Topic 1: Outside?

Well, it's a very talked about subject in the guinea pig world: Should your pig live outside? Day and night? In my opinion and in the opinion of most vets the answer is no. The outdoors is a harmful world for guinea pigs. And you cannot satisfy the essential needs of a cavy if it's being kept outside. Hutches will never do. They are dangerous to the health of a cavy and always, always too small. So if your pig is living outside you obviously can't safely satisfy the essential need of exercise and space. Let's face it, you can't put a C&C cage outside. 

Another danger to cavies is predators. Snakes of course, hunt small rodents and insects, about the size of cavies. Because snakes have bad vision and use the sense of smell for most communication, a snake (or other reptile) could slither right on it to your pig's outdoor cage, even if it's raised on a stand or legs. This happened to my friend's poor bunnies :'( Birds also stand as predators to cavies.

However one of the biggest dangers is heat and cold. During the summer most places stay very hot during the day. Your little pig has a lot of fur, two coats of it. Keeping them in the heat at this time would be like you keeping a heavy coat on all day and staying outside. Even in the shade it's very hot. Then in the winter it stays bitterly cold in most places. Even though they have fur, it's still very cold to them. Go outside during the winter on a frosty night with a coat on. It's still going to be just as cold!

So, think about these things before allowing your pig to stay outside. Considering where you live it will be different. Soon I will post the menu up here (:

xoxo May