Lightning Round for the Cavy Savvy 2018 Guinea Pig Books Giveaway!

We are excited to announce that we have extended our recent book giveaway! Comment on this post expressing your interest in winning two books about guinea pigs, below:



Imagine the fun you'll have reading to your guinea pigs about a topic they're sure to appreciate. good luck!

Cavy Savvy 2018 Guinea Pig Books Giveaway

Happy 2018, Cavy Savvy readers! Now is the time when humans make all kind of  resolutions, like going to the gym more, or being more careful with that money stuff that humans love so much. If you haven't picked a resolution yet, how about a resolution to read more guinea pig book?

To encourage you to be successful, we're announcing our Cavy Savvy 2018 Read More Resolution Giveaway! We've got two books in our library we're prepared to give away to one lucky blog reader:

Here are the books you can win!

One of these books, Guinea Pig Pride and Prejudice, we've previously reviewed. The other one, Cavy Crusades by Paula York, a fantastic tale of nine guinea pigs who go on an epic journey to discover a new life through a forest.

Here are the rules:

• You must be a resident of the continental United States.
• You have to be a follower of this blog. To follow us, just click the "Follow" button on the right.
• To enter, leave a comment on this blog post expressing your interest in participating in the contest.
• All entries must be received by January 20th, 2018 at 12:00 pm (US Eastern time) to be eligible.
• One winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries and announced on this blog on January 20st, 2018 sometime after the giveaway closes.
• The winner will be instructed to email us to provide us with a mailing address to send the prize to. Winners must provide us with a mailing address within 5 days to receive their prize. If we do not receive a response in time, we will randomly select another winner from the eligible responses. 

Good luck!

Our 2017 Halloween Costumes

Over the years, we've shared a few pictures of ourselves in costume, mostly for Halloween. We're generally not big fans of wearing costumes, but we tolerate it to make our humans happy. (The things we do for those big, silly mostly-hairless apes. Am I right?) And even though we always complain a little at the time, we have to admit that we do look adorable in our outfits. Our previous outfits have included Pokemon, dinosaurs and ladybugs, a tuxedo, and a bumblebee.

We know we're a little late in sharing our costumes this year, but better late than never, right? Who wants to see our Halloween costumes? Okay, here they are:

Lola does not look happy in her pumpkin outfit.

There's a new sheriff in town...

As you may notice, Lola's costume is not fully on. She made it very clear to the humans that she didn't want the strap on the hat connected under her chin, so the humans left it loose. (It's very important to respect your guinea pig's boundaries!)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All Our Piggie Friends!

Happy holidays, everyone! Thank you for being loyal readers following all our piggie adventures, and sharing your adventures with us in the comments section.

We hope you and your families (both furry and human) enjoy the holiday season and have a fabulous 2017!

Announcing the Winner of Our 2016 Halloween Giveaway

We used a random number generator to choose the winner of our 2016 Halloween giveaway, and the winner is ...

RANDI COOK!

Congratulations, Randi! You just won a guinea pig mask from Archie McPhee! Please send us an email in the next 30 days with your mailing address to cavysavvyaguineapigblog@gmail.com and we will mail you your prize.

Thanks to everyone who entered! If you didn't win this time, just remember that there's always next time.

Cavy Savvy 2016 Halloween Giveaway!

Regular readers probably saw our recent post on the Pokemon costumes from Cuddly Cavy Creations. We looked amazing, but did not enjoy getting them on. We figure that turnabout is fair play, so it's about time that we get humans to wear costumes of our choosing!

And we have just the costume in mind. This is a guinea pig mask from Archie McPhee :

Put it on, human! You'd look much better as a guinea pig!

We were thinking we'd just put this on the humans for cute pictures and post it, but then we had a better idea: make it a Halloween giveaway! We haven't done a giveaway in some time, so I think we're overdue.

Here are the giveaway rules:

• You must be a resident of the continental United States.
• You have to be a follower of this blog. To follow us, just click the "join this site" button on the right.
• To enter, leave a comment on this blog post expressing your interest in participating in the contest.
• All entries must be received by October 15th, 2016 at 12:00 pm (US Eastern time) to be eligible.
• One winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries and announced on this blog on October 15th sometime after the giveaway closes.
• The winner will be instructed to email us to provide us with a mailing address to send the prize to. Winners must provide us with a mailing address within 30 days to receive their prize. (We'd recommend replying ASAP to get it in time for Halloween.)

Good luck!

