That time of year again. Keeping the Small Pets happy in the heat .

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Little fur covered animals ( and I will admit my guinea-pigs have more fur than sense) need extra TLC in the hot weather.

Shade
A nice wafty breeze but not a draught
Somewhere to hide if they feel the need.......but not overheat. Mine still like to hide in the hay even though their hutches are enclosed (inside the Pighouse)

Foxes- I've noticed a young adult in the garden in the daytime, bold as brass .
Cats sitting at the run

Poisonous plants n the lawn, springing up overnight.

Flies - the risk of flystrike especially older or overweight animals. Keep a check on poohs and bottoms , the risk of loose pooh is higher with lush grass. As the the risk of bloat.

Shade over the run - a sheet or towel is good. If its really hot wring a towel out in water and put it over the bars

Wasps and bees. A sting can kill a small animal

Water - though mine won't drink it its there on offer and we rinse the salad leaves to leave a bit of water on them.

Minimal hay - just enough for eating , in a rack or loo roll tubes. Mine have shredded card to sleep in for hot weather.
Floor tile to sit on
We keep 2 litre lemonade bottles full of water in our freezer , wrap in newspaper and put in the hutches.

Ours love cucumber and watermelon in Summer

Keep an eye out for heatstroke , it can kill. The animal literally pancakes , rapid breathing. You need to cool them , its an emergency situation.

My guineas are all 4yo so not old but a bit middle aged - personally I find it harder keeping them safe in Summer than Winter.
But they're looking forward to a nice few months of grazing , being out till 11pm ( dirty stop outs) and laughing at me as I try to move their runs and peg them down .
At least they mow the grass and fertilise it

By minimal hay - normally I give unlimited so they eat and sleep in it (and waste a lot)
Even in Summer they have hay , I aim for their own bodyweight per pig

Anchor down the (sheltered) run just in case (of foxes)..
Always apply rear guard and check their bums twice daily, - flystrike happens very quickly.

Ooh new to piggies here. What is rear guard?

Rear guard spray to protect against flystrike (if you Google flystrike prepare yourself

We're lucky as we have a large patch of lawn that is shady from lunchtime onwards so that's where the pigs go for their exercise lying on the grass sleeping. They're a bit meh towards me at the moment though as I used the mechanical guinea pig on their lawn yesterday and it's just not as long and juicy anymore.

We have two lawns. Their run is moved around lawn one until they've cropped the grass, they are then moved to lawn 2 to continue their mowing.
Theory is lawn one will recover in time for them to return to it. However as they refuse to mow neatly or eat dandelions (unless picked for them) we do still need to cut the grass.
Today was their last day before moving lawns, but forecast is rain tomorrow. Cue loads of sulking.

Ok, the forecast next week is hot and balmy (not barmy , that's the guineas)

Luckily for me , the DC have finished school so I can either put my hoglets out in the morning or DD can.

I have prepared some frozen water filled 2 litre bottles
I have floor tiles

Our Pighouse is in shade so even if my legs are burning in the car , they are as cool as lilies.

We washed GP6 yesterday , he's a Teddy so his skin tends to be dry (Gorgeous Guineas Posh'n'Go shampoo ) we'll wash the sows this week (they take longer to dry)

Lots of shade that they can use if they want , but you'll find some of them want to sprawl out in full sun.
Nice juicy cucumber and leaves. We run them under the tap so theres water clinging.
Not too much hay
Daily cleaning , no inviting nasty flies.

A lovely few days of grazing ahead for the little fur coats . The grass is dreading it

Lucky 70s DCS! Off school already - and with this weather!
I've never bought fly strike spray - should I?
We've established that our younger gp likes water out of a bowl so we've put one in the hutch with them.

The top bit of our lawn is always shady so Madampig goes there. It's a bit hot during the day atm so she's only going out on the evening. She was nearly left out until hedgehog time yesterday!

Our pigs were out for 13 hours yesterday but 90% of that time was just larding about in their houses.
The first 5 minutes was frantic eating, then when it started to get dark they suddenly remembered they were crepuscular and ran about scoffing , just when we were trying to catch them

We give them cucumber or handfuls of kale rinsed in water which is gratefully received and dragged into their lairs to be dispatched........

Vet recommended I buy Rear Guard but DH went to P@H and came back with Fly Guard. At follow up visit to vet, she suggested spraying Millie’s run and summer house. As 70 pointed out Fly Guard contains Ivermectin and instructions say dose guinea pig once every 3 months.

As Millie is at high risk of a fly strike due to ulcerative lump and her lump is cleansed daily with Hibiscrub spraying the run has given me more confidence to let Millie enjoy her garden time.

