How to transport guinea pigs?
My friend has some guinea pigs she needs to move a few states over. She's afraid that too long in the car might be bad for them. What's the best way to move 2 guinea pigs a long distance?
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Answers ( 1 )
Pets, show animals, livestock, and laboratory animals are transported in vehicles often over a very long distances every week of the year. Cats and dogs frequently visit veterinarians, but many small creatures do not. Unless your friend obtained the guinea pigs from someone with a pregnant female or a professional breeder, they travelled at some point in a vehicle to wind up at the pet shop.
A friend of mine used to perform educational science presentations for schools all around the state of Michigan, which is known for roads that are frequently in terrible condition with the continual statewide trucking due to a large amount of shipping across the Great Lakes. For many years he transported a wide variety of animals, some of which he was required to maintain various zoo licenses in order to own and exhibit.
Your first priority when transporting an animal is to provide for its safety, your second priority is to attempt to do so in as much comfort as possible, everything else comes third.
Appropriately sized pet carriers should be used or sturdy cages or crates. For travel purposes, the container should be considerably smaller than what the pet might live in on a daily basis, it’s purpose is twofold. First, to prevent the animal from scurrying loose around the vehicle. Second, to minimize the distance the animal travels before coming into contact with the side of the container in the unfortunate circumstance of a sudden stop of the vehicle.
The container should be secured on the car seat using a seatbelt. If this is not possible one or more nylon straps run through a ratcheting mechanism should be used, such as those used to strap cargo down to trailers. You will very likely have to adjust the seat considerably and use one or more pieces of wood or folded towels to cause the seat to be sufficiently level to support the container firmly.
The goal is to provide a snug little environment for the pet that can also be held immobile in the vehicle in case you are forced to slam on the brakes or get into an accident. If you are smuggling the creature into a hotel room, (locating pet friendly hotels is preferable) you may want to purchase a larger folding cage that the animal can be switched into during the overnight stay. Cleaning supplies and extra bedding should be on hand and a water container in the crate. Animals almost universally will not eat any food while in motion.
The only real danger in a vehicle outside of them wandering loose or being involved in a collision would be if noxious fumes were leaking into the interior of the car or the heating:cooling were insufficient to keep the interior comfortable.
I transported a rather ornery orange cat across the country on a 2 1/2 day trip when I moved a few years ago in a crate large enough for him to lie down and have an improvised litter pan set up in the crate next to him. Far from a pleasant or agreeable animal (we eventually rehabilitated him), he travelled in the passenger seat and found the trip a bit intimidating but not overly stressful or harmful in anyway.
To increase the comfort of pets who will travel for a long period, it is a good idea if possible to acclimate the pet to traveling before hand. Take the pet on a short trip, driving around the neighborhood. Give it a chance to recover from the unusual experience and then repeat it with gradually longer trips until such travel is less novel.