N & J Guinea Pig Holidays

Rabbit Boarding Information

About Our Boarding Service:

We want your pets to have as much fun on their holiday as you will have on yours & do everything possible to ensure it! We now have nine wee girl piggies of our own - Toffee,Coffee, Smudge, Gizmo,Peanut, Rosemary, Poppy, Nutmeg & Licorice, all of whom get spoilt rotten! Your pets can expect exactly the same treatment! We ask you to provide their NORMAL dried food so that their wee tummies are not upset by change, and a list of their favourite fresh food which is included along with unlimited fresh meadow & timothy hay (from The Dust-Free Hay Company) & readigrass daily. While we provide bedding and entertainment, you are quite welcome to bring your pet's favourite things.All pets are fully insured while thay are here, so no unexpected vets bills on your return (PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS ARE NOT COVERED!)

We are now in our fourth year, and have many returning visitors, who book multiple holidays per year and who book their holidays with us a year or more in advance, to ensure that their pets can stay with us. We also have a lot of owners now who book their own holiday around when I can look after their pets!!

Please call if you would like to visit before arranging your pets holiday with us, and be sure to ask to see our feedback folder while you are here, which contains all of the lovely comments that have been left for us by our guests (some of them are on our website www.essexguineapigs.co.uk, but we've got so many now that the website is oerflowing!!)

We are happy to look after small caged animals too eg Hamsters, mice, gerbils, rats etc as well as caged birds and tortoises

I am a memeber of The Rabbit Welfare Association & training to be a rodentologist with Vedra at The Cambridge Cavy Trust.
To date our own pets have included: mice, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, tortoises, budgies, canaries, Japanese quail, cockatiels, cats, dogs and horses (sorry we cannot accommodate the last three though!!)

We have a lot of rabbits boarding with us, and I am very happy to take them PROVIDING THEY HAVE BEEN FULLY VACCINATED AGAINST MYXOMATOSIS AND VHD. Proof of vaccination must be provided at time of arrival. Failure to show valid vaccination card will result in the bunnies not being boarded with us.

WE HAVE STRICTLY LIMITED AVAILABILITY - Unlike a lot of boarding facilities, we believe in restricting the number of guests that we can accommodate to six hutches in the shed & two C & C cages for house guinea pigs in the house. With the demand for boarding that we have, we could easily fill twenty hutches, but that would compromise the quality of care that we would be able to give our visitors, so we will not be expanding. We know all of our guest personally & don't have to have name tags on the hutches to know who is who. We do not see this as a money making venture, we do it because we love looking after animals so you can be assured that when they are here they will that they are all looked after correctly. In fact, our aim is to look after them BETTER than you do - that way we know all of our owners (as well as our wee visitors) are happy

We launched a Facebook page in Feb 2010 which has been a huge success & our owners love! It is updated daily with tales of your pets' holiday while you are away as well as photos & (more recently)video. There are now over 300 albums with thousands of photos on the page, so if you'd like to see what your pets can look forward to when they come here, please log onto www.facebook.com/essexguineapigs & click on "like this" and we'll keep you updated with photos and information. You do not have to have a Facebook account to have a look at the photos & videos. You can also leave your own photos and messages for us there. You can also log on and read the reviews that have been very kindly left by our past visitors(All of them awarding us 5 stars!!!)

Accommodation:

Your pets will be housed with our own NINE (!!)piggies - sisters, Toffee,Coffee and Smudge and Gizmo & Peanut along with our latest rescued piggies "The Spice Girls" Rosemary, Licorice, Nutmeg & Poppy - in our large, new shed. Each family will have their own brand new hutch. These are five feet x two feet, so plenty of room to run around if the weather prevents guinea pigs from going outside (rabbits are outside all day every day in their own weather-proof run). I also have three of these hutches which have the option of being joined together via ramps for larger families of pets. They will have heat pads when it's chilly, and ice pods when it's hot, Bunnies have "Safebed" (veterinary recommended soft shredded paper) in their hutch, and piggies have polar fleece in theirs (to minimise the likelihood of mites found in hay and straw)

We have a brand new (July 2010) custom built block of four runs for the bunnies. They are six feet high, so we can get in and play with them. They are seven and a half feet long each with house, tunnel and assorted toys and football to play with. Bunnies get different things for entertainment while they are here eg cardboard boxes, stuffed toilet roll tubes, brown paper to shred... the list goes on! The runs are predator proof, and escape proof, so bunnies can stay outside all day no matter what the weather. They have playbark to dig in, and can get to know their neighbours, without actually getting in beside them - great for single bunnies! Each family of guests get exclusive access to their own run while they are here, so they are not put back in their hutch so that another pet can get out of theirs. Guinea pigs go out on the grass in one of our seven foot long runs, which are also covered, and come complete with houses & tunnels to play in. They are never put outside if the grass is damp or it is raining.
Indoor piggies can also be catered for in one of our two C&C cages within the house. We do not allow indoor piggies to board out in the shed in the winter, so please mention at the time of booking if you have indoor piggies.

