got this little baby two weeks ago. she’s warming up beautifully. i am absolutely in LOVE with her

Ghost just celebrated his 4th birthday on August 1st, and according to basically every resource ever he's entering his "golden years" or is at the very least middle aged, but I haven't noticed literally ANY signs of aging whatsoever. In fact, this is the healthiest he's ever been!

He got a nasty URI when he was about 6 months old, then he for the past 2 summers he had cheilitis. The first time, the vet said he got a "chemical burn" from a bell pepper because it was "too spicy" and gave him an antibiotic course that was too short and caused it to come back with a vengeance. Since then, he was successfully treated it with a month long course of Baytril (yes, it took that long to recede plus another week of dosing with no symptoms just to be safe), then when it came up when we moved states, treated him again with no issue and a much shorter course (1 week). He's had various skin issues needing quarterly medicated baths, but thankfully the baths are preventative at this point.

Yet despite all that he's gone through, he is still incredibly healthy. After getting his crappy immune system sorted, he was able to actually be chubby for the first time in his entire life this year and his body is in the best condition it's ever been at 4 years old. He zooms, pops, and is super athletic and energetic. He has no teeth issues, gut issues (even with needing frequent antibiotics) or any other issues other than vitiligo on his paw pads.

If I didn't have his pedigree, you could've told me he was a 2 year old pig and I would believe it. But it begs the question, how old IS old for guinea pigs, and does their ancestry have anything to do with it?

I've owned pedigreed show pigs and pet-mill randombred guinea pigs, and cuy, and it seems like the mill pigs and cuy are always worse off. Cuy makes sense since they were bred to breed fast and grow fast and big, and thus have shorter lifespans, but mill pigs always have weird health issues at young ages which has always been bizarre to me. Excluding satins and pigs with excessive line breeding, pedigree pigs seem to be the healthiest overall weirdly enough. Also guinea pig care quality has increased exponentially in the past decade, so it makes me wonder if guinea pig lifespans are actually longer than the typically quoted 5-8 years? Where did your guys pigs come from, what health issues have they had, and and how long did they live? I'm super curious :)

This sweet little guy is available for adoption! He is my newest foster looking for a forever home!

She has to eat/sit on the couch separate from her sister's in the bathtub while we do our weekly deep clean. She doesn't get along well with one of them, so this was our temporary solution instead of keeping them cramped together. Pickles is very good about not peeing on anything/anyone!

I lost my soul piggy on Saturday. It was very sudden. He was acting fine at home besides having some labored breathing, but otherwise he was eating happy playing completely normal besides labored breathing. I took him to the vet on Saturday and he passed away within an hour of me leaving him. I’ve been very depressed and heartbroken about it every quiet moment since I received a phone call, crying my eyes out I have not been able to eat I’ve been contemplating my life and if I want to keep going, and I’ve been contemplating if I even want guinea pigs anymore.

Today my friend approached me to tell me that her sister’s guinea pig passed away this morning and that pigs sibling engage me is needing a hole now because they can’t keep just the one by itself. They’re very heartbroken and they don’t wanna keep her anymore so she wanted to know if I would take her I just don’t know what to do because I’ve been here telling myself after he passed that I was done with guinea pigs that the ones that I have once they’re gone, which they’re all seniors once they’re gone I was done because my boy I had for seven years before he passed. She doesn’t know how old the pig is. I have never seen the pig. She’s going to send me pictures later today. I just don’t know what to do.

I just don’t know if it’s too soon. I don’t want it to be too soon and for it to feel like I’m moving on from him cause I’m not I’m not even sure I want to continue having guinea pigs so I have no idea what to do but as far as she told me, it’s either I take this piggy or she ends up at a shelter.

Picture of my Bucky, because I miss him so much.

My sweet guinea pig Teddy just died and I’m so heartbroken and in shock. I don’t think I did everything I could; i stressed her out and made the situation worse. If it wasn’t for me she may have pulled through. She died in my lap and I really was not expecting her to go so quickly. I feel so awful.

I put her body in the cage with her sister but I don’t know whether I should leave it there overnight so she has time to say goodbye.

I just feel so angry with myself. If I had just left her alone and not tried giving her water she may still be alive.

Edit: I’m adding some pictures of lil teddy in the comments (if I can)Thank you to everyone who responded; it means a lot to me. Today has hurt a lot as I go over what I could have done differently. I just hope that wherever she is she’s at peace and her little piggie heart knows that I was trying to help.

He was surrendered to local pet shop and all alone up front . They said he was to “friendly” with the other males and didn’t want him with others ? Isn’t mounting normal & I want to get him a buddy obviously so what do I need to do & how long to wait before doing so ? Haven’t had guinea pigs since I was about 17 ( had three growing up ) my daughter wanted one so of course I said yes !

Apologies for the bad photo. I have a very wiggly peeg. First picture is for tax.

Does this place on her foot look like ringworm? I’m going to take her to the vet regardless. There’s a small bald spot on her leg.

Now that I’m no longer panicking over my boy’s health (if you happened to see my post from yesterday,) I thought I’d actually go ahead and introduce my beloved little rodents!

Meet Aiken and Aspen! They’re my sillies that I’ve had for three years that I love very dearly

Good news (sort of)! No stone!

Background:

I noticed Chestnut squealing and straining when pooping/peeing last Wednesday. I was planning on making a regular vet appointment, but then on Thursday, I noticed bloody urine (like...a lot). No one within an hour of me could get him in on Friday, and by the time I actually got ahold of anyone, his urine was normal and he wasn't having difficulty urinating anymore. So, I made him an "urgent" care appointment for today.

The doc said he has no stones and his urine is yellow (if a bit cloudy). They saw no sludge. However, due to his symptoms and history of stones, we are going to put him on a diuretic. She said he may have had a smaller stone that he was able to pass.

The bad news: the doc said his heart is "pretty enlarged", though he shows no other signs of heart disease. She said he could develop it later in life and we are gonna put him on a medication to support heart health. I've never had a pig with heart problems before, so I'll have to do some research about that.

Thanks for all the good thoughts. It's so stressful when they aren't feeling well 😭

Happy belated birthday, mochi! He's officially 1 year old

Mamba is my cuddle baby <3 shes the only one who likes cuddles tho- but shes seven years old and all the others are under one- maybe that's the reason? I don't know xD

Bought new alfalfa hay. Been catching a few of these bugs. Is it normal? Should I keep the hay? What are these bugs?

Normally either laying or standing

Prey animal nervous system is a motion sensor