Should I buy pet store guinea pigs? Please help!!?
Buying from a shelter / rescue should always be the first thing you look into. Then breeders. You might want to consider getting two guinea pigs. They always do best in pairs. At the pet store, check the pig out first. Make sure he doesn't have crusty eyes or "dandruff" in his fur. Check the ears for bugs or anything else that looks wrong. Give the pig a little exam before you buy it, check the droppings. If they don't look normal; dark, pellet, somewhat solid- it could be a sign of illness. Their poo should never look wet / diarrhea or be any other color other than a dark brown. When you get your pig from the store and set him/her up at home, the next step is to make an appointment at the vets office. They can give the pig an over-all health exam, which won't be too expensive unless you have specialized tests done, like fecal or blood, but you shouldn't have to do that. As for your kitty, guinea pigs and cats usually get along, as long as they are both well-behaved around other pets. Generally, nice cats and nice guinea pigs will get along. Though she liked your bunny, there's a chance she and the guinea pig may not get along. Good luck with your new piggy!
Guinea Pig has sore-looking and red back foot pads?
Hi. I have a 1 year old female guinea pig; Hamlette. Ive had her most of her life, and I have always noticed that the long pads on her back feet (normally pink and hairless) are a little red, and look like they could be sore. It doesnt seem to hurt her, but I dont speak Pig. She lives in a 9 ft2 homemade c&c cage with a fleece bottom and paper towel underlay. I wash the fleece often. I dont know if its just the acid from her urine, as she tends to sit right on top of where she pees, but there is nothing I can do about where she wants to sit. It is not severe enough to take her to a vet, but I would if it got worse. Is there anything I can change about her cage, or any easy medications I can use? Or is it normal for her back pads to be a little red? She is very active, and loves to run and popcorn around her cage a lot, could this just be like rug-burn?
I just gave my guinea pig a bath and...?
He is just cold! Unless he was shaking before you bathed him, then everything is fine!!!!! Just get a towel and rub him dry(he may still shake, but what do you do when you are cold?!?!). Sooo many people are against using a hair dryer, but I say USE ONE!!!! Plenty of cavy show-ers and fanciers bring their hair dryer along to the shows for those last minute clean downs or when a guinea pig gets wet. As long as you hold it away from his skin, and not so hot that it would scald your sensitive part of your wrist, it will help dry him off quicker then the towel. Make sure he is dried off completely before he goes back into his cage, though, or else he will get sick. Good luck, but he is just COLD! Add: It is fine to give your piggies a bath. Heck, done enough, some enjoy the experience! I do agree, though, that shock can prove deadly to a g/pig, so just make sure bath time is relaxed and fun and stressfree. Good golly, the way some people go on about ''OH NO, You didn't!'' makes you think of those little creatures where if they get slightly wet, they multiply!!! Over reaction much? I have bathed all 11 of our guinea pigs(they get a bath every 3 months, along with a nail clip, worm and mite treatment and a good brush out), and to date have had no adverse reactions(no deaths, no flu's, nothing). Just clean smelling piggies! Not to mention the benefits for their coats(except for our rex piggies, who seem to get crappier with every wash! Not that they even get one often!!).
Should I release my hamster to nature? My hamster is trying to "break jail" every night. I wonder if it is eager to be free. Will it be happier living in the wild?
If by "the wild" you mean inside your home, then by all means go ahead.He will love living under your fridge. Ours did, when he escaped. Make sure and leave out some food and water and he'll be happy as a clam. Oh, but he'll need a mate. The two of them will be happy under your fridge or they may decide to move into larger quarters behind the dishwasher when the kids arrive. They'll die eventually, probably from chewing on power cords or falling into the toilet. I don't know how ours did it, but he somehow found a way. (We found him before it was Too Late.) Some of their offspring should survive though, and continue to entertain you by climbing into your sock drawer and chewing up your socks to make a nest.In the outdoors, they will soon get cold and wet, and they won't know how to find food or evade predators, so that is not safe for them. They won't be happy at all.I think what your hamster really wants is some exercise. First, he needs a running wheel in his cage. This is an absolute necessity. Hamsters love to run and explore, that's why they love escaping. In measured wheels, they have been recorded traveling as far as four miles in one night! That doesn't mean they want to be fed to the neighborhood cats and owls in the great outdoors.We let ours out for a run every night, indoors of course. We taught them to come when we called. (They were all very tame to handle, so they were not scared of us.) I call a hamster by scratching and making scuttling sounds with my fingers on the floor. They are so curious about that noise that they always come to see if it might be another hamster. Then I just scoop them up. Sometimes they would fall asleep in certain favourite places, like my shoe cupboard. We got to know where to look for them. Don't ever feed them outside their cage (except as bait). If they can't find any food during their outings they are usually happy to find a treat back in their cage when they return.For the more skittish ones, another way to catch them is to put a small dark box on the floor. We used a tea cannister. Dark holes are irresistible to hamsters, they just can't help themselves, but must go in and take a look. Worked every time. We had full-sized hamsters, not the mini Russian ones. The mini ones are much harder to tame and catch, but I think the same techniques might work.
