Neglected Guinea Pigs

[Orangesandlemons82]

I am currently looking after 2 guinea pigs for a friend. The conditions they are kept in are awful. The cage was really dirty and so small that they can barely turn around. It's really upsetting to see. She is a great friend though, and I really don't know what to say or do. I have guinea pigs already and seeing these two like this is really horrible. Any advice or thoughts as to what to say or do?

[Orangesandlemons82]

@elephantfeels yes, unfortunately it is their regular hutch. I have been visiting them at their house.

[BrieAndChilli]

We have ours in a large c&c cage and they have a covered run and small hutch in the garden with another uncovered run attached that they can go In when we are also in the garden. I still feel bad that they live in a cage!

[twinguineas]

I feel bad too but like you it's a large c&c. We've had to keeps ours in for a couple of days as the run is unlidded and a sparrow hawk has been visiting, it's on my list to fix the lid firmly on and find a way to fix it to the ground, normally we can let them go free range.

[Whengodwasarabbit]

When I go to pets at home to buy supplies for our pets it always me angry when I see the types of housing they sell to customers. So many people simply do not understand how to house animals in the right way. Some of the hutches are so tiny. And you know that some animals spend years, even in the cold winter months trapped in these.
The stores are part of the problem.
I went on YouTube and there are some amazing ideas for small animal housing. Most of it doesn’t include a hutch at all. More like sheds, playhouses, chicken coops. There’s so much you can do fairly cheaply to give them good lives.
We bought a hamster from pets at home. I bought the largest cage they sold. Within weeks I realised it was too small, it made me sad to watch her in it. I went back and bought 2 more, stacked them and connected them with ladders and tunnels and her place is huge!
I bet these boys are enjoying stretching their legs at your place op x

[StudentHelp]

How small is the cage, OP?
I have 5 and the 3 sows usually have 2m and the boars 1.8m but when I needed a neighbour to look after them due to an emergency I transferred the girls to a 160cm and the boys to a 120cm downstairs so the neighbour with bad knees didn’t have to climb up 2 sets of stairs. The other cages were too big to carry down without a lot of dismantling.

The 120cm is too small but they were only 8 weeks at the time (rescued at 4 days old) and I’d hate for anyone to think I was neglecting mine as I’d tried to make it easier for their pet sitter.

If it really is terrible I’d suggest you speak to her. What condition are the piggies in?

[Orangesandlemons82]

@StudentHelp it's a 2 level - 70cm long. It loses a lot of space though with the stairs if that makes sense as it becomes much narrower and hard for them to turn. It was really dirty yesterday, there were flies all around them.

[SimonJT]

I looked after a friends hamster when she went on holiday once, it too had a tiny cage. Sadly while she was away the cage ‘broke’ as I was clumsy when cleaning it out, so to say ‘sorry’ I bought a cage that was actually the advised sized for a hamster.

[StudentHelp]

@Orangesandlemons82

Okay, I agree that’s awful and I wouldn’t even keep a Syrian hamster in that. The space needs to be on one level so the fact it’s two tiered means nothing. That’s very poor if it’s the poor piggies’ permanent home with no access to a hutch or run.

[Orangesandlemons82]

@Whengodwasarabbit that's the problem - if pet shops sell cages and hutches many people will assume that it is the correct size etc