Exercise:

There is plenty of room to run about in the spacious new hutches, and they will also be able to go out into the garden in our new runs with plenty of shade and inbuilt accommodation.We have enough runs so that each family of visitors will have their own, so that everyone can be outside at the same time - no need to wait for a run to become available! We have all-weather runs for bunnies, so even if it's raining they can still get out to stretch their paws.They are all fox-proof, and will be filled with tunnels, balls, toys and houses to keep them amused. Just let us know how long your piggies like to be outside - we're happy to have them out all day if that's what they are used to (though they will never be out after dark of course!!) - and we obviously keep an eye on them whenever they are out. Bunnies are outside all day. We have a brand new tortoise area outside to which tortoises have access daily in good weather, as well as free run of our 95ft garden if they are the only tortoise guests here. Tortoises are not left outside when we are not here and - as with all of our wee visitors - are locked away securely overnight.

Health & Hygiene:

The hutches will be cleaned out daily and everything (hutches, bowls and water bottles) will be sterilised in between piggy & bunny guests. Fleeces are changed daily & washed regularly during your pet's stay. The hutches have vinyl flooring laid under their bedding so are very easy to keep spotlessly clean (and any inspection at any time is welcome, no appointment neccesary)
Pets will be health checked twice daily, and are visited by us throughout the day from 7am - 11pm and given lots of fuss and cuddles

NO RABBITS WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR BOARDING WITHOUT A VALID VACCINATION CARD BEING PROVIDED AT TIME OF ARRIVAL.

WE CANNOT ACCEPT PETS THAT ARE SUFFERING FROM MITES IN ANY WAY, SO PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR PET HAS BEEN TREATED FOR MITES BEFORE ARRIVAL

We have a local vet (Earls Hall) at the bottom of our road, with an exceptionally good bunny vet and another branch of Earls Hall about four miles from here with an expert Guinea Pig vet (who runs Essex Guinea Pig & Rat Rescue) so should anything go wrong they will be very well looked after by a specialised vet. However we will still require you to leave your own vets details and emergency contact number for you.

Any vets fees incurred during your pet's visit are the owner's responsibility if the insurance company does not pay out for whatever reason (eg if it was deemed to be a pre-existing condition by the vet), but we will always try to contact you before consulting a vet

Should your pets need medication or syringe feeding while they are here, we are happy to do this with your permission

Rabbit Boarding Tarif

2012 Prices per day guinea pigs & rabbits:

£3.45 for one piggy
£4.85 for two piggies sharing a hutch
£5.85 for three piggies sharing a hutch

£3.95 for one rabbit
£5.45 for two rabbits sharing a hutch

maximum THREE piggies per hutch or TWO rabbits hutch (two or three hutches can be joined together via ramps for larger families of pets)

THERE IS AN ADDITIONAL COMPULSORY £1.00 PER PET PER STAY FEE FOR INSURANCE COVER

Please get in touch if you have larger families of pets as we have up to three hutches which can be joined together via ramps

Small caged animals (eg budgies /hamsters) £1.75 per cage per day
Large caged animals (eg parrots / cockatiels/rats) £2.75 per cage per day

Unlike most other boarding facilities we do not charge extra for bank holidays, Christmas Day etc

£10 deposit payable on booking. Balance due on arrival. Payment by cash or cheque.

Arrival and departure days are charged for.

GUINEA PIG CLAW CLIPPING SERVICE FOR NON-BOARDERS AVAILABLE - £3.00 PER PIGGY

Other Services

Services: GroomingClaw Clipping

Should you wish your pets to be groomed or guinea pigs claws clipped while they are here, please let us know. This is free of charge (for guests staying with us) Guinea pig claw clippping is £3 pet pet for non - boarders. Grooming can be carried out as often as you wish. We ask that you bring their own grooming brushes/combs for hygiene reasons. We are also happy to give them a bath as long as the weather is not too cold for them.

Boarding Facility Images