Product Review: Cuddy Cavies Creations Pokemon Go Costumes

Longtime readers might remember several years back when Lola (1) and Buffy entered a costume contest with costumes from Cuddly Cavies Creations, and won second place. With Halloween just around the corner, the humans decided that it might be nice to get us some new costumes. We don't really get why Halloween is so exciting to humans, but sometimes you just have to play along for their sake. I suppose Buffy and Lola (1) did look great in their costumes. But if the humans really want us to get excited about Halloween, they should give us some treats that we're allowed to eat, like pumpkin.

Anyway, Cuddly Cavies Creations has some new Pokemon costumes that I think a lot of humans will go crazy for. Have you heard about this Pokemon Go craze? It's apparently some big thing where humans will stand around on street corners, staring at their phones and trying to find and catch little creatures by throwing special balls at them. Humans, if we agree to put on these Pokemon costumes, you better not throw anything at us! Deal?

And some fussing (and biting), the humans got us into the costumes:

Top: I'm looking "hot" in my "Charmander-pig" costume! Bottom: Lola's looking adorable in her "Pig-achu" costume.

Costumes are no fun to put on. I'm a bit more relaxed about it, but Lola ended up getting a little nippy. We recommend that you have two humans put on the costumes; one who can support our feet, while the other can snap closed the Velcro. Also, make sure you listen to your guinea pig. If it seems like your guinea pig is getting too stressed out, give up on putting on the costume. It's not worth upsetting us over a few cute pictures.

Despite our complaints about having costumes put on us, we have to admit that we looked great once they're on. We give these costumes 5/5 stars!

Valentine's Day 2016

From: Buffy and Broccoli
To: Our loyal readers

Happy Valentine's Day! (Broccoli, you're facing the wrong way! Turn around! Darn it...)

(Note: The chocolates behind us are for display purposes only. Don't feed chocolate to your guinea pigs!)

Guinea Pigs Celebrate Fourth of July!

Happy fourth of July, readers! Here at Cavy Savvy, we like to be included in the celebration by doing what we do best: eating!

Happy birthday, America!

Time to eat tomatoes, corn and blueberries to celebrate!

We hope your piggies have a happy and healthy Fourth of July!

Guinea Pig Valentine's Day Gifts

According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend $815 million on their pets this year on Valentine's Day. We don't know how much of that $815 million is going towards guinea pigs, but given that there were 847,000 households with guinea pigs in 2007, it could be a fair amount.

What would make a good valentine's day gift for your guinea pig? Well, Cuddly Cavies has a few Valentine's Day costumes:

Girl guinea pig Valentine's Day costume includes costume and hat ($13)

Valentine top hot & vest costume ($13)

For those who didn't plan ahead and order costumes, however, we recommend food. Good food is always a great way to show your guinea pig you love and appreciate them. For Valentine's day, you should give us something heart-shaped. Strawberry slices and Oxbow treats are what our humans used in the past to give us a happy Valentine's day.

Cavy Savvy Christmas 2014

To all our loyal readers: Merry Christmas!

As the dominant piggy, I think I should be the only Santa. Broccoli has gotten too big to push around easily, though.

Are Poinsettias Toxic to Guinea Pigs?

Last year, we did a post on Christmas safety for guinea pigs, which is worth a read if you're one of the many people who celebrate Christmas and you have piggies. In that post, we reviewed safety for different types of Christmas trees, and associated Christmas plants like holly and mistletoe. Poinsettias are another type of plant commonly associated with Christmas that we didn't touch on, so we'd like to talk about them now.

Warning: That's not guinea pig food! Stay away! (source: André Karwath/Wikipedia)

Poinsettias have had a reputation for being highly toxic due to an urban legend about a two-year old kid dying from eating a leaf. The truth is poinsettas are only mildly toxic--not deadly like the urban legends claim. Mild signs of vomiting and diarrhea could occur in pets if they eat enough, and it could be mildly irritating to the skin and eyes with sufficient exposure.

However, unlike other pets, rodents like guinea pigs are unable to vomit, even if they eat something toxic, which could make poinsettias somewhat more of a risk for us than for other pets. Fortunately, the worst thing that typically happens if we eat a poinsettia is an upset stomach. If your guinea pig eats a poinsettia, make sure they are still eating and drinking, and otherwise behaving normally. Call your vet if you notice any behavior changes.

Of course, the best thing to do to keep toxic plants away from us, whether they're mildly toxic or very toxic.

Cavy Savvy 2014 Thanksgiving Giveaway!

It's been a while since we've held a giveaway, and Thanksgiving is fast approaching, so we figured this would be a great opportunity to show how thankful we are for the 256 (and counting) Cavy Savvy followers we have. Thanks to everyone for reading!

To show our thanks, we're going to be giving away a Thanksgiving costume this time to one lucky winner:

This is a product we have never reviewed before, so the winner will have the option of writing a guest post review of their costume if they want to.

Thanksgiving is not just about turkeys and pilgrims, however. Charity is also an important part of Thanksgiving, so we would like to give back to the less fortunate piggies out there. Therefore, we've convinced our humans to part with $20 of that money stuff they care so much about, plus $1 per entry we receive, up to a maximum of $50. The money will go to the Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue (MGPR), an organization that rescues, rehabilitates and finds good homes for guinea pigs. As an abandoned guinea pig himself, helping homeless guinea pigs is a subject very near and dear to Broccoli's heart; we encourage everyone to feel free to donate to MGPR on your own as well if you're feeling generous. They do good work.

As usual, here are the rules:

Giveaway Rules:

• You must be a resident of the continental United States.
• You have to be a follower of this blog. To follow us, just click the "join this site" button on the right.
• To enter, leave a comment on this blog post expressing your interest in participating in the contest, as well as something you're thankful for.
• All entries must be received by November 20th at 12:00 pm (US Eastern time) to be eligible.
• One winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries and announced on this blog on November 20th sometime after the giveaway closes. 
• The winner will be instructed to email us to provide us with a mailing address to send the prize to. Winners must provide us with a mailing address within 30 days to receive their prize.
• Winners have the option of writing a guest post for Cavy Savvy reviewing the product. Cavy Savvy reserves the right to edit or reject guest posts at our discretion.
• A donation will be made to the Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue in the amount of $20 plus $1 per eligible entry, up to a maximum of $50.

Good luck!

Cavy Savvy's Guinea Pig Father's Day Giveaway!

You may have seen our recent post about Randy, the naughty guinea pig who impregnated 100 female guinea pigs. While we certainly don't condone this type of behavior since it contributes to overpopulation, it did get us thinking. Today is father's day for the humans, where they celebrate "fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society." According to The Guinea Pig Handbook by Sharon Lynn Vanderlip, "When it comes to parenting, cavies don't win any awards. They are not outstanding parents. The father doesn't participate in rearing the babies..." Guinea pig dads have even been known to show dominance behavior towards their offspring, like squirting and mounting. So maybe our dads weren't the best dads ever, but what are you going to do? We may not have much to celebrate in terms of "paternal bonds," but we can still celebrate "fatherhood!"

I'd make a good dad, I think. Well, as long as it doesn't involve sharing food or comfy spots, anyway!

To celebrate this father's day, we're having another contest! This time, we're giving away Oxbow Animal Health Harvest Stacks-Western Timothy Hay:

                                                         

As you may recall, we reviewed Oxbow's stacks with chamomile and carrots, but not the timothy hay variety. Therefore, just like we did with the snuggle hut, we're going to give the winner the option of doing a guest review of this product if they want.

As usual, here are the rules:

Contest Rules:

• You must be a resident of the continental United States.
• You have to be a follower of this blog. To follow us, just click the "join this site" button on the right.
• To enter, leave a comment on this blog post expressing your interest in participating in the contest. 
• One winner will be chosen at random from all valid entries and announced on this blog on July 1st. All entries must be received by June 30th at 12:00 pm (US Eastern time) to be eligible.
• The winner will be instructed to email us to provide us with a mailing address to send the prize to. Winners must provide us with a mailing address within 30 days to receive their prize.
• Winners have the option of writing a guest post for Cavy Savvy reviewing the product. Cavy Savvy reserves the right to edit or reject guest posts at our discretion.

Good luck!

Valentine's Day 2014 Giveaway Winner

As usual, we used a random number generator to pick a winner for our Valentine's Day Giveaway.

I'm excited to to find out who it is!

And the winner is... Jessa! Please email me your mailing address to cavysavvyaguineapigblog@gmail.com and we'll send you your treats. Thanks to everyone else for reading!

Merry Christmas 2013 from Cavy Savvy!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone! Thanks for reading our posts, leaving comments, and listening to our feelings about guinea pig things!

Just to be clear, I'm not pulling any sleds around anywhere.

What did we get for Christmas, you ask? Take a look:

We'll be reviewing our Christmas present sometime soon.

Cavy Savvy 300th Post Giveaway Winners

Hi there, loyal readers. (All 200+ of you!) It's time for us to randomly pick winners to our 300th post giveaway!

(Side note: As Andrew pointed out, we are aware that Blogspot was having some issues earlier in the day with the Join button not showing up. The problem appears to be gone now, but since it wasn't there for part of the time, we'll use the honor system and let Andrew and anyone who wanted to join have a chance to win. We'll trust you to join when you get a chance!)

And the winners are:

• Grand Prize - marianberry! (Wow, you're a lucky one! You also won our last contest.  What's your secret? Four-leaf clovers? Horseshoes? Lucky pennies?)
• Second Prize - Plushpussycat

Please email us your mailing address to cavysavvyaguineapigblog@gmail.com and we will send mail you both your prize. (Marianberry, we just need you to confirm that the address you sent us before is still valid. Also, if you're interested in reviewing the Snuggle Hut, just email us your review.)

Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to everyone for reading!

Giveaways are so exciting that I need some cool-down time in my pigloo!

Are Christmas Trees Safe for Guinea Pigs?

It's that time of year where the humans go crazy with lights and decorations.

Look at all those colorful things! Are those treats for us?

We're all for humans having their holiday fun, but guinea pig owners need to be careful when it comes to guinea pigs and Christmas trees. Some people worry about the Christmas tree giving off fumes that can hurt your piggy, although this is probably not what you need to worry about. What you need to worry about is your piggy eating branches and needles that drop off your tree. One little nibble probably won't be instantly fatal; we found one guinea pig owner who claimed this his/her piggies nibbled on fir tree bits without any apparent ill effects. However, you shouldn't push your luck when it comes to Christmas trees and your piggies.

Typical types of Christmas trees include spruce, pine and fir, so let's look at each:

• Spruce - The diet expert at Guinea Pig Cages was unsure if spruce was safe to use as a bedding, which probably means there is not much information on how dangerous it is if guinea pigs eat it. According to one YouTube user, spruce "contains etheric oils which could be harmful in large quantities." We're not sure if this person has done their research or not, but the key point is that spruce might be harmful, so it's better to err on the side of caution.
• Pine - Pine needles are on the Happy Cavy's list of dangerous foods. 
• Fir - Fir tree oils can be irritating to other types of pets, so they're also almost certainly not good for guinea pigs, either.

Here are a few more holiday warnings you should be aware of:

• Artificial trees can also be bad for your pet's health if ingested, though it's probably less likely that you'll have artificial leaves/needles falling off that your piggy might chew on. 
• Christmas tree flame retardants can make your tree more toxic to guinea pigs. 
• You should also make sure that you keep mistletoe and holly plants away from your guinea pig if you've decorated your house with them for Christmas. They're toxic to piggies.
• You will also want to be very careful when it comes to Christmas tree lights. As long-time readers probably know, we will chew on all kinds of things if you let us, including shoe laces and iPod wires. Chewing on wires carries an additional risk of electrocution.

With all this in mind, here are some Christmas safety tips:

• Keep your Christmas tree (and mistletoe, holly, etc.) away from your guinea pig cage, and away from where they enjoy their floor time if possible.
• As an extra precaution, you should purchase a gate to put around your Christmas tree to keep your guinea pigs away from any tree droppings.
• Keep Christmas light wires away from your guinea pig. If your Christmas tree is next to an outlet, make sure all the wires are protected within the gate.
• Sweep and vacuum frequently around your tree to remove any temptation.
• Do not use flame retardant products on your tree. It will make your tree more toxic to your guinea pigs, and according to at least one study, they are not even effective at making your tree more fire-resistant.
• If your guinea pig ate something that he or she shouldn't despite your best efforts, you should call call the ASPCA's animal poison control number (888-426-4435) or your local vet immediately.

Have fun and stay safe this Christmas!

Now here's a "tree" that's safe for piggies!

Guinea Pig Valentine's Day!

Happy Guinea Pig New Year!

It's been a great year here at Cavy Savvy, which has been thanks to you! We love our readers and hope our piggie rantings have helped you understand us a little bit better. We're excited for a new year of trying new foods, more givesways, and new product reviews! Happy 2013, everyone!

What's in our glass, you ask? It's not champagne...

It's organic salad mix with carrots slices! That's our kind of party!

From the three of us here at Cavy Savvy, happy new year to all our loyal readers!