Guinea pig cages?

Question

I recently bought a new cage for my guinea pig, except it has bars on the bottom of it. i think it was originally a bird cage. is the bars on the bottom bad for him? or bad for his feet? please answer ASAP. thank you

Answer 1

This is VERY dangerous!

Guinea pigs can easily get their feet trapped, and suffer from serious injuries such as broken legs.

Grid floors can also cause pododermatitis ("bumblefoot") which is extremely painful.

Piggies need to be housed on solid floors covered with a suitable bedding material such as aspen or carefresh. Do not use pine or cedar shavings as they contain high levels of phenols - known to casue respiratory and liver disease.

I would strongly suggest you get your piggie a new cage as soon as possible.

Most store bought cages are unsuitable - usually far too small amongst other things. The best cages are home made c+c cages, which are really cheap and easy to make.  Check out http://www.guineapigcages.com for more info.

In the meantime you need to at least cover the grid floor and put some bedding down. You can use something like coroplast, perspex or lino, or even just a thick layer of newspaper. On top, put a couple of inches of aspen or carefresh bedding.

Answer 2

Mesh on the bottom is EXTREMELY bad. Guinea pigs absolutely must have a solid surface to walk on. Risk of injury is too great.

Guinea pigs are not very agile or frexible, what will probably hapen eventually is the pggy will slip and get it's foot through, and then jerk the wrong way and fracture a bone.

Also, walking on non-solid surfaces creates uneven pressure in their feet, and causes bacterial buildup.

Please get or build a proper cage, and for the time being, lay down some cardboard or something over the mesh.

http://www.guineapigcages.com

Answer 3

C&C cages are the only acceptable cages for guinea pigs.

http://www.guineapigcages.com/

These cages are easy to make, inexpensive, and  have enough space for the piggies. I made one myself for my two piggies. They lived for five long happy years. :]

Cages with wire mesh can cause foot problems for your pig, yes. Please get a new cage asap.

Answer 4

Listen to Eraser. Guinea pig feet are very fragile and will get sores that could get infected from wire bottom cages. Cover the bottom for now, but either buy a large cage or do what I'd recommend, build a large C&C Cage. They're cheap and easy to make, and believe me the quality of your guinea pig's life will be so much better!

Answer 5

Wire bottom cages are very bad. They can break their toes and feet on them. It can cause bumblefoot too.

http://www.guineapigcages.com/