A few guinea pig questions...

Question

I recently have gotten guinea pigs, and I have a few questions about them.

For one, my long haired guinea pig has this good sized bump near his ear. It's about the size of a pea, is hairless and occasionally if you touch it he'll shake his head. My mom thinks it's a "wart" or something that is completely harmless, but I've been searching it and I can't find anything about it. The other one has a hair growing out of his eye, but i've heard that it's not harmful, and as long as we don't tug on it it's ok.

Secondly, the same one with the bump is VERY picky. I've seen him eat his regular food fine, but when it comes to veggies, he'll only eat certain ones a day. It's really weird. For instance, today he was going crazy over lettuce but wouldn't touch his carrots and ate half a slice of cucumber, although yesterday he ate 2 full slices of cucumber, a carrot and only a little bit of lettuce. The day we got him, though, he dived right into apples and carrots, but wouldn't touch the cucumber or lettuce. Is this bad? Or could he just be extremely picky? Also, should I force him to eat some of the other veggies since he might not be getting the nutrients he needs?

Also, the previous owners who had the guinea pigs gave us some vita-drops to put into their water. I've heard this isn't a good idea, as it makes the water bad tasting and dissolves anyways. I am going to try to convince my mom to get some vitamins instead, as I've heard those are better, but for now she is hesitant and wants me to finish the bottle of vita-drops. I was reading the bottle earlier and it said "you can sprinkle over food." Would that be a better alternative?? Or should I beg for vitamins instead?

Lastly, I've heard of guinea pigs climbing up ramps and playing a lot when they're let out of their cage, but mine do the exact opposite. My shorthaired is more active then the longhaired (picky one with bump), but they pretty much just sit around, and if they do walk around it's to get to a place to sit.

We're going to go to the vet, and I'll know he answer quite a few questions I have, but the problem is we can't go for another week and a half to two weeks, so I just wanted to make sure about these things before it was too late or something. I also have a book (The Guinea Pig Handbook by Sharon L Vanderlip), and it cleared up a lot, but nothing specific like this.

Answer 1

Simple it may be cancer or tumor. Go and have it checked before its too late. I know because my older brother had a rat. She died because of the same thing. He thought she was preggie...but she was never around any other rats...awww (tear) take care of it now...before its too late.

Answer 2

well the bump AND the hair is definatly cause for concern! hair growing out of the eye is not normal and could cause damage to the eye so i am glad you are taking it to the vet. a bump could be a tumor, could be a wart, but only the vet will know for sure!

theres nothing wrong with them though if they pick and choose what veggies to eat on any given day. would you like to eat the same food over and over? prolly not! variety keeps a guinea pig happy and healthy, dont force him to eat anything he doesnt want to!

the vitadrops are EXTREMLY important to the health of a guinea pig. its purpose to supply the guinea pig with much needed vitamin C- which they cannot produce on their own. without it they will very likely get sick (upper respiratory issues are the most common) and wont have a strong enough immune system to fight it. the best way to use these is to add a small amount to fresh water on a DAILY basis. not changing the water daily will lead to a bacteria buildup and make the water extremly smelly.  i do not suggest adding it to the food. petsmart carries a water-soluble vitamin C solution that can safely be added to water.

and for the last part, guinea pigs are lazy creatures. i have never seen them use the ramps or skimper around like a bunny would, their best environment would be a large, wide, single level, solid bottomed cage with high sides.

i hope i helped and answered all your ?s!!!

Answer 3

Vitamins drops in the water are pretty useless. You do not need to supplement if you are feeding a balanced diet http://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html

But if you want to, you can get plain vit c in tablet or liquid form to feed directly. GNC or oxbow both have vit c. for sale.