When we finally came to the agonizing decision (together with our vet) to put our kitties to sleep because the were old and in pain and came to believe our entire home was their litter box, I consoled the children by telling them that we could get any kind of pet that lived in a cage.

While we had to amend that later to add that we will no longer pay money for creatures that other people pay money to get rid of, this has served us well (the mice were grandfathered in, and will not be replaced. BTW-Meika's eye closed up and she is just as fine and agile as always. Amazing, isn't it?)

Our latest adventure has been our guinea pigs. We received them from our piano teacher. And, as the mother guinea pig had been considerate enough to give birth on a piano lesson day, we've known them literally from birth. I campaigned for the children to give them proud, upstanding names, but they chose S'more and Cowlicky. Well, they are cute names for cute little guinea pigs.


Almost immediately, my friend Robin clued me in to a better kind of cage for them, made from those modular mesh book shelves and corrugated plastic. The basic instructions can be found here, and then she passed on information on how to spruce it up she'd gotten from another Five in a Row mom. Instead of using paper litter or wood chips, the bottom of the cage is covered with an absorbant material covered with fleece, much like the cloth diapers I used to use on the kids. The liquid waste goes through the fleece so the piggies' feet don't get wet, and the solid matter can easily be removed daily so they're not walking in it all the time. Then, when I'd normally toss the litter, I can just wash the fabrics (again, like diapers) and they have a much cleaner cage at all times.

It's much larger than the cage we purchased for them, and they LOVE it! We love it too, because it's easier to get into to feed them and keep clean, and of course pet them. Here are a couple of photos, so you can see how it ended up. (Don't you love our fake fireplace?)




They're really responding well to it, and the vet says they're happy and healthy! Thanks Robin, for all of your help :-)

Labels: pets