Grooming Your Guinea Pig
Guinea pigs are extremely low maintenance pet and are easy to take care of but do require day to day care:
Trimming The Nails
To avoid your guinea pigs nails becoming long, painful for them and growing into their foot pad they will
require trimming.
- Having on hand rocks, rough stones, bricks and other similar surfaces can help your guinea pig wear down their nails and which helps by not having to clip them as often.
- Bricks without holes in them are the best and cheapest solution.
In the guinea pigs nails are blood vessels, commonly called or referred to as the ‘quick’.
- Clear nails allow you to easily see them. It is basically, the pink area that runs from the bone to the toe.
- In black nails is is impossible to see or spot easily without holding a bright light behind them.
- With clear or white nails, just cut above the pinkish area.
With black nails, often owners will trim their guinea pigs nails taking very little at a time and doing the trimming more often. With time and practice, it’s not impossible to cut a longer black nail without cutting the quick.
Quick stop on hand
If the quick is cut by accident, the bleeding will need to be stopped. Many of the pet stores sell ‘Quick
Stop’, which is made to stop the bleeding altogether.
The squirmy Guinea Pig
Your guinea pig is likely to squirm a lot during this process. It’s a lot easier if you have help to cut the nail.
- Wrap your guinea pig in a towel, and make sure the feet are sticking out.
- Have one person hold the guinea pig while the other cuts the nails.
If you’re going solo, place your guinea pig on a tennis racket so that their nails are sticking out, and cover them so that they feel more ’secure’. Or hold your guinea pig securely by it’s rump with it’s back leaning on you or in your lap.
- It’s good to get help with trimming until you are comfortable doing the trimming yourself.
The Guinea Pig’s Teeth -Chew blocks
Your guinea pig has two incisors in the top front of their mouths that grow constantly. You will need to take you pet to the Vet if they grow too long as they won’t be able to eat. To help keep the teeth in check:
- Have chew blocks readily available in their cage is important.
- A chew block is made of untreated and unstained wood available from the pet store made for animals that chew. They are readily available and inexpensive.
Inspect their teeth to make sure none chipped or broken as that can effect your guinea pig. If something has broken, or fallen out, you need to contact your vet and have them look at your guinea pig.
Brushing
You should regularly brush your guinea pig to keep their coat clean, shining, and healthy. For long haired guinea pigs, daily brushing is vital – for short haired guinea pigs, a few times a week works well.
- Use a soft baby’s brush, with gentle bristles, as this will make your guinea pig truly enjoy it.
- For longer fur that might get tangled, try a metal greyhound comb – this will remove all of the excess hair and lessen shedding.
Bathing
Let’s get one thing clear – guinea pigs don’t like to be bathed.
- They become highly stressed when you do decide to dunk them in water, and this can lower their immune system.
- Many guinea pigs go their entire lives without bathing, and that’s just fine for them.
Unless you’ve been instructed by the vet, or your guinea pig got into something dirty and smelly, you do not have to bathe your guinea pig.
If you do have to bathe him, choose a shampoo that’s light on his skin – either something made for kittens (Not cats) or a baby shampoo. Only use a medicated shampoo if that is recommended by a vet.