Aah I'm glad Millie can play out safely. Madampig is sulking because I won't let her out until evening. It's just too hot even in the shade. We're both spending our days inside with all the blinds and windows closed. Then in the evening we both go out and I open everything to cook the house down. We're desperate for rain now. There's not much grass for her to mow.

DH still in hospital so our routine has vastly changed.
Girls out in run from early morning, luckily we've still some grass left in our shady areas. I've been putting a frozen bottle of water wrapped in a towel in with them. Sadie likes to lie with her head on the coo towel, Nessa likes to stand on the bottle .
Their run has been covered with old large bath towels to keep it shaded and for the last few days when it had been really hot, I've put a damp towel over the run, Sadie likes to sit behind this and peak out from it.
As I've been visiting DH in the late afternoons, the girls have had to go back into their hutch (so many local cats about) but the summer house is cool so they don't mind.
I am hoping that when DH is home and I have more time, and it is cooler they'll be able to have some time running free in the garden.
At the moment all three of us agree is is too blooming hot😎

Oh poor DH East

Is he boiling in hospital (they're like flipping ovens on a good day !)

Sadie&Nessa can spare him some grapes or something , just so he feels appreciated by them (or a melty bar of Cadburys Fruit^Nut from the local shop)

My GP8 was glugging water when she went back to bed last night "There, I'll worry her , she'll think she's cooked me ........." and deliberately blocking GP7 with her rump.

They've all lost a few ounces which TBH, they could well do with , extra lard in the heatwave !

It has been terrible 70 my none smoking, no drinking, cycling, fairly fit 60 y o DH had a massive, life threatening (out of the blue, supposed chest) infection that has resulted in foot and lower leg amputation to save his life. It has all happened so quickly and we're still really in shock.
But, he is alive and we'll deal with/cope with this, hopefully with a good dollop of humour. He is due home on Monday, Sadie will be so pleased as she had an awful lot to tell him about how poorly I've cared for her - including a bath she wasn't keen on. Nessa seems to have grown daily so he'll barely recognise the shiny brown lump she now is 😃
Life eh? .. you never know what it is going to throw at you next

East - sorry to hear about your DH. I've PM'd you.

Hopefully Sadie and Nessa have been supportive and understanding even though your care is clearly of an inferior quality Madampig thinks your DH is brilliant and sends him her slightly chewed cucumber and a bit of squished tomato. She'd have sent parsley but Current Bun ate it.

Hope all goes well next week.

OMG! Eastmids I’m so sorry to hear your news

Millie is being protected by the shade of a large bush plus her wooden house in the run and a sun parasol. She is now flat out in front of her hutch enjoying the fan going full blast. I'm fed up with this weather now.

More pics please! I used to have two piggies but none now sadly. Would love to see your sweet little ones!

Sorry to hear that east - hope recovery goes well.
Grass in our garden is just dead

Thank you all for your good wishes, we'll survive. I just need to figure out how DH will be able to clean the girls out from his wheelchair
Sadie will be thrilled he is home, it seems my care just isn't adequate!
I've also neglected the parsley beds and it has all died.
There's not much grass here now and what there is looks brown and horrid to nibble.
Hard life being an EastMids piggie.

DH arrived home this afternoon ... and Sadie was beside herself with joy 😃
I sort of assumed that since he's been 'missing' since June 18th the piggies would have forgotten him. But no, Sadie snuggled into his neck, sat on his shoulder and was busy chatting to him the whole while. So different from how she's been with just me .
Nessa gave him a bit of a sniff and then went back to eating parsley!!

So pleased he's home East. What a lovely welcome from Sadie - she has her crossword buddy back. Obviously she's just been putting up with you.

Too true FernieB
I didn't think piggies had the wherewithal to remember, but honestly she was a different pig ... one who lurves DH and tolerates me 😂😂 I think she's snitched about the neglected parsley beds!!

They've weeks of crosswords to get through and loads of cricket to discuss.

Great news EastMids .got to ask, when Sadie helps with the crossword does she eat the newspaper.

Millie always eats newspaper after eating apple no idea why

Glad your DH is home East , hopefully he can rest properly (its impossible to sleep in hospital) .
He'll no doubt have good days and bad days and when he has Physio he'll be knackered, so you might need to run into the garden to swear loudly under your breath at him.

Our boar Bert adores DD and tolerate me , we had to catch them when DD was at her Prom, I had to go into the rabbit run, not easy at ,y age .
Bert was all "Where's Mum" and I'm "Look you little demon, I've caught you, cleaned your bedding and got you supper. I'm your Mum today"