National Pet ID Week on April, 2024: my cat just had babies about 5 weeks ago. she is meowing constantly!?

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Dear Amy,

Phew--sounds like you're asking the right questions just in time! Cats can get go into heat and get pregnant at any time after giving birth. It sounds like your cat is in estrus (heat) again.

Please have her fixed (spayed) immediately. Here are some low cost spay/neuter directories if your vet's regular price is out of reach:

Pets 911

Phone 1-888-pets911

Spay/USA -- national referral service

1-800-248-SPAY (7729)

Friends of Animals -- national low cost certificate program

1-800-321-PETS (7387)

They may also be able to assist with the cost of fixing the little ones when they're 8 weeks old, so they won't reproduce in their new homes. Please see the sources below for more information, best of luck to you and your kitty!

In kindness,

Celeste Crimi

Member Support

No More Homeless Pets

Best Friends Network

Best Friends Animal Society

5001 Angel Canyon

Kanab, UT 84741

435-644-3965 ext. 4829

celestecrimi@bestfriends.org

www.bestfriends.org

I am getting guinea pig in 2 weeks! any names and grooming tips?

i say get them.. who cares what everyone else is saying... if that what makes you happy go for it.. plus i think there cute when you lay them on ur chest and there just there staring at you.. :]

hmmm a good name... well depending on the breed

if hes big and fluffy id name him mufassa (moo-fa-sa)

i think sqweek is cute to

if a girl umm bubbles lol idk whatever comes to mind when u pick him out...

Housing:

Like all animals that are eaten in the wild, guinea pigs are very uncomfortable with people and other pets hovering over them. Provide them with containers or objects that they can get into and out of sight. Guinea pigs left free to roam the house eventually get into trouble. So keep them in a cage or pen. Powder-coated cages for guinea pigs are available at most pet stores. Most are designed for one, not two, guinea pigs and many are too small.. I like to have four to six square feet of floor space for each pig - considerably more than National Research Council guidelines suggest for scientific institutions. Put a small wooden or cardboard box in the cage for the guinea pig to hide in. It is important that the cage not have a raised floor grid. These grids cause the guinea pig’s feet to become sore and inflamed. My guinea pigs never jumped, (although readers of this article report theirs do). In any case, no cage lid is required if the walls are at least 18 inches high. I do not like to keep guinea pigs in glass aquaria - they become too humid. Keep the cage in an area where temperatures range between sixty-five and seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit (18-25C). Guinea pigs handle cold quite well but they are very susceptible to heat stroke. Allow them plenty of exercise time outside of their cage. Be careful, particularly if children are involved, the most common accidents that occur are being stepped on and falling off tables. Be careful of toxic plants, electric wires and cats and dogs. Pick up guinea pigs with both hands; one round their shoulders and the other supporting their hindquarters. Be very gentle with pregnant females and youngsters.

Bedding:

My favorite bedding is large flaked pine wood shavings. Several guinea pig breeders have taken exception to this and reported cases of liver damage associated with pine bedding. If you use pine flakes, try to select one with low aroma. These are from low-resin pine species that do not contain large amounts of aromatic organic compounds. .They can be purchased in large bales at feed stores. I try not to purchase bedding that is dusty or mouldy.. Hard wood chips are also fine for guinea pigs but they are messier. Shredded newspaper with soy inks also make excellent bedding. I do not use cedar shaving because of their strong aroma but I do not actually recall a case where cedar’s aroma was linked to a health problems. Bedding should never be allowed to get damp. Change the bedding once or twice a week.

