Reference Books - Part 3 | |||||||||||||||||||
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This contains good history of the guinea pig and how they came to be kept as domestic pets. It tells you how to choose a healthy pet and has some good information such as how they don’t adapt well to sudden temperature changes, the effects of stress and the importance of quarantining a new pet. However a lot of the information isn’t great. The cage sizes are predicatably minimal. It advocates feeding mixed dried foods containing seeds and nuts which are not only inappropriate for their nutritional needs, but can seeds and nuts can pose a choking hazard. There is also a fair bit of information on breeding but without much emphasis on the responsibility to the adults you breed and young you produce. It just focuses on the genetic relevance to showing and breeding and physical facts about breeding. Not an especially warm book to read and the information isn’t reliable enough to make it stand out on those grounds. Buy Guinea Pigs For Those Who Care at Amazon.co.uk. | ||||||||||||||||||
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A good introduction encouraging responsibility when taking on a new pet, giving prospective owners things to consider. There's quite a lot of good information on caring for cavies, and interesting sections like which veggies to grow for your pigs. I didn't find the style of writing especially engaging though. Compare reading this to reading one of Peter Gurney's books and you won't have to think long about which is more enjoyable. The thumbs down nuggets of advice from this book include saying you can use harnesses on them, that pet shop treats are fine, the inadequate space requirements and the fact I didn't feel it did enough to get the message across about how important it is to have more than one guinea pig. They are social animals and should not be housed alone. Also, the book included pictures of guinea pigs in costumes which is a personal bugbear of mine (other than that the pictures are quite good)! The section on breeds, genetics and breeding was pretty detatched and I don't think it really sent the message about how seriously you need to take the responsibilities and risks of breeding. The information in this book isn't generally too bad, it's just not very engaging and didn't stand out from other books I've read on guinea pigs. Buy A New Owner's Guide to Guinea Pigs at Amazon.co.uk. | ||||||||||||||||||
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This book actually started out quite well. It had an interesting section on the history of the guinea pig and related species and had a good section called 'is a cavy the right pet for you' which gave some good responsible pointers to think about before getting a guinea pig such as the financial responsibility, allergies and how it may react to other pets you already have. The sections on care and health problems were okay - a few clunkers thrown in like the ever inadequate minimum space requirements, saying exercise wheels are okay and suggesting that they need just a handful of hay every other day. But mostly the information was quite reasonable. However, then we get on to the breeding section and not only is backbreeding seen as perfectly acceptable (breeding a sow right after she gives birth and will still be nursing her last litter, which is known to be unnecessarily stressful on a sow's body) but inbreeding and linebreeding (both are breeding family members of various degrees together) are championed as the best kinds of breeding on the grounds that with unrelated pigs it's so much harder to know what markings you're going to get. In any species inbreeding is detrimental to the long term health and immunity of the species. The author does actually accept that genetic health problems are more likely via this method but a suggested solution to this is the selective culling of those 'problem' animals you will inevitably get via this route. That way, the quality (we're talking appearance naturally, what could be more important?) of your cavies will continually improve. The book left me absolutely cold.
The Guinea Pig Handbook at Amazon.co.uk. | ||||||||||||||||||
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I found the information in this book quite hit and miss. There were some good points such as guidelines for selecting a healthy pig and good advice such as seeking veterinary attention quickly if you notice anything is wrong with your pet, and leaving your vet’s details with anyone caring for your pet while you’re on holiday. It also emphasised that many common guinea pig illnesses can be avoided by good general care - making sure their environment is clean, any food given is fresh, new animals are quarantined and stress is avoided etc. But there was a lot of bad advice running alongside this. For example, that you should be regularly feeding your guinea pigs eggs, cheese, seeds and dog biscuits, and that cakes and biscuits are acceptable ‘treats’ was certainly news to me! The usual ‘rabbits and guinea pigs make excellent chums’ line was trotted out and I found the pictures contradicted the text making it very inconsistent. It made a point about too many guinea pigs living in far too small cages, and then picture a pig in a horribly small cage that could be no larger than 14” x 8”. Oh and this cage had a wire bottom. And it was pictured outside, in direct sunlight. *sighs* There were also guidelines on safely handling a guinea pig, and then a picture of three baby guinea pigs simply balanced on a flattened palm. It contained quite a large section on breeding which I found to be incomplete. It also didn’t really encourage responsibility towards the offspring of the animals you are planning to breed besides planning how to ‘dispose of your surplus stock’. The bad advice and mixed messages in this book outweigh any good advice within it.
Buy The Guide to Owning a Guinea Pig at Amazon.co.uk. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Quite a disappointing book. The cage sizes are minimal, it advocates sawdust as a good bedding and also pictures a bag of cedar. It recommends feeding mixed dried foods including seeds and nuts and even suggests supplementing with milk and fish to make sure they get enough protein. Rabbits and guinea pigs are cited as good companions, and it also declares guinea pigs are reasonably safe with cats. Has quite a bit of information on the different breeds which is fairly decent, and also a section on breeding but this is far from ideal. One example is that he suggests removing the boar from the sow when you see piglets appear to prevent her getting pregnant again. Seeing as a sow goes in to season right after giving birth, and you may not be around at the right moment - this is fairly bad advice for the welfare of the sow. There are certainly better books out there!
Buy Guinea Pigs As A New Pet at Amazon.co.uk. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Starting off with the claim that guinea pigs make ideal companions for rabbits, I was dubious, but it got much worse . It talks about a cage size of 30" x 15" as being roomy and even warns against a larger one being too generous (oh yes, I can really see them complaining about being able to move around in an interesting environment and actually gather up any speed before they hit the wall). It champions sawdust is the bedding of choice for piggers (cue respiratory problems), and even includes cookies, pastry, cheese and scrambled egg on the food list as appropriate nosh for a piggy! Hello?! It's written from a breeding/ showing angle and as is often the case with such books, the approach to care tends to be rather minimal. There is a definite snobbery about 'inferior' crossbred piggers, even when talking about them just as pets which doesn't make it any more heart warming to read. I could go on but I won't (reading this book was a noisy experience with cries of 'WHAAAAT?!' and 'HA!' from beginning to end). There is of course some accurate information nestled in there, but there are far better ways of getting it than crossing this minefield of errors. In the book's defence (see, I do have a heart) it is rather old, but I was keeping pigs before this book was written and I would have scoffed at it then too. Buy Guinea Pigs .. As a hobby at Amazon.co.uk (if you're totally barking, because I can't see why anyone would want to pay someone to talk such utter gubbins). | ||||||||||||||||||
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