I Have a Guinea Pig Dilemma, But Do Not Read This Post While Eating, Unless You`re Not Easily Grossed Out
I promise, this will be my last post about the guinea pigs for a while. I seem to have lost two-thirds of my readers since I started blogging about them. My readers greatly preferred my account of beating my garden rodents to death with a shovel. I made more in Google ad c*l*i*c*k*s that week than I`ve ever made since.
As I`ve said, the guinea pigs` former owner was lining their cage with nothing but old newspapers -- putting the San Francisco Chronicle to good use. While the Chron is printed with soy-based ink and is supposedly nontoxic and biodegradable, it`s not the most absorbent cage liner, and this likely contributed to Tim`s foot infection.
Their former owner gave me a huge bag of pine shavings when he gave the pigs to me. However, our vet recommended we switch to CareFresh, a paper-pulp product that`s easier on their little piggy feet. I`d heard of it before, because it`s what Andie D. uses for her hamster.
But Tim started eating the CareFresh, and I realized he couldn`t quite digest and expel it properly. I had to, um.........pull it out of his ass, after I noticed he`d stopped eating. Not wanting to make a habit of pulling stuff out of my guinea pig`s ass, I switched back to the pine shavings. But now he`s nibbling on the pine shavings, too, and I`m a bit worried about them getting stuck. I Googled this subject, and found that it`s a common problem with older, un-neutered boar guinea pigs.
Oddly, it doesn`t bother me at all to touch a guinea pig`s anus. However, I think doing the same for a human would be utterly revolting. Eeeeeyuck! I hate to even imagine it! In fact, I think even my own babies` poop diapers seemed much grosser than anything a lesser animal could produce. This undoubtedly explains why I wanted to be a veterinarian as a little girl, and never had any inkling of interest in being a human doctor. My fellow humans gross me out, whereas other animals do not. (Alas, I developed a pretty severe fur/dander allergy with the onset of puberty, and I became a financial journalist instead. So I didn`t have to touch any species` asses, although I sure had to deal with more than my share of crap.)
Anyway, the problem is, someone else will be living in our house and caring for our guinea pigs next week, while we`re all in Japan, and then Hub will be caring for them for two weeks until the kids and I get back.
Poor Hub is very apprehensive about going anywhere near "those rats." I can`t imagine the look on his face if I had to ask him, "Can you please pick up Tim and flip him over, and see if you need to pull out anything that`s stuck in his ass?"
I think I have to resign myself to the possibility that if Tim is unlucky enough to develop this problem while under Hub`s care, it might kill him. Tim, I mean -- not Hub.
If given a choice, I have no doubt that Hub would prefer to dispose of a dead guinea pig carcass than touch a living guinea pig`s anus, all things considered.
I am going to publish this post now, against my better judgment. I`m sorry if I grossed anyone out. How many readers are left? Two? Three? Damn....
How about if I promise to kill Tim with a shovel? Would you all come back? Pleeeeeeease?
As I`ve said, the guinea pigs` former owner was lining their cage with nothing but old newspapers -- putting the San Francisco Chronicle to good use. While the Chron is printed with soy-based ink and is supposedly nontoxic and biodegradable, it`s not the most absorbent cage liner, and this likely contributed to Tim`s foot infection.
Their former owner gave me a huge bag of pine shavings when he gave the pigs to me. However, our vet recommended we switch to CareFresh, a paper-pulp product that`s easier on their little piggy feet. I`d heard of it before, because it`s what Andie D. uses for her hamster.
But Tim started eating the CareFresh, and I realized he couldn`t quite digest and expel it properly. I had to, um.........pull it out of his ass, after I noticed he`d stopped eating. Not wanting to make a habit of pulling stuff out of my guinea pig`s ass, I switched back to the pine shavings. But now he`s nibbling on the pine shavings, too, and I`m a bit worried about them getting stuck. I Googled this subject, and found that it`s a common problem with older, un-neutered boar guinea pigs.
Oddly, it doesn`t bother me at all to touch a guinea pig`s anus. However, I think doing the same for a human would be utterly revolting. Eeeeeyuck! I hate to even imagine it! In fact, I think even my own babies` poop diapers seemed much grosser than anything a lesser animal could produce. This undoubtedly explains why I wanted to be a veterinarian as a little girl, and never had any inkling of interest in being a human doctor. My fellow humans gross me out, whereas other animals do not. (Alas, I developed a pretty severe fur/dander allergy with the onset of puberty, and I became a financial journalist instead. So I didn`t have to touch any species` asses, although I sure had to deal with more than my share of crap.)
