather the hunter. She does get confused by the guineas though - one of the boys was convinced she was his best friend and was always running up to her, as would the other two (though not as often). They were particularly entranced by her tail. She couldn't get over her shock at prey animals willingly running towards her!

The girls aren't so keen, but don't run away when she approaches (that would be too much like exercise!!!).

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

One of my pigs wouldn't even shift his lardy rump when magpies were having a pop at him through the cage bars . He was in the run, snoozing between the bars and the protective house I provided to , y'know, protect him ( Daft Mammal)

I'm sure ours don't excercise but they move round their Pighouse scattering their pig waste so they do go further than the bowl and back (I think)

[Goingtobeawesome]

I think the cats are more scared of the piggies!

I need help. We are going to be away so they will miss their tea, supper and breakfast. Is there any way we can make sure they will be fed enough until we are back as plan a has fallen through. We would leave two water bottles and potentially three.

[EastMidsGPs]

My solution which is of no possible help to you is to use the girls next door as surrogate humans if we have to visit our clan opp norf overnight. Their dad helps them, they give food and cuddles and even invited the GPs to one of their birthday parties!
As to you q ... mine wouldn't 'save some food for later' if given more than one meal at a time.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

How long are you leaving them for?

When we had a cat we had one of those covered dishes (four quarters, one quarter uncovered in the lid) It was clockwork so slowly rotated.
But I would worry about pigs getting a leg stuck in it.And the noise might put them off.

They would scoff salady things first, pellets and hay (especially in a rack or loo roll tubes)
Parsley bell

[Goingtobeawesome]

No problem with the cats as we have a feeder on timer. It's the Guinea pigs we are worried about. We'd be gone 9am one day until potentially lunch the next.

[dietcokeandwine]

Going if just for one night you'll probably be ok.

I have left ours overnight for similar lengths of time you describe and they have always been fine. I put in a big pile of hay for each hutch plus double the usual quantities of fresh and dry food, and make sure water bottles are full just before we leave. Then obviously feed again as soon as we get back.

They have always been fine. Judgey, but fine

[EastMidsGPs]

Now have an imagine of them tapping their paws ( wrists) and saying And what time do you call this then??

[Goingtobeawesome]

Oh fuck. The guilt at their little faces when we come home

cancels castle booking-

[TimeIhadaNameChange]

I asked my girls, and they said that even were I to fill their cage so full that they could barely fit in it they would surely be found dead of starvation within 12 hours. However, since these are the girls who thought they were fading away before my eyes because I was still on the phone to a friend an hour after they normally have dinner I'd take their views with a pinch of salt!

Seriously, though, they'll be fine. I wouldn't leave lots of squashy things that could go off (though yours may not be as fussy as mine - their veg have to be fresh else it's poison, apparently!) but drier things like a broccoli stalk to chew, carrots, baby sweetcorn etc will still be edible the next morning. You could stuff a cardboard box with hay and dry food and leave openings for them to chew their way to the food. That should keep them occupied for a while.

Just make sure you come home via Waitrose!

[Goingtobeawesome]

Lol at coming home via Waitrose!