RESCUED ANIMALS LOOKING FOR NEW
HOMES AND ADVICE ON KEEPING RABBITS & GUINEA PIGS
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Lord Whisky Park House Sanctuary (use browser back button to return)
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RescueDB - Cat or dog rescue & re-homing in Kent (use browser back button to return)
To add your Rescue centre here - email URL to smweb@tiscali.co.uk
INFORMATION ON KEEPING RABBITS AND GUINEA PIGS
If you are looking for a new pet, how about rabbits and guinea pigs?
They make lovely pets and can be kept both indoors and outside, rabbits can easily be litter trained (like a cat) and are very intelligent. Guinea pigs are very vocal and will chatter away to you if they are happy and make excellent first pets for young children.
RABBITS (click here to go to Guinea Pigs)
Rabbits often live well together in same sex pairs if at least one male/female is neutered or in different sex pairs as long as the male is neutered. Male rabbits are often better in same sex pairs if only one is neutered as females can be a bit moody!!
Rabbits need hay every day to keep their digestion working and to stop their teeth from becoming overgrown. They also like vegetables as a treat, but this is not essential.
Rabbits and guinea pigs should NOT be mixed, many accidents have happened which have resulted in the guinea pig being badly injured. It’s fine to put rabbits and guinea pigs together in an outside run, but not in the same hutch to sleep at night.
GUINEA PIGS (Click here to go to Rabbits)
Guinea pigs are happier in same sex pairs or groups, but will be ok living alone if they get lots of attention and love from their owners. They are not easy to breed because they can have quite a few problems so keeping males and females together is not a good idea, and females must have babies before they are 1 year old or their pelvis fuses and they often die giving birth. They also do not tolerate anaesthetic well, so it’s not worth the risk to get the males neutered.
Guinea pigs need Vitamin C in their diet EVERY DAY either from supplements or vegetables, or they will become ill and will usually die. They must also have hay for digestion every day and should not be kept in damp or draughty conditions.
This is Spike. Although he has now been re-homed, these pictures show him when he was rehomed (left) and on the right, you can see what he was like when he first came in. He came into us with a very bad skin problem and was virtually bald from the shoulders back and very underweight. After some intensive treatment and lots of TLC, he has made a full recovery and is now twice as big as when he first came in. He is estimated to be about 2 years old and is a male
He has found a new home with a new friend he had made, who is a little baby boy named Lemon, who I sold as a baby, but who came back after he hurt his leg. He has also made a full recovery. He is only about 8 weeks old and is also a little boy.
Thinking about showing your Guinea Pig? Visit the Kent Coast Cavy Club web page (click here), which has details of their local shows and a section on preparing your Guinea Pig (Cavy) for the show.
Page designed and produced for Stelling Minnis Parish Council by Nick Smith - 5 November 2002
Updated 1 August 2005
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