At what temperatures does a long coated guinea pig most need a furcut?

Minnou

Minnou

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Gaia, Queen of Fluff, has a lot of thick, long fur and I was debating turning her into a short-coated guinea pig over the summer and shaving her all over but at what temperatures will she need it to prevent heat stroke/keep her cool and comfortable?

Obviously in the UK the weather and daily average temperatures can fluctuate at the drop of a hat; it may be 22°C every day this week then drop to 14°C the week after.

Do I wait it until it is expected to be 21°C+ consistently?
 
Minnou said:
Gaia, Queen of Fluff, has a lot of thick, long fur and I was debating turning her into a short-coated guinea pig over the summer and shaving her all over but at what temperatures will she need it to prevent heat stroke/keep her cool and comfortable?

Obviously in the UK the weather and daily average temperatures can fluctuate at the drop of a hat; it may be 22°C every day this week then drop to 14°C the week after.

Do I wait it until it is expected to be 21°C+ consistently?
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Hi

I have just given my Carys a shorter haircut but she will need another one halfway through summer. It depends on how thick and luxurious the long hair is but you want to definitely cut between 20-25 C consistently here in the UK.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

I have just given my Carys a shorter haircut but she will need another one halfway through summer. It depends on how thick and luxurious the long hair is but you want to definitely cut between 20-25 C consistently here in the UK.
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Well I've given her butt trims (because she likes to be a lazy mare and pee all over herself) where I just take from around her bum, toot and back legs and take a little off the sides because she ususally ends up stepping on her own fur and tripping and when I'm done, I usually have almost a whole guinea-pig sized pile of fur and she looks like she's hardly had anything done so she must be quite furry.

She looks very odd after I've shaved bits off her.... like the pages of a book. The just seems to have compact layer upon layer of hair.
 
Minnou said:
Well I've given her butt trims (because she likes to be a lazy mare and pee all over herself) where I just take from around her bum, toot and back legs and take a little off the sides because she ususally ends up stepping on her own fur and tripping and when I'm done, I usually have almost a whole guinea-pig sized pile of fur and she looks like she's hardly had anything done so she must be quite furry.

She looks very odd after I've shaved bits off her.... like the pages of a book. The just seems to have compact layer upon layer of hair.
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She will feel much happier without having to lug around a skisuit on a tropical beach! Thankfully, guinea pig hair of whatever breed will always grow back to its genetically determined length.
 
Wiebke said:
She will feel much happier without having to lug around a skisuit on a tropical beach! Thankfully, guinea pig hair of whatever breed will always grow back to its genetically determined length.
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True but I know she's not going to like the taking away part so I'd rather only take it away when essential and I'm not sure when that is. Is it now? :xd:
 
Minnou said:
True but I know she's not going to like the taking away part so I'd rather only take it away when essential and I'm not sure when that is. Is it now? :xd:
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Remind me of my regular 'karate sessions' with the three sows from the peru mafia (Ffwlbri, her sister Tesni and Tesni's surprise daughter Tegan) to keep their hair trimmed during the summer months. They all lived to 7-8 years so I had plenty of fun and games over many years... :yikes:
 
I just had to suffer the karate kicks from Basil cutting his hair yesterday. Managed his bum end only…. Rest tomorrow maybe, hopefully avoiding karate chops!

Good luck with Gaia’s haircut.
 
Wiebke said:
Remind me of my regular 'karate sessions' with the three sows from the peru mafia (Ffwlbri, her sister Tesni and Tesni's surprise daughter Tegan) to keep their hair trimmed during the summer months. They all lived to 7-8 years so I had plenty of fun and games over many years... :yikes:
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It's bad enough trying to cut Gaia's back end without needing to trim all of her. :yikes:

She kicks, bites, chatters, wrestles and runs when she can. :xd:
AidaB said:
I just had to suffer the karate kicks from Basil cutting his hair yesterday. Managed his bum end only…. Rest tomorrow maybe, hopefully avoiding karate chops!

Good luck with Gaia’s haircut.
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More kicking. D:

Yeah.... it's going to be cooler next week so I may put it off for a while......... :flag:
 
I'm going to have to gird my loins and give naughty but nice Miss Bramble a Grade 4 Bikini Bod soon. Now she has her proper pigsonality she has turned into a right Trouble Bubble. She's good fun though and who doesn't like a feisty piggy? She's very squirmy and vocal if I attempt to cut her nails and occasionally she turns into vampire piggy:yikes::yikes::yikes:

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Betsy said:
I'm going to have to gird my loins and give naughty but nice Miss Bramble a Grade 4 Bikini Bod soon. Now she has her proper pigsonality she has turned into a right Trouble Bubble. She's good fun though and who doesn't like a feisty piggy? She's very squirmy and vocal if I attempt to cut her nails and occasionally she turns into vampire piggy:yikes::yikes::yikes:

View attachment 248411
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Gaia actually mostly behaves herself during nail trimming now. But she makes it clear, the fur is offlimits. Bet she'd be 2 stone lighter without it though. :whistle:
 
eileen said:
ive just cut my elderly ladies minipil,and lunkyria breeds,crew cuts.Then had to bath them as they had sat in there own wee.the temps have been 26 degrees celcius,I'm struggling today with the heat ! bet there glad of the hair cut !
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Are there before and after pigtures? I want visuals of how short people are going. :xd:
 
Priscilla was my long haired piggy.
Trimming her fur was always a challenge as she was a real wriggler.
It usually ended up being done in stages !

During COVID I offered to do my husband’s hair and his response was No - I’ve seen Priscilla 😁

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Merab's Slave said:
That was just her bum fur.
A full trim with a proper trimmer resulted in enough to knit a jumper 😁
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I get that amount as a minimum off Gaia's butt as well.

Just by looking, I'd say Gaia and Priscilla have the same kind of fur in terms of texture, thickness and just the way it grows out.

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