Guinea Pigs Cages - Safety Alert
A guinea pig is just a rodent - a tiny inconsequential creature. Sure, the youngsters like them. But all the same, when you bring them home from the petshop, they're just like every other possession (except they have that annoying practice of moving around) so they have to be contained. So we have to confine them - toss them in guinea pigs cages and give them food and water each day. That's okay - they'll be fine.
Hopefully that is not your attitude.
Too many folks appear to forget the fact that guinea pigs are basically living, breathing beings that have to be cared for and shown the same respect that each live being on earth deserves. Not all folks with this approach are cold-hearted, unfeeling villains. The majority are probably just well-intentioned owners of pets who simply haven't done the study to educate themselves sufficiently well to become knowledgeable, competent pet-owners.
As Guinea Pig C&C cage designers and merchants, we communicate with a number of guinea pig owners (quite often first time guinea pig animal owners). We also communicate with and are monitored by several guinea pig rescue associations. Consequently, we see one common specific cage-related situation which keeps surfacing and which is also decidedly unsafe to your pigs' welfare, health and safety. The object of this short piece is to advise you of this common potentially harmful danger so you can easily avoid it.
This frequently seen issue is the use of cage floors and other cage walking surfaces made of metal bars or grids. Many commercial guinea pigs cages are built with wire floors. The object of the wire floor is to allow feces and other solid materials fall though the openings into a litter pan below. To clean, one just slides out the litter pan and empties the pan. Very convenient - but also very dangerous for your guinea pigs. While these types of cages supply a marked convenience advantage for the owner, they are potentially dangerous for your pig's foot health.
Your guinea pig's footpads are delicate and sensitive structures. To your pig, walking on wire mesh is just like you spending your entire day walking on rebar, metal pipes or similar metal bars in your bare feet.
Living in a cage with a wire floor can cause sores and ulcers on your pig's footpads. In addition, your pig's feet can get wedged or entrapped between the metal bars. Pigs housed in cages with wire floors frequently suffer damaged toes and legs.
The same is also true of ramps in multi-level cages. Ramps shouldn't contain metal bars, mesh or anything else which may trap or cause irritation to your guinea pigs tender feet. Sure, it's critical to provide an effective gripping surface - the surface must have something on it to prevent slipping. But the point is, these features shouldn't be able to snag or trap your pigs ' feet and toes.
So as to avoid unwarranted injury to your pig's feet and toes, just follow these two easy rules. Be certain to purchase or build a cage with a smooth bottom to avoid the injuries detailed above. Also, if relevant make sure the ramp has a non-slip surface to permit your pig to run up and down it it without falling or slipping but
avoid ramps with metal bars or wire grids as these can trap delicate guinea pig feet and toes and cause unpleasant injuries.
We here at BlueStoneCommerce are guinea pig owners as well as guinea pig cage sellers and we all know what pigs like and what they require in guinea pigs cages to be healthy, snug and secure. To visit our internet site and claim your special unadvertised discount on quality C&C guinea pigs cages <--CLICK on this LINK.
