Amber & Trixie, The Guinea Pigs

Amber and Trixie are 3 years old, they use to live outside but now they live inside in a 'rabbit' cage from pets at home. They have an outside run which they go in often and a inside run if the weathers bad so that they can come out of their cage and have a bigger area to exercise and play.

When we first had them they had a small cold so I had to administer baytril everyday for a week, it was a bit of a nightmare because Amber had it first and then Trixie had it while Amber was just getting over it and then passed it back to Amber! It was a bit of a vicious circle and I think it lasted a couple of weeks before both of them were healthy.

Amber is grey with 'amber' bits on her face, back and bum. Shes a Crested guinea pig and is the bravest and most loving out of both of them, she loves cuddles and licking you if she's enjoying your strokes. She also likes to have her chin stroked and will sit there for ages letting you stroke her under there.

She's not too keen on water and often freezes no sooner I put her in the bath. Amber is a 'pop-corner' and you'll often see her running around pop-corning after shes been put into her run or when they've been cleaned out. 

We recently had to take her to the vets because she wasn't putting any weight on her leg and I was really worried that she had dislocated it or broken it, luckily the vet said it was only a sprain and gave her a painkiller (which she really didn't like)! She's fine now and back to her normal self! 

Trixie is the most common type of guinea pig, an American guinea pig. She is mostly cream with white on her forehead and flick of white along her body. She likes a cuddle too, but will often give of a little burr if you stroke her in the wrong place, or if you stop stroking her completely. She doesn't like to be picked up initially, but when you have managed to catch her she's lovely and likes to be handled. Like Amber she likes to lick your arms and hands but will occasionally give you a little nip by accident. Trixie is a shy guinea pig and likes to hide if she's in the run, she's more confident when Amber is out exploring, and will follow her around the place if shes unsure. 

She can be a bit of a bully at times and will push Amber away from the food bowl so she can have the biggest piece of veg. 

Just before Christmas I discovered a white lump/cyst between her eye and ear, I was pretty worried that it could be cancerous so I took her to the vet who looked at it and advised that as long as it doesn't seem to be giving her any discomfort or gets any bigger the best thing to do is to leave it. We could have had it operated off but that would require a anesthetic which is dangerous when it comes to small animals. So I check it every time I handle her but so far its stayed the same and doesn't seem to be causing her any pain.

I uploaded a video awhile back on how I clean out my girls, but since filming that I actually changed from sawdust bedding to fleece. I made the fleece myself and placed a water absorbent pad inside the wallet of fleece I stitched together, to give it some extra absorbency. Amber use to get really soar, swollen feet on sawdust but since changing it I have noticed a massive difference. Not only do the girls seem happier but it smells a lot less and I've found that I don't have to fully clean it out as soon as I did with sawdust, and as long as i remove the faeces, old food and hay daily it stays clean and smells fresh for at least twice the amount of time the sawdust use to.

I'll leave the cleaning video below for people who still use sawdust and are interested in how I full clean the cage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYi3PtekJDg

If you have any questions about my girls be sure to leave a comment either on my blog or on my youtube video! :)

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