Guinea pig Bath time

Being this cute does take some work. Guinea pigs need help to keep their appearance up, not just for aesthetics but for their health as well. All guinea pig hygiene needs to be done by an adult.

Bath

Need to do 2 to 3 times a year.

Guinea pigs are kind of like cats and don’t like water. So don’t be surprised if your guinea pig is not super excited for bath time. But bathing is super important to keep your guinea pig healthy. To make bath time as less stressful as possible, lay a towel down in the sink to prevent slipping. Use lukewarm water, not too hot and not too cold, the water needs to be just right. We encourage using gentle baby shampoo. Rinse thoroughly. Once you are done, use a dry towel to completely dry your guinea pig. Do not leave your guinea pig unattended while wet. They take a long time to dry by themselves and could get a respiratory infection.

Ears

Do before each bath time and check once a month.

Guinea pigs have cute floppy ears, but this means they build up some pretty gross stuff in there. We want to only clean the ear flaps and not the inner ear canal. We don’t want to harm our guinea pigs’ ears or hearing. To keep them clean, use a few drops of olive oil and massage it into the ear flaps gently. This will loosen up debris and build-up. Use a Q-tip to carefully clean up the olive oil.

Nails

Do every 6 weeks.

Clip, clip. With light-colored nails, you will be able to see how far you can clip. With dark nails it sometimes helps to shine a light underneath to see how far the “quick” grows. The “quick” is the vein that is in the nail, we want to avoid this. But if you do accidentally knick it, no need to panic, hold pressure with a towel to stop it. When clipping their nails, the easiest way is to put the guinea pig on a surface that is higher than a regular table. That way you can steady and restrain your piggie against your body and then grab hold of their little foot to cut each nail.

Hair

Guinea pigs with short hair, like Gillie, don’t need to worry about brushing their hair. But if you have a long-haired guinea pig like Famous, Izzy, or Marshmallow Puff, you need to put in a little extra work to help keep their hair clean and tangle-free.