Guide to Owning a Guinea Pig: Housing, Feeding, Breeding, Exhibition, Health Care (Re Series)

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: For a book with an ASPCA seal of approval, I was very disappointed. The pictures showed guinea pigs on wire bottom cages (very back for their little feet), recommended cedar shavings (another no no) and on pg38 captioned a picture of a guinea pig "The more unique the color variety of your hamster..." It advised housing mutliple cavies in separate cages (this is a herd animal...please) Returned the book in 24 hours. Baron's is a better choice any day.

Rating:
Summary: Dangerous info
Review: I bought this book thinking that I'd learn something new, but was very disapointed. The author gives you some info about the topics he's interested in, but fails to give you info about other things. For example, he goes on and on about building your own cages ect., but tells you very little about guinea pig breeding in the chapter he titled "Practical Breeding". Like someone else mentioned, he did right "hamster" instead of guinea pig at one part, which realy bothered me! He also has a lot of unrelated pictures and sometimes put the same picture twice! There are very nice pictures but most of them were of the same breeds (or same guinea pigs), which isn't helpful for those who want to learn about the many different guinea pig breeds. I think this is a very incomplete book. I'm new to guinea pigs, but this book told me very little I hadn't or couldn't have found out about online. I recommend basic reaserch or buying a different book if you want to find out about all aspects of cavies [guinea pigs]. If you still want to buy this book, you can buy mine because I'm going to sell it.

Rating:
Summary: Waist of Time & Money
Review: I bought this book thinking that I'd learn something new, but was very disapointed. The author gives you some info about the topics he's interested in, but fails to give you info about other things. For example, he goes on and on about building your own cages ect., but tells you very little about guinea pig breeding in the chapter he titled "Practical Breeding". Like someone else mentioned, he did right "hamster" instead of guinea pig at one part, which realy bothered me! He also has a lot of unrelated pictures and sometimes put the same picture twice! There are very nice pictures but most of them were of the same breeds (or same guinea pigs), which isn't helpful for those who want to learn about the many different guinea pig breeds. I think this is a very incomplete book. I'm new to guinea pigs, but this book told me very little I hadn't or couldn't have found out about online. I recommend basic reaserch or buying a different book if you want to find out about all aspects of cavies [guinea pigs]. If you still want to buy this book, you can buy mine because I'm going to sell it.

Rating:
Summary: Dangerous info
Review: It is hard to sum up everything wrong in this book. I would give it zero stars if I could have.
Most of the advice is not only wrong but dangerous to the health and well being of cavies.
Here are a few of the many points that are wrong, misleading or dangerous:
1. The nutritional advice will produce a very sick pig. Please don't feed your pigs eggs, cheese, cakes, cookies and seeds. They can choke on seeds, nuts are too fattening and refined sweets will make them ill. The book somewhat puts down pellets (and suggests a couple of aforementioned odd homemade concoctions) and yet good quality Guinea pig pellets, along with fresh veggies, are the best way to insure you pig has a balanced diet with Vitamin C, essential for GP's. Hay is also essential and yet there is almost nothing mentioned and no discussion of the various types.
2. Shows a pig in a wire bottom cage. Piggies get thier legs caught and broken in wire bottom cages PLUS the cages shown are way too small. Go to www.Cavycages.com and make you own cheaper and better than you can buy premade!
3. States pigs should be housed separately. This is not true. Pigs are very social animals and need to be with thier own kind. While two adult boars MAY fight, most sows and many boars get along just fine. Of course, house the boars and sows separately unless you want LOTS of little piggies!
2. Shows a rabbit and guinea pig together and says they "get along". It is doubtful they would fight, that is true, but rabbits have powerful back legs and one jump could kill or injure a piggie. They should not be housed together at the very least.
3. Calling a photo of a Guinea Pig a "hamster" just proves that no proof reading by a knowledgable person was done. That is just sloppy and unprofessional.
4. The breeding section never mentions that a sow must be bred before she is 10 months old (IF she is ever going to be bred)because her pelvic bones will fuse at about 12 months, resulting in dead mother and babies in a first pregnancy after that time. This book implies that pigs are not fully mature until 12 months and not at full weight until 18 months, leaving a novice to think it best to wait until then. Very dangerous. Hopefully, no decent person would attempt to breed any animal solely on the information in one chapter in one small book anyway, but this advice will kill your pigs.
There is more but I simply do not have room to correct all the misleading and dangerous info. Suffice to say, with this much hazardous advice, this book should not even be on the market. SHAME on the ASPCA for giving it a seal of approval.
Read "The Proper Care Of Guinea Pigs" by Peter Gurney and/or "Guinea Pig Handbook " by Dr. Sharon Vanderlip or check Internet sites for safe, appropriate care of cavies.