Bathing Beauty

Yesterday we gave Betty a bath. Most books will tell you that guinea pigs don’t need baths very often but when we put Betty in the tub the water turned brown. Betty has long hair so it drags a lot through the litter. Although we brush her regularly, her hair can sometimes get knots. 

We began by filling with water a small, shallow litter box that we bought for this purpose. We placed it in our bathtub. We made sure the water was not too cold and not too hot. We then placed Betty in the tub. She was calm for the most part - at least at first. We then shampooed her with guinea pig shampoo we bought at the pet store. Once she was soapy, we dumped out the sudsy water and Betty tried to climb out of her small tub and run around our big tub! We rinsed her well with clean, warm water from the tap and wrapped her up in a dry towel. Next we put Betty on a towel on the bathroom floor and dried her with a hair dryer. While doing this, we kept brushing her with a soft brush. Then, we trimmed up the hair and layered it around her rear to help her stay a little cleaner. Sometimes Wilma chews on Betty’s hair and layers it for her. We trimmed her nails and - voila! A beautiful Betty!
Here are some tips to help you groom your guinea pigs -
1. Trim their nails about once a month (unless they get long sooner than that). Frequent trimming prevents the quick from getting too long. Be careful not to cut the quick or it will bleed. We use a regular human nail clipper for this. There are clippers made specially for guinea pigs, but ours works just fine.
2. After trimming, the nails may still feel a little rough. Mu cousin, M.P., gave me this idea. Try filing their nails using an emory board. Be careful not to file their skin. I filed Popcorn’s nails this way over the weekend and they’re smoother now.
3. When bathing, make sure the water isn’t too high, too hot or too cold. The water shouldn’t be so high that it gets near your piggie’s face. Use a clean cloth to clean the face if it needs it.
4. Make sure your piggies don’t get a draft while they’re wet.
5. A hair dryer can get very, very hot so make sure your piggie doesn’t roast. Keep your dryer held at a distance and keep the air moving quickly over the piggie.

The Great Outdoors

03/23/10 01:29 PM

There hasn’t been much blogging lately because, like many homes in our part of the country, we had a flood. After the big rainstorm, the weather became beautiful. In fact, it was so beautiful that it was good enough for the guinea pigs to play outside. We took our herd out. It was only the second time out for Wilma and Betty and the first for Pumpkin and Popcorn. They all seemed a little nervous at first, but eventually they got used to it. Betty liked to bask in the sun. All the piggies enjoyed nibbling on our untreated grass.
Here are some pointers if you decide to take your piggies out for some sunshine and fresh air:
1. Make sure your grass is untreated.
2. Stay with your piggies at all times and watch for cats, dogs, hawks and any other possible dangers.
3. Make sure you have a safe pen with a closed door so no pigs can escape. We use the same cubes that we used to build our cage. When held together with zip ties, the cage folds up nicely and can be stored easily.
4. Try to clear the pen of leaves and make sure there are no poisonous plants in the area, such as buttercups.
5. Make sure your piggies aren’t too hot or too cold. On warm days, piggies should have shade so they don’t overheat.
You can see a short video of this on our Piggie Movies page.

Fluff and Flan

We had some exciting news this week. My cousin’s guinea pig had babies! They don’t know if they’re boys or girls yet but they do know that they are VERY cute. Their names are Fluff and Flan. Fluff is the one with the spot on its nose. Their mother’s name is Cannoli and their aunt’s name is Burrito. Notice any theme here? Guinea pigs love food and we love that all these guinea pigs have food related names. You can see a video of them on the Piggie Movies page.