Cavy Care Site Helping Cavies Lead a Longer Healthier Life
A Geocities Featured Site!

he Cavy Care Site is the gateway to information about our little pets. The very knowledgeable Seagull has created a website which cover many of the topics listed, these are indicated by a small dutch guinea pig. This icon will move you to Seagull's wonderful site at http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/Guineas. I recommend reading his site first, it answers many of the most fundamental questions that most fanciers have. Hopefully, he won't move it anytime soon! An additional resource is the Guinea Pig Daily Digest (GPDD). The GPDD is an e-mail list that is a wonderful discussion group about guinea pigs. We share health care information, general stories of piggie antics, grief at the loss of a beloved pet, and have some wild virtual adventures! The information on this site is gleaned from comments in the GPDD or from private correspondence with members of that list. Wherever possible I have credited the originator of the information. You can subscribe to the GPDD by going to Carlo's guinea pig site.

Geocities now lets us become associates with Amazon, the greatest bookstore I've ever used. I have created a page with many guinea pig books, so just hit the logo and away you go.While you're there you can search for other books, and I still get credit if you buy a book, or anything else for that matter.

This site attempts to answer some of the more "advanced" questions, dealing with dangers and health care issues. However, this site is not a substitute for good veterinary care! Finding a qualified exotics vet is the best "health insurance" you can give to your pet! In this site we have information about the following topics:

Serious Stuff

1. Poisonous Plants is a document provided by Julia Watts, in Word format. In addition, here is a University of Illinois site that contains information as well as pictures of the plants. Remember, these little darlings do tend to live up to their name when it comes to food! You are responsible for preventing them from eating things that can harm them.
2. Medications and their use, and hazards. There is also a page discussing the most common problems that you will probably encounter in your animal. In addition, I have a page for a basic medical kit, thanks to Penny Christopher's advice on things needed. Seagull also has a page on ailments. Note: This information is provided for informational purposes. You should always check with your veterinarian before administering any medication to your Guinea Pig.
3. Health Care issues, symptoms and their treatments. A page on Selnick Mites, also in geocities, might help you identify when your little ones have a mite problem. Cavies hide being sick very well, you must be very alert to possible problems before they become life threatening. I have also added a basic page on pregnancy, while I strongly discourage "amature breeding" many people receive their first pig pregnant, hopefully this will help you get thru those trying times.
4. In addition, we have pages for our friends that have passed over to the Rainbow Bridge. This is our tribute to all of our Guinea Pigs who gave us all the love they had, and then went on to the Great Lover of all life.

Important Stuff

1. One thing that contributes to good health is good housing and bedding! Please do not use CEDAR! Kelly Wagner has a very informative page on the hazards of cedar. Basically, the aromatic oils that smell so good to us cause serious problems for our little cavies! Kathy Anderson has put together a list of cage sites for us to use as starting points for our own thinking.
2. Grooming your cavy to look his or her very best (even though they are already too cute for their own good!)
3. Naturally diet is very important to the well-being of your pet.
4. Many of our members have created information sheets or brochures to hand out when they adopt out their babies.
5. Not sure what you have? How about a page describing the various breeds, with some wonderful artwork by Juliet! (Sorry that the art work is a little bad, not Juliet's fault! I had to shrink them, I'm running out of server space!) The American Cavy Breeders Association has a description of recognized breeds and can be found at the ACBA breed page. Check out the whole site while you're there, it has lots of good stuff and several discussion areas about things like care and genetics.
6. Guinea Pig Rescues/Shelters how you can help save cavies from being destroyed. How some rescues were established is discussed.
7. A flyer for posting in your veterinarians office or at pet stores to let people know you are available to help them properly care for their cavies; I've included a business card template that you can use with two example cards shown.

Fun Stuff

1. CHRISTMAS! Okay, so Christmas is over, but the songs are just too cute to remove the links just yet. I will be adding a page with links to various folks who are very crafty and are willing to share those crafts with us (THAT'S A HINT!).
2. Fluffy's Excellent Adventure! Fluffy is a stuffed piggie that is being used to teach geography to some children in Salem WA. So this little piggie is wandering the world.
3. Guinea Pig Terms used in the Guinea Pig Daily Digest. This helps us talk to each other, but what are they saying? Check out this United Kingdom site with a lot of the sounds that all of us have heard and would love to understand!
4. Mary Barr keeps a page of resources available for your information, these include books and magazines about cavies.
5. Miscellaneous will include any information that doesn't fit into the above categories.Including a section on common questions asked in the GPDD, so you don't have to ask it again. I also added a page with answers to the question, "You know you're a Guinea Pig slave when..."

Extraveganza!