Great Feed, House and Keep Your Pets Hunt

LittleJowah

Make your own dog treats, Liver 47p from supermarket, slice boil till not pink and bake off in oven for 20 mins, slice, put in little handy bags and freeze. I bought 'You bake em' dog biscuit book with cutters for less than aquid off amazon. mostly i just use store cupboard ingredients cos its an american publication so i substitute some. Gourmet Dog biscuits for your breadmaker is great too. Hope you all save some pennies

LittleJowah

Please also read my posting on removing exclusions from equine insurance policies. No idea where it is soz , I am new to this forum and just finding my way around
Jowah

Nightowl

Line the cage with newpaper - from your local recyling bank if you don't get one. Woodshaving is generally the cheapest and most absorbant (you'll need to clean out every 3-4 days minimum), though shredded paper is great (and free) if you can clean out 1-2 days. Woodshaving can be bought in very large bales for about £6 at equinine or farm supply shops. I use a bale every two weeks for 40 guinea pigs, so it goes a long way.

Pellet food i believe is cheapest as there is no waste unlike mixes. I buy the big bag of 'Tima Mega C' from www.zooplus.co.uk , they do a smaller bag too. Wagg complete, Burgess Supa and Pet at Home own nugget are also good foods but work out more expensive. Always give your guinea pigs hay, yes they do eat it, but they need it for their digestion and they will eat less food if they eat hay.

Fresh food should be given at least every other day. It doesn't have to be too expensive, carrots a really cheap. For the quantities I need i get a bag of horse carrots for a couple of quid. Alos , go to market stall and green grocers and ask for cauliflower leaves...they are FREE, and they are usually glad to get rid of them. Remove any left after a day as they smell otherwise. Spring greens are cheap and go a long way, and if you just have a couple of piggies just give them a little of what you have left over (uncooked), peppers, coriander, rocket, cucmber, celery etc.. Grass is FREE, move your run around the garden (only on nice days) and get your lawn mowed and fertilised for FREE. There are also loads of wild foods they such as dandilion flowers and leaves, clover leaves and many more. Don't give apple, although some pigs are fine with them, others get blisters on their mouth, that equals a vet bill!

Free hutches can often be found on your local freecycle group, though you must clean them well. You can make up C&C cages for indoors.
Guinea pigs themselves can be found on local freecyle pet groups... though be very careful, a friend of mine ended up with an £150 vet bill and a dead guinea pig!! Pets at home have an adoption scheme sometimes where you just make a donation, better than their £19.50 for a generally very average mixed breed piggy.Of course going directly to a breeder who is breeding to show and has excess stock is the best way to get a good quality pig for reasonable prices. You can expect to pay £15-20 for a pedigree breed or £10 ish for a pet pig. If you live in Yorkshire send me an email. LOL. You can usually get a good price on a pair of pedigree boys as the breeder tend to hang onto the girls for future litters. You may even be able to get a FREE adult boar (that the breeder no longer breeds from) if you buy a baby boar to go with it - they shouldn't be kept alone or with rabbits. If you buy girls you'll probably pay more. Boys are at less risk of illness due to their reproductive systems and are more confident and inquisitive. Rescue centres are also a lovely way to get a piggy in need of a home.

For loads of free information, try http://www.rodentswithattitude.co.uk/ , they also have forum so you can ask questions.

Amanda

Go to your local carpet shop for FREE cardboard inner rolls as tubes to play with rather than buying them, bring something to cut them in half to take home as they are huge. Cardboard boxes are also a great toy, just ensure their is no tape or staples on them.

TwentyThree_2

If you live in CARDIFF- There is a national pet month event going on in this weekend (12-13th April) in Roath Park. They are advertising microchipping for £10!!!!!!!!!! I've been meaning to get my pups done for a while and this seems like a great oppurtunity, cheapest I've been told before was about £15, so good money saving tip!!

emily82_2

Re what has previously been mentioned on this topic.

Please do not use woodshavings to bed guinea pigs on, it is not recommended - they can contribute to skin problems (particularly fungal problems) and respiratory problems. Yes, it may be cheaper, but not worth the potential problems that could follow. It is far better to bed them down on newspaper and a layer of hay (get a bale from a local farm for a few £'s, if you only have a few pigs then this will last a while).

Guinea pigs should be fed fresh veg EVERY day, preferably twice a day. Guinea pigs are like humans - they need vitamin C to stay healthy, so are reliant from what comes from fresh vegetables.

Nightowl

emily82 wrote: »

Re what has previously been mentioned on this topic.

Please do not use woodshavings to bed guinea pigs on, it is not recommended - they can contribute to skin problems (particularly fungal problems) and respiratory problems. Yes, it may be cheaper, but not worth the potential problems that could follow. It is far better to bed them down on newspaper and a layer of hay (get a bale from a local farm for a few £'s, if you only have a few pigs then this will last a while).

Guinea pigs should be fed fresh veg EVERY day, preferably twice a day. Guinea pigs are like humans - they need vitamin C to stay healthy, so are reliant from what comes from fresh vegetables.

I would say don't use woodshavings if your pets have an allergy to it. I am a breeder and at present I have 45 guinea pigs on woodshavings with no problems. I agree that vitamin C is very important, that is why rabbit food should NOT be given as it doesn't have the added vitamin C of a Guinea pig food.

Jollygiantswife

How about this for a money saving idea!

It was finally dry enough yesterday for my OH to mow the lawn - it's still far too cold to put our piggies out yet (we have 6, 2 planned and 4 babies kinda like a buy one and get 4 free when we unsuspectingly bought a pregnant guinea pig!) and I was stood watching him go up and down the garden with the mower.......

Then it hit me! Why are we spending over 3 quid twice a week on small bags of Alfafa hay which all the guinea pigs love when we can make our own!

So, since yesterday we have been drying all the grass cuttings in the oven, spread out on baking sheets at 130 degrees for 5 minutes, then turn it over and put back in for another 5 mins. Leave it to cool then bag it up! Our guinea pigs are going mad for it and not only is it free, it'll save us about £6 a week!

After all, it's no different to them eating the grass in situ in the garden! And actually the house smells like freshly mown grass which is quite nice!

Give it a go and let me know how you get on!

countrygirl27

We buy dog mixer from an independent animal feed supply and get 15Kg for £10.99. Also it is gluten free which has stopped my labrador constantly scratching! Then the dogs eat all our left overs and we buy only 3 tins a week for when there is nothing to give them. (1 lab 1GSD) The bag of mixer lasts approx 3-4weeks.

Also I have horses and I buy worming paste, as this means I can share one dose between two of them - (it makes sense if you look at the dosing on the packets of these things) If you do keep horses or any animal that eats sugar beet, there is no point in buying food called 'kwik beet' or 'speedi' beet. Its about 25% more that sugar beet pellets and all you need to do is be a bit organised and make sure you soak the pellets the night before you feed it.

Get a killer cat! My cat seems to eat about 3 wild rabbits a week! There are rabbits everywhere where we live so catching them isn't difficult for her, and we cant stop her doing it. Saves on Whiskas!

ginny82

The cheapest I've found for cat/dog frontline is at petmeds.co.uk where 6 cat pouches can be bought for £16.19.

scubanicki

Jay-Jay wrote: »

I think the best moneysaving tip I can offer is to get your pet insured. It only takes a car coming around the corner too fast to have you lumbered with thousands of pounds in vets bills. There are threads on the insurance boards about pet insurance so I won't go into it on here .... but please do consider it.

I agree - my kitten just cost me £800 for an operation, drugs, dressings and 3 nights in the vets - just waiting for the insurance cheque to come through now!