YOU MUST SUPERVISE AT ALL TIMES! IT DOESNT TAKE LONG FOR A GUINEA PIG TO DROWN.
We give our sows a bath in the big bath with about 3 inches of water to give them a little swim and some excersise. Our sows love baths like this, whereas our boars don't. When using the bath to bathe your Guinea Pigs, fill the bath with 1 - 3 inches of water (this very much depends on the size of your Guinea Pig). We add rocks to give them somewhere to get out of the water. Our boars are bathed in the sink. Your Guinea Pigs should have a bath every six weeks normally. Some Piggies require bathing a bit more but it tends to dry out the skin.
How to bathe your Piggy
Make sure the Piggy is wet all over (avoid eyes, nose and ears). Apply Guinea Pig shampoo and lather. Put your Guinea Pig into a plastic box and let the shampoo soak in for 10 minutes. Then rinse throughly. Have a couple of towels handy. Use one to wrap your Guinea Pig in and rub it gently. When that towel is very wet, wrap it up in the second one. This is when i would use the hair dryer on a low warm setting. If you rub your Guinea Pig in the same area your drying this helps to dry her faster and you will be able to tell if the hair dryer is getting too hot. Reward it with a piece of favoured veg.
Some people put a towel in the sink. We do not do this as our Piggies try to hide underneath them.
Drying The Piggies
Grooming
- Daily brushing with a soft baby brush will help remove some of the loose hair and reduce moulting.
- Daily brushing will also help you become closer to your Piggies and they will enjoy the time you spend with them. It also gives you the chance to do daily health checks.
- Daily brushing is important for long haired Piggies to help prevent tangles.
Guinea Pigs are pretty good at grooming themselves but this doesn't mean you shouldn't either. If you see white milky fluid coming out of your Piggys eye, don’t worry as this is perfectly normal. Guinea Pigs sometimes produce this when they are grooming. Most people never notice the milky liquid.
Daily checks
- You should check your Piggies nails aren't getting to long and starting to curl.
- Check their ears are free from wax .
- Check their eyes are clear.
- Check their behaviour is normal (for them).
- Check their teeth arn't growing too long.
- Check their genitals are clean and free from hay, hair and bedding.
The pictures below show what happens when the nails are allowed to grow to long:
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