My longhaired cat has.. runny eyes or something all the time?
I have a norwegian forest cat..'Muffin' and she constantly has runny eyes. It's kinda disgusting, she's gorgeous other than that, what could be wrong?
Does getting a flu have anything to do with exposure to cold weather?
Name "common cold", while not exactly flu as asked here, but in the same group of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), probably has some root in people's observation (a very similar name in Croatian language, Slavic group, also in Italian "raffreddore", from freddo = cold).My experience, from long before I studied medicine, was that exposure to prolonged cold, the one that really cools you to a great discomfort, increases the risk from URTI notably. Especially if e. g. running > 10-20 min on cold day while breathing through mouth*, or drinking very cold fluids, or swimming in cold water.This, however, might have various explanations, from decreased defense of mucosa (surface epithelium here) through slower blood supply, decreased mobility and function of immune cells in lower temperature, decreased function of immune defense molecules in mucosal fluid, like IgA, some enzymes and others - or simply, certain pathogens' cell adhesion or tissue invasion works better in lower temperature conditions.The fact that body usually raises its temperature in infections, resulting with beneficially faster biochemical reactions in immune system, also speaks in favor of immune system not being able to work at its best in cooled down mucosa.* Breathing through mouth allows cold air in directly, while the nose has organized, complex air flow and superficial vein networks which all warms the air greatly. And this hasn't evolved by accident, the nature sure has a purpose for it. As cold air, having a low thermal capacity, is highly unlikely to be a threat to whole body temperature, it is tempting to conclude our respiratory system mucosa is the one with necessity to be defended from cold.
I'm really ugly, guys don't like me?
I have pimples all over my face. they are really noticeable. My face is oily and shiny all the time. I have body hair everywhere. I kinda have sideburns, but not as hairy as a guys. I'm growing a girl-stache, and there's a little hair on my chin. There's hair on my arms and back (a LOT) but none on my legs (i shave). My hair's frizzy. It's a pretty black color, but about 10 minutes after i brush my hair, it returns to its normal poofiness. I like my haircut (it's in layers), though. I don't mind my hair that much, but, well, it makesme look very messy. I'm fat. Even the doctor tells me to lose a little weight. I'm 5'3, 140 lbs. Most of my fat is in my thighs, and a some in my stomach. My skin color is fine, but uneven. My skin is kinda tannish, while the rest of my body is like three shades darker than my face. I'm not racist or anything, but lighter skin color would looks better ON ME! keep my glasses on. i have braces, but braces actually look good on me, so i'm cool w/ that. I have great cheekbones, but my nose is kinda big and my ears stick out a little. I look decent without glasses, but i don't have contacts so i have to When I look into the mirror, I always think "Who'd ever want to date me? I'm probably one of the most ugliest girls in the school." I think I have a great personality. I'm smart and very caring. I'm always donating for cancer research and I recycle and very 'sacrificial' to all my friends and family. I can dance very well and I like anime and reading, and most of all, my PS3. I suck at drawing. I'm VERY sensitive, and I hate that :/ Any tips how I can become, well, prettier? I don't wanna do anything bad to myself, like get surgeries. I don't wanna straighten my hair, because heat has a bad effect on my hair (long story). Please help, I feel very insecure, and I've never been asked out, EVER?? I have almost everything I've lived so far for, but my looks takes away all the happiness?
How do people usually dispose of a dead dog?
As mentioned by others here, there is cremation, your vet has a contract with, for large animals the fees are more, they also try to get you to get the nice wooden containers that may have an engraved plaque with your pet's name and possibly a paw print in fired clay. For less money you can get a "tin box." For less money, you can get a communal cremation, (one where more than one pet is cremated at the same time) but the cremains are mixed with other animals.Then as also mentioned, private burial on your own property. I had opted for this early on with cats that had been pets. Unfortunately, there's been a ground squirrel infestation, some of the pets bones had been raised with the squirrel holes excess dirt mounds. There is another method that has not been mentioned that is more prevalent with large animals. Animal care and control, usually run by a county or some local government agency, will come and pick up your deceased animal. There they will either cremate or God only knows what else and I don't want to venture to guess what they will do. There are other "services" that pick up horses and other large animals, I know you only asked about dogs. I had a donkey, and had no way of dealing with her body when she passed. I was promised that she would be buried under a tree in the country. I would like to believe that lie.