Diet:

Like human beings, guinea pigs need a daily source of vitamin C or ascorbic acid. A lack of vitamin C causes a disease called scurvy. Scurvy in guinea pigs causes eye infections, hair loss and pneumonia. All guinea pig pellets are fortified with vitamin C. But after a few months of storage much of this vitamin is lost. That is why I suggest that vitamin C be added to their diet or drinking water. 500mg of ascorbic acid can be crushed in 500ml (one pint) of drinking water. It should be changed daily. Alternatively, the tablet can be crushed and sprinkled on one to two pounds of diet. Although guinea pigs can be maintained on pellets alone, I like to feed mine timothy hay, kale, spinach, collard and turnip greens as well. Iceberg lettuce is valueless but romaine lettuce – especially the outer leaves is a good source of nutrients. You can pick and wash dandelion from your yard as well. Alfalfa hay and cubes can be feed sparingly if other hay is also fed. Alfalfa is too rich to be a major component of their diet. Fruits, starchy vegetables and sweet items are best not fed because they can upset the normal intestinal flora or bacteria on which these pets rely.

Guinea Pig Chow should make up two thirds of your pig’s diet. Purchase only name brand guinea pig pellets and be sure they are fresh. Large retail outlets tend to turn over their stock of feeds more rapidly than smaller stores so purchase them at the big outlets. If you purchase more than can be used in two months keep it in the refrigerator or freezer.

I use heavy lead-free ceramic food dishes. Water can be provided in bowls but quickly get soiled with loose bedding and food. Water bottles with stainless steel ball bearing sipper tubes are much better. Guinea pigs drink a lot and love to run the water out of the bottles. That is why the sipper tube must have a metal ball at its spout.

Some say guinea pigs are rodents and some say they are not. Like rodents, guinea pig’s teeth are constantly growing. They need safe wooden or bone objects in their cage on which to wear their teeth down or the teeth will overgrow.

Breeding:

Guinea pigs are rather easy to sex. If you pinch or squeeze the genital area the penis will extrude in young males. Adult males are quite obviously male. When I kept cavies, I was taught that female guinea pigs are fertile at as young as two months of age (55-70 days)! And that males mature slightly later. My favoite pocket pet husbandry book The UFAW Handbook also states these ages at puberty (fertility). However, a reader recently informed me that guinea pig females can become pregnant as early as three weeks of age and that males can be fertile as early as four weeks of age. I never separated males from females at so young an age and I have never observed pregnacies occurring so young but apparently this is the case. So play it safe and separate the males babies from the female babies as soon as you can demine their sex.

They have estrus or fertile periods just after giving birth and throughout the year. The length of their estrus cycle is sixteen and one-half days. They are fertile for 6-11 hours, usually beginning in the evening. They come into heat again shortly after birthing. Although female pigs are fertile at two months of age or earlier, they should not be breed until they are 4-5 month old and weigh a little over a pound. The male used should be about double her age to insure potency.. A bigger problem is breeding female guinea pigs for the first time when they are too old. At 7-12 month of age the female’s pelvic bones fuse, making natural delivery next to impossible. So guinea pigs of this age that are having a first litter often need it delivered by cesarean section (dystocia). Baby pigs arrive after a pregnancy of 60-70 days. They are precocious and arrive fully developed. Babies suckle their mothers for about three weeks (180gms) and then are able to eat the same foods as their parentddddddds. Litter size ranges between one and eight. Be sure to handle the babies often at this age so that they become tame.

Diseases And Problems:

The most common illnesses I see in guinea pigs are pneumonia and hair loss associated with malnutrition (lack of vitamin C and other nutrients) and the diseases of old age. The most common disease I find is newly purchased pigs at breeders and pet stores is Pasteurellosis. Pasteurellosis is caused by a bacterium, Pasteurella multocida that is present in some breeding colonies. It causes respiratory and eye infections as well as abscesses The next most common disease is streptococcal infections. . Although pasteurella and streptococcus can be cured with antibiotics these antibiotics can be fatal to the guinea pig. Guinea pigs are notorious about handing antibiotics poorly. The problem is that these antibiotics also kill the “good” bacteria that reside in the pig’s cecum and are essential to proper digestion. If these bacteria are killed, the pig soon succumbs to toxic products that accumulate in the intestine.

