Products Used in The Rescue Home
Please Note: As a new Amazon Affiliate Associate, if you click on any of the products or pictures and purchase, I might earn a tiny commission, but I will only recommend products I have personally used in the rescue or ones I know are high quality. Any commissions will go to directly into funding the rescue and offsetting ever-increasing operating costs.
After 4 years of brining piggies into the rescue and caring for them daily, I have learned some tips and tricks in all aspects of keeping them as pets and am happy to share! Most important is cage size. I use this cage which provides plenty of floor space for 2 piggies. Kaytee Open Living designed their cages to sit on the floor and they can be connected and are easy to set up. If placing on a table, measure your table first to ensure it will fit. There are 2 sizes, an 8 foot and a 12.5 foot, but I would only house a single piggie in the smaller sized cage; some rescues state 8 feet is the minimum for 2 piggies but bigger is always better and should be the goal either way. Guinea pigs are social animals and need to have friends of the same gender, but if 2 originally bonded piggies have had a bond-break, two 8 foot cages side by side works well. For a herd of more than 2 females, a few of these cages connected could work. There are plenty of possibilities with these cages! Please note males generally do well in pairs, and females in herds. There are exceptions though; please reach out for more information HERE
Many people use wood chips or paper based bedding for the bottom of their cages but there is a better, more economical way! I use a combination of fleece and noodle rugs like these but you can get them from many Etsy shops too; I get my rugs from Target so don't have a link but if you reach out I can send you pictures of what I use. Guinea pigs need and prefer soft items to walk on and lounge in and using fleece will protect the canvas floor of these cages. Since they have to be continuously eating, they will be pooping a lot too, so I use layers to create a soft surface, which is good for their feet and legs as they age and is easily maintained. Please Note: Measure your space before purchasing anything!
My most favorite website which makes custom items for small animals is Lucy's Cozies which is owned by Yaneri who does such fantastic work on all her made to order items I can't say enough good things here, but head to her sight and browse around to view all she does. The piggies in the rescue absolutely love their tunnels made by Yaneri!
Using Guinea pig fleece is a financial lifesaver here, but as everyone knows, hay and hair stick to it like glue. This cordless sweeper takes care of that nicely. I like to keep this rubber brush nearby to brush the fleece out first, then run the sweeper over it. If the fleece is still fairly unsoiled, I'll place back in the Guinea Pig cages I use, but if its soaked and soiled, I'll add to the laundry hamper and eventually upstairs to the washing machine where I'll wash on the gentle cycle with vinegar or clear laundry soap but in-between washing piggie fleece and human clothing, I'll use a laundry sanitizer like This One
With 40+ animals currently in the rescue this vacuum cleaner is put to very good use sucking up all the spilled Guinea pig hay, piggie poops, hamster bedding and hamster sand that occurs daily. My old vacuum contained a canister that got full fast and had to be hauled all the way outside to be dumped way too often, but this new one has bags which don't fill up quickly at all and are a breeze to dispose of and replace. I also don't know how I ever lived without the ability to detach the canister from its base and maneuver it into tight spaces to get to all the dust and gunk! Plus, it's very convenient for vacuuming the stairs!
For more information about Guinea Pig care please reach out. I'll be adding more links to this website page as time allows
Before I started the rescue I used Amazon Prime but now that it eats up a lot of my income, I had to discontinue prime but if YOU have not ever tried it you can get it free for 30 days and I will receive $3 if you sign up!! Trust me, every little bit helps me provide for this rescue!
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Every night as I maintain cages and perform routine rescue tasks and every day as I clean up all 3 rescue rooms, I listen to uplifting music and also audio books and podcasts. I received a free trial gift to Amazon's Audible and loved it, although I won't be able to continue it due to financial restraints in running this rescue HOWEVER I would love for YOU to have an opportunity to also try Audible by clicking here for this free trial Audible Gift Membership
Audible even has this fantastic deal where you can Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks