The Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig has a chocolate-colored coat and a white crest-like swirl on its head. It is also known as a Dutch Pig, Dutch Guinea Pig, Cavy, Guinea Pig, or Guinea Pig. Their ancestors came from the Andes Mountains in South America, brought to the West by European merchants in the 16th century. At that time, people loved these small animals as pets. They are gentle, cute, relatively easy to care for, and are still common as household pets. Some organizations around the world are dedicated to breeding guinea pigs, and they have developed various breeds with different coat colors and appearances.
The Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig or Chocolate American Crested has a chocolate-colored coat and a white crest-like swirl on its head. It has a body length of 22 to 34 centimeters and weighs 400 to 700 grams. It has a short, thick, and round body shape with a larger head and large, round, bright eyes. Its ears are round and its upper lip is split. The ears are small. It has short limbs, with four toes on the front feet and three toes on the hind feet, and no external tail.
The Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig, similar to most guinea pigs, has a unique coat color. Its entire body is a creamy color, and its appearance is as beautiful as its name. People also call it a Dutch Pig, Dutch Guinea Pig, Cavy, Guinea Pig, or Guinea Pig. It originated from the Andes Mountains in South America and is a very cute and easy-to-raise species. Even in the 21st century, it is still loved and appreciated by many people! The Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig is of medium size and is covered in thick and dense creamy-colored fur. Its body length is about 30cm, and it has a moderate weight. It can be clearly seen that the head of this small pig is relatively large, with a pair of small ears on both sides. Its upper lip is slightly split, and it has a pair of round black eyes, making its appearance extremely delicate and irresistible. Furthermore, the feet and claws of the Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig are well-developed, hard, and powerful, making it an excellent choice! The guinea pig (Caviaporcellus) originated from South America, also known as the pig, cavies, Dutch pig, and Guinea pig. It is very popular among locals, as it has a gentle temperament and is cute and relatively easy to take care of, so many people are willing to keep it as a pet. The name "guinea pig" may have originated from the fact that it used to be sold for one "Guinea" (an old British coin). It is also chubby like a pig, hence the name Guinea Pig. Some people believe that it came from Guinea in Africa and others believe that it came from Guyana in South America, which had frequent exchanges with Europe at that time and was then written as Guinea.
Loved by the small pet crowd, the natural cream guinea pig is gentle by nature, always giving people a sense of clumsiness, but it looks very cute. If you don't provoke it, it won't get angry with you. It is usually very gentle and lovely. Not only that, the natural cream guinea pig is also an easy-to-raise breed of guinea pig, and it does not have too strict requirements for the environment and food, but because of this, parents should take care of and take care of it carefully. In this way, it will also regard you as its master and be loyal to you. It is perfect if you can play with it frequently. This guinea pig's movements are very slow, making it very suitable for the elderly and children to raise.
Sarcoptic Mange
The disease source of sarcoptic mange is the contamination of the guinea pig's living environment. It mainly resides around the eyes and ears of the guinea pig. Sarcoptic mange can cause scabies, as if the mites have eaten the guinea pig's fur, resulting in patches of hair loss. Once signs of sarcoptic mange are discovered, it is necessary to seek medical treatment. The general treatment method is to inject insecticidal drugs. Alternatively, agricultural malathion can be diluted at a ratio of 1:100 and applied to the affected areas (it is harmless to guinea pigs even if they lick a little). In addition, it is important to thoroughly disinfect the cage, otherwise the mites may return.
Bacterial Infection
The main symptom is the appearance of patches of hair loss on the head, which is extremely similar to the symptoms of sarcoptic mange, sometimes even doctors cannot distinguish between the two. This condition is caused by high humidity in the air and long-term consumption of concentrated feed. This disease is similar to athlete's foot in humans, causing flaky skin.
Diarrhea
It is caused by gastroenteritis due to the consumption of unclean food. The symptoms are obvious, with malformed feces. If this symptom is found, prompt medical treatment is necessary. Diarrhea is quite dangerous for guinea pigs, because sometimes we do not know which food caused the diarrhea. If it is common diarrhea, medication can help, but if it is diarrhea caused by chemical poisoning, even if the guinea pigs are taken to the doctor immediately, it is difficult to save their lives. So please be careful.
Flatulence
It is caused by the consumption of unsuitable foods, such as pears. Flatulence can lead to suffocation and heart failure. Therefore, when the condition is severe, it is important to seek medical attention promptly.
Constipation
It is caused by food being too dry and insufficient water intake. It can be cured by increasing water intake and providing foods high in water content such as vegetables and fruits.
Excessive Hair Loss
It is normal for guinea pigs to shed hair just like humans do with their hair. However, excessive hair loss is abnormal and is caused by a lack of vitamin C. The treatment method is to supplement with powdered vitamin C mixed into their food or water. Vitamin powder has an acidic taste, so some guinea pigs may refuse to eat it, in which case it needs to be fed to them with a syringe.
In general, the Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig is not difficult to raise, and it does not have high requirements for the living environment. As for it, parents do not need to spend effort on professional raising. Parents only need to prepare a moderately sized cage for it and place some fresh fruits, vegetables, and other foods. Honestly, the key to raising a Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig lies in the company of the owner. Only in this way can its physical and mental health be fully developed! The food for the Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig is relatively complex, and it will eat almost all the foods that other small rodents can eat. Of course, the main food is rodent feed, such as bread, mealworms, etc. However, these foods alone are far from enough to ensure a balanced diet. In order to ensure the balance of its food, parents may as well give it some fresh fruits, vegetables, etc. Sometimes they will also go around looking for food. If you hear their stomachs growling, it means they are hungry, so you should feed them promptly. It is not good for the Chocolate American Crested Guinea Pig to go hungry! If your guinea pig is young, let it get used to your presence and the current living environment. You can make a paper tube for it to hide in. If you let it out to move around, besides running around, it will also look for hiding places. This is the nature of rodents. Because the size of the guinea pig is much larger than that of hamsters, gerbils, and other rodents, there is less worry about not being able to find it, but be careful if there is any rat poison or other medications placed on the ground, so as not to mistake it for food.
After washing, wrap the guinea pig in a towel quickly. Put it in a clean box and blow dry a small part with a pre-connected hair dryer. Pay attention to the temperature of the dryer. When blowing, you can put your hand beside the guinea pig to determine the temperature of the air. This way, you don't have to worry about it being too cold or too hot.
After drying a small part of the water, lay a towel on yourself and hold the guinea pig in your arms to blow dry. For students who have prepared food in advance, you can feed them at this time. The reason for laying the towel on yourself is that guinea pigs are warm, which can prevent them from getting wet and also help absorb the moisture under their bellies. We often cannot dry the water under their bellies, but blowing them upside down can make them very uncomfortable. So laying a towel on yourself is very useful. Feeding the guinea pigs is to divert their attention to the food. Many guinea pigs are not used to hair dryers and are afraid of the sound of hair dryers, so they will hide in clothes or run away. With food, guinea pigs will shift their attention, so they won't run away. After the guinea pig finishes eating, its brain will naturally adapt a little bit to the hair dryer, so it won't run away as aggressively or even stop running.
If it is a Crested Guinea Pig, blow dry it as much as possible. Because the hands of Crested Guinea Pigs are longer than those of other guinea pigs, the hair dryer should be blown dry on both sides, both crest and non-crest sides.
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