Is it cruel to leave guinea pigs in their hutch?

[bibbitybobbityhat]

We have three beautiful girl guinea pigs. They have a large run and spend most of their day on the grass in my garden.

And a comfy hutch for night times.

We are about to go away for a weekend Friday after school to Sunday evening.

Our neighbour is going to come in and feed them and do their water etc.

I don't want to ask them to do the putting out in the run bit and bringing them in again at night, because it could be a disaster if they forgot and left them out at night, as we are riddled with foxes here (London, hollow laugh).

So, will they be desperately unhappy to be left in their hutch for two full days and nights?

they will be ok, we had to do that a lot this winter with the snow.
make sure that the hutch isn't in the blazing sun in the day and that your neighbour knows to give them loads of hay and water.

I wouldn't worry, they will be fine.

We're in the same boat, but going away for a week.

I think they will be fine as we generally have them inside during the winter anyway

For a weekend yours will be fine, and far better than having hungry fox prowling round them at night!

We've recently stopped putting ours out if we're not around during the day due to a fox staring to use the end of our garden as it's base. It seems too cruel to leave them out if he's going to be nosing around even if he can't get in

i would put a box ( we found a plastic hut from our local garden centre for a couple pf pounds) for them to hide in and plenty of treats like half a apple, slice of toast just to keep them amused mine love it the squeek for the treats.

When we go away, we put tent pegs on the outside run, so the foxes and mink can't get at them. We've left our pigs (with plenty of dry food and 3 bottles of water) on their own from Fri-Sat and they were fine

Duh - I meant Fri-Sun. Damn this big glass of Merlot!

Whatever you decide to do be careful as a heatwave is predicted. If you leave them some shelter in the run and they manage to move it or it changes position they may not be able to go into the shade.

Heatstroke kills piggies - I think you should leave them in their hutch to be on the safe side. They will then be protected from foxes and extreme heat.

fully agree with silvers advice.