Anyway, the problem is, someone else will be living in our house and caring for our guinea pigs next week, while we`re all in Japan, and then Hub will be caring for them for two weeks until the kids and I get back.
Poor Hub is very apprehensive about going anywhere near "those rats." I can`t imagine the look on his face if I had to ask him, "Can you please pick up Tim and flip him over, and see if you need to pull out anything that`s stuck in his ass?"
I think I have to resign myself to the possibility that if Tim is unlucky enough to develop this problem while under Hub`s care, it might kill him. Tim, I mean -- not Hub.
If given a choice, I have no doubt that Hub would prefer to dispose of a dead guinea pig carcass than touch a living guinea pig`s anus, all things considered.
I am going to publish this post now, against my better judgment. I`m sorry if I grossed anyone out. How many readers are left? Two? Three? Damn....
How about if I promise to kill Tim with a shovel? Would you all come back? Pleeeeeeease?
posted by L. at 1:36 PM
9 Comments:
It's only a few weeks. Switch back to the paper until you get back.
Or tell your hubby to suck it up, and deal with the rat anus like an adult.
Rat anus. Those are words I never typed before...
I'm only delurking because you asked so politely.
I used to raise rats in a lab so that I could use a miniature guillotine on them. I didn't often have to mess with the opposite end, just the middle whilst I disemboweled them. All in the name of science.
You, though, must use the SF paper for Tim's sake. Oh yeah, hub's, too.
Still here and reading. That link was graphic but interesting. It will be interesting to see if Val has something to say.
Probably the use of the word "anus" brought your readership right back up again; at least until they read the post.
Please don't hit Tim over the head with a shovel. I've grown rather attached to him. The Chron isn't going to hurt him for a couple of weeks.
Granny is probably right to go with the paper solution in you ass picking absence.
And, you really should not sweat the readership. Summer is obviously bad blog reading time... I am havin' a freakin' baby and I can't hold on to my bleaders. I am sure some people can but not decent folks like you and me who can see clearly that when the temps jump up, the kids need to get soaked in sprinklers and the gin need come out of the bottle.. put down thee laptop and enjoy.
ps.. then again I think we are all simply being wiped out by those 130 IQ required word vers.. alcdnwx ?? what ever happened to beobv?
I had guinea pigs for about 15 years, and we always used hay as bedding in their cages. Timothy hay was pretty good coz it has a low protein level (alfalfa hay is too high in protein). They will eat it, but it is just like them eating grass. Dried grass.
You may need to get hubs to open the cage and sprinkle some in every day, and then just clean out the poops and left over hay at the end of a week. Ideally it should be done more often, but hey, it won't kill them. The beauty with hay as bedding is that hubs can throw it into the cage at arms length and not even look at the "little rodents".
I use timothy hay with my rabbits now and it always helps to keep things like hairballs moving through their guts.
Any pet shop should sell some hay, but be careful coz a little bag gets used quickly. It's better and cheaper to get a much larger box/bale at a pet food supply place.
Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!! I'm laughing so hard I cannot type...
I have two words for you: ASPEN shavings! They are ground-up more finely than the coarse pine shavings, and should not cause any obstructionist problems if ingested.
(Cheapskate that I am, I use pine shavings for our GP's, but then again, my male is NEUTERED. Ahem, ahem.)
Meanwhile, I keep on bugging my Hub about any travel plans to the SF area...He's probably perplexed since ordinarily I don't take that much notice. ("OK, honey, you're leaving tomorrow & you'll be home WHEN??")
Then again, like Granny already suggested, it certainly won't kill him to go back to newspaper for a couple of weeks...
Hay dude!!! That's what they put in their cages in Peru, and that is the homeland of those pesky little rodents. But then, they also make roast and goulash out them there.
But seriously, hay.
I own rats and have this to say:
Aspen shavings are the best- no oils, finely cut, like Val said- but if he's still eating the bedding, get TIMOTHY HAY (like Louise said). It smells delicious and he can eat all he wants and it's full of anus-clearing fiber! Also you can just keep packing it down and adding more since Hubs won't want to be in the cage too long.
But three weeks? Is too long to go without changing. He might have to suck it up.
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