Finding guinea pigs hard work

[twosoups1972]

We got a pair of guinea pigs last summer. Dd (12) really wanted them but it's the usual story of her not looking after them properly and I'm doing the lion's share of the work.

She has ASD so finds a lot of simple tasks difficult but she does try. She feeds them and we try and clean out the cage together although I sometimes do it when she's at school.

We have an indoor Ferplast cage and an outdoor run when the weather is good. I'm finding keeping up with the poo impossible! I usually sweep it up once a day and then do a big clean once a week. Does this sound ok? We have a stand for the cage but even with that, I find it difficult to get into the corners of the cage to clean, and the door keeps dropping down on my head! The hay gets absolutely everywhere too.

Is the mess just part and parcel of having GPs or does anyone have any tips to make life easier? They are very cute but the only other pet we have is a cat who is easy compared to them!

They are manky little animals but one of the 'rules' of piggies is they like routine . They like the reassurance that their dinner will be there. That they'll have their cuddles and chat . That when they squeak, someone will attend . So your DD could set up the veg/pellets/water bottle every day and that can be her role . She could do a list of the veg they've had so they don't overdose on something like spinach. (Call it a spreadsheet , like maths or something )
Cleaning (IME) is a daily routine . They thrive better in a clean hutch , thy do like to pee/pooh in their hay and don't really care !

Hay gets flipping everywhere , I have a No Socks In The Guinea-Pigs Room, so many of our socks last year were ruined with hay sticking to them.
We used puppy pads (our piggies don't chew them) , newspaper and hay. Roll it up and replace it . More recently , fleece and solid hay when our pig had an eye injury.

The mess is part of the charm. They eat , they pooh . It is a sign of healthy pigs ( I know it doesn't compensate when you're cleaning a cage , but it is true!)

My DD was 9yo when we embarked of Piggie Keeping . She's nearly 17yo and we have just lost our last piggie . I have warned her if her DC want pets to remember all the times she said "Muuum can you do the pigs "? ........
(Admitedly it wasn't that often. Mainly if she was ill, doing homework , didn't want to go out in the dark. But next feed was Her Shout )

We have 2 messy pigs. My son who is 11 will feed them if I ask but has only helped clean them once!
It’s a pain but I clean them every day as they are indoors and I don’t want to be able to smell them. I have got really fast at cleaning them out now and they are such lovely little chaps it actually pleases me to give them a nice clean home every day.
It is inconvenient but I just remind myself it won’t be forever.

We used to have 4 GPs and I ended up making my own washable fleece mats for their C&C cages, with a fleece outer layer, absorbent core and then waterproof backing. I had about 4 in total for each cage and would change them every other day - brushing off poo every day - and pop then in the washing machine in a horse wear wash bag. They had a cat litter tray filled with hay, and also a hay manager affixed to their cages - so always had access to fresh hay.

At the very least try to tie the door up out of the way, and find something small enough to get into the corners. It's little aggravations like this that make things seem worse than they are.

Maybe get a hay cube or hay rack to help keep the hay tidy.
What bedding do you use? I use megazorb for my rabbits and I spot clean between major cleans. Removing poo everyday does help especially in the summer.
Having a handheld hoover near by is great. I hoover around the lip of the cage base to keep it dust free.
Guinea pigs are in general very messy and quite smelly. Lovely for kids though.

Thank you all. I now have washable fleece cage liners! Hopefully that should make life a bit easier. I've tried a hay rack but dd doesn't like using it and when she feeds them, I end up with hay all over the floor!

I don't mind too much. And they are so cute and funny. It's easier in the summer when they can go outside in their run and poo there!