When you purchase your guinea pig, be sure it appears healthy. Its eyes should be bright and clean, never crusty or lacking luster. Check it’s nose, eyes, ears, and rear end to be sure it is free from any crusts, discharges, redness or inflammation. . The guinea pig should be alert and active, and plump. Its coat should be full and lustrous. Check its skin for flakes, and redness, and check carefully for parasites such as lice. When you pick up the guinea pig it may be quite skittish and fearful. It should quickly relax in your hands as you stroke it. Don’t purchase a guinea pig that is too calm or too skittish. Keep guinea pigs toenails clipped short every month with human toenail clippers. If you should accidentally cut one too short, push the nail firmly into a moistened bar of Ivory soap to stop the bleeding. Longhaired varieties may need occasional brushing. Use a slicker comb designed for Persian cats.

Good luck with you new pet :]

What are the best places to visit on a holiday in the UK?

first of all, if youre not booked into a hotel, or staying with rellies somewhere, have you thought about doing a home exchange? its free accommodation : )

you stay in their home while theyre in yours, & you get use of their car. my family did this when we were little; easier than dragging a ton of toys on holiday with us, or shushing two hyperactive girls in hotels. it immerses you in the local culture more~ not that the uk is enormously; just you get to live like a local : ) this is a big site, from a national newspaper~

some youth hostels have family rooms or suites, & family activities, & are cheap.

though the uk is tiny~ youre never farther than 100 miles form the sea, & the farthest you can drive in one direction in england is 600 miles, we're a very varied lot, geologically & historically. towns even 20 miles apart can have a totally different look, & be in completely different geology, countryside & history. even if you stayed for 2 weeks in one place, itd be more varied than youd think.

along the borders of wales and scotland, battles raged to some extent or another w the english for hundreds of years, so there are a ton of castles~ ruined & intact, and battlefields with exhibits. castles are ALWAYS excellent. if you want to visit a lot of historic houses etc, you can get a 1 month membership to the national trust or english heritage, who own a lot of them~ maybe cheaper than paying to visit them individually if you do a lot. there are castles all over the uk.

if you dont fancy driving everywhere, trains are fast & go everywhere (book in advance for cheap tickets)~ this is a great tv series based on rail trips, which will give you a cute introduction to all kinds of small towns & general scenery~ great british railway journeys. its on dvd, so maybe borrow from your library, or buy from the uk ebay or amazon if you cant watch it on youtube.

several rail lines go along the sea, the best one being right along te side of a beach for a mile, in devon (pretty country, coast north and south, dartmoor in the middle- home to hound of the baskervilles, warhouse etc)

most museums are free, with lots of kids' events, and there are loads of weird & wonderful free events too, from historical local ones (chasing massive rounds of cheese downhill), to music festivals. there are good national guides~ & even local libraries have free events. you can also find one/two day music, dance or drama etc classes in most cities (assuming youre here in our summer)

if they like harry potter, & assuming you fly into london, you could stay here for a couple of days, do the big tourist sites (tower of london, london eye etc), visit some of the scenes in the film, then do the studio tour~ then head off to the rest of the country. though london's expensive, its still possible to stay cheaply (or free w a home exchange), esp if youre on the outskirts. our animals are far less exciting than yours, but most kids like petting & feeding small fluffy creatures, & there are farms, country parks etc open everywhere. one of the most exciting holidays i ever had was on a family friend's farm. it rained the entire 2 weeks, and we played in the hay barn sliding down mountains of bales, fed goats, milked them & cows, ran from rats, rode horses & donkeys, and played in the mud. animals & mud= happiness. i was an easily pleased child :P

id suggest visiting a seaside town or two~ brighton on the south coast is beautiful, very cool and cosmopolitan, & a big city. east dorset, devon and cornwall along the south west are very pretty and rural, w pretty seaside towns and villages, rolling hills, sandy beaches, & surf along the north coasts. eastern england has amazing mashes with tiny creeks~ great to paddle canoes or hire a larger boat. north west is the lake district, which is incredibly beautiful~ huge lakes, wild hills~ walking, cycling, maybe climbing ( i started climbing, caving & absailing when i was 7 and LOVED IT) . scotland & wales have breath taking mountains, though w slightly cooler weather and more rain than england. northern cities like york would be a good place to stay- varied countryside, lots of historical buildings, & other cities nearby.