Grooming

From G-Cam

Grooming

A guinea pig with overgrown nails, filthy ears, and a dirty coat is both unhappy and unhealthy. Examine your pigs at least once a week by closely checking the skin and ears for signs of parasites, matting (wetness/stuck poop), odd bumps, bites, etc. If you have a long-haired pig, you will need to cut its hair. This is also true for elderly pigs - even if their coat is short.

Haircuts

For haircuts, I use a pair of regular human hair trimming shears that I purchased at Sally Beauty Supply. The make/model is Vogel Brothers Eclipse 434. I haven't been able to find them anywhere online. They are designed to eliminate pulling (the sides of the blades are lightly serrated to prevent hair from slipping) and have squared ends to prevent accidental pokes. Giving a guinea pig a haircut is just like giving a haircut to a small child:

• Exercise caution when handling a pig and a pair of shears. They move quickly and unpredictably.
• Avoid trauma during the process by choosing a controlled environment. Find somewhere warm and quiet.
• Be patient. Pigs eventually become accustomed to haircuts - but it will take a few goes.
• End on a positive note by offering his/her favorite veggie as a reward.

Click here for pictures of a typical pig haircut.

Baths

We bathe our pigs twice a year. Their home is kept clean, so there is no need to bathe them any more than that. Guinea pigs have very sensitive skin that is normally very dry, so Cat/dog/pet shampoos are inappropriate due to the fact that they are perfumed, harsh, and overly drying. I poked around the baby aisle in Meijer and found the perfect solution: Aveeno Tear-Free Baby Wash & Shampoo.

Clipping Nails

A guinea pig's nails grow quickly so check their progress during the weekly inspection and weigh-in. It is unlikely that you will have to trim them more than once a month, but there are exceptions. Bitsy actually needs her nails trimmed twice monthly. Her mother was the same way. I have found that the back nails tend to grow a bit faster, and the overall growth rate varies from pig to pig. Some of our pigs are fine with having their nails clipped while they lounge on a blanket - others have to be held. Hold the pig upright and against your chest. Make sure they can breathe easily and that you aren't compacting the spine. Guinea Lynx has an helpful nail clipping guide.

Cleaning Ears

I clean their ears every 3 months. It's a fairly straightforward procedure, but it does require more care than some of the other grooming tasks. For one, pigs react instinctively to stuff getting in their ears. They will shake their heads vigorously in an effort to get the Q-Tip away from them. Can't really blame them for that. I use Vet Solutions Ear Cleansing Solution. It's effective, but a bit on the stinky side. I don't squirt it directly into the ears, instead I soak a bunch Q-Tips in condiment cup full of the stuff. The thing to remember about pig ears is that they are full of fur. Fur pulls if you twist the Q-Tip round and round - so don't do that. Just swab the ears gently with a half circle movement. Plan on going through at least a dozen Q-Tips per pig depending on how grimy their ears are.