How to Bathe a Guinea Pig

Love your guinea pigs as much as I love mine? Bathing them is a good way to keep their skin and hair healthy, and to keep them happy and squeaking away!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Mild or baby shampoo
• Old towels
• Hairdryer with various heat settings

1. Fill a sink with warm water. Make the water fairly warm, as if you were bathing a baby. Guinea Pigs are native to Peru, so keeping them warm is essential.

2. Put your piggy in slowly. Guinea Pigs like water and can swim, but be careful not to fill the sink up so far as to immerse it's head.

3. Soak your piggys fur so it is completely wet, making sure not to get any water in their ears. Apply the mild baby shampoo on your piggys back and shampoo the fur. There is no need to shampoo the head.

4. Make sure to clean your piggys belly very well, since Guinea Pigs are very short and tend to drag on the cage floor. Also, make sure to clean the fur around the back-side as well.

5. Drain the sink and turn on the faucet to the same warm temperature. Hold your Guinea Pig and rinse them off throughly. It is important to get all the soap out because it can irritate their skin if left on too long. Once the piggy is rinsed throughly, wrap them tightly in a towel to prevent them from getting too cold.

6. Towel dry your piggy and take a comb to brush through their hair. If you have a long haired guinea pig, take this time to trim the hair so it does not drag on the bottom of the cage. Also, take this time to trim any hair around your piggy's back side that may be stained from urine.

7. Using a hairdryer on the low warm setting, hold the hair dryer at least six inches above your Guinea Pig to prevent from burning them. Using a brush or your fingers to run through the hair, use the blow dryer to dry the pig throughly. It is important to dry them all the way so that they do not get cold, and also so their hair or skin does not mold from dampness.

Tips & Warnings

• Bathe your Guinea Pig once every month or every other month depending on your pig's needs.
• When using scissors around your pig be very careful. If you have a restless or hyper pig, ask someone to help you hold the pig so you don't accidently cause harm.

[lipglossartist]

on 1/19/2009 I am not intending to be offensive in my response...but I had to say something in response to this post offered as 'information'.

#1. You NEVER 'bathe' a guinea pig, unless absolutly necessary. It is terribly drying to their skin and can cause problems in their perianal sac when submersed.

#2. GP'S definatly can NOT swim! ..nor do they enjoy water, as mentioned.

#3. Hair dryer? NOPE. Incredibly drying to their already finicky skin and will literally scare the bejezus out of them, on top of being totally uneeded, air drying is just fine. As in nature.

#4. If any 'wash' or shampoo MUST be used, use nothing other than puppy/kitten/no tears shampoo IF NEEDED, which is rare. When washing, their eyes may leak what appears to be milky white fluid..but this does not mean that their eyes need to be flushed. It is a natural reaction they have, and will return to normal on their

[Thims]

on 12/31/2008 The fact that you can even bathe a Guinea Pig disturbs me greatly? ;-) "Towel dry your piggy..." I imagine so, because you really can't use a hair dryer or you'll just blow it right off the counter!

[TheGlamSquad]

on 12/19/2008 Cool! I have always wanted a Guinea Pig. I will get one for my son if he likes it. That way we can both have the pet we want. Great tips on how to clean him/her. 5*****