bathing angry piggies

[kerry]

Hi everyone, thanks for reading!

So I have two long haired female guinea pigs around 5 months old. They are handled regularly, come into contact with various people daily and always surrounded by company in the garden full of children.

The guinea pigs have long hair and they hate having it brushed, they squeal and try to bite and growl and click and struggle. Basically they hate it. So I have to bath them a few times a month to prevent matts and tangles in the fur around their bottoms. They also hate it when I have to cut a few little matts out so now I just cut their hair really short. They hate hair cuts as well!

They are quite happy otherwise, ive never had long haired guinea pigs that hate being groomed as much as they do!
Any suggestions on how to make it nicer for them and easier for me?

 

[teadragon]

Some guinea pigs just like to be dramatic about everything!

I keep my long haired pigs with short hair and I only bathe them every 6 or so months which keeps maintaining their hair easier for me. I give them very short bottom ends and face hair so they can see and the body is about medium length. This means I can brush them a lot quicker, too. Whenever I do anything with my pigs (grooming, nail clipping, etc.) I will more often than not shove a pile of lettuce under their nose to keep them distracted while I snip away.

Make sure your scissors are sharp and you aren't using a razor, guinea pig skin is very, very delicate and the smallest tug could be painful for your piggie (keep this in mind when dealing with matting hair and always put your hand between the scissor blade and your pigs skin.

I like to sing to myself when I have a piggie who acts like baths and hair cuts are killing them.

 

[jenniferanneharris]

As you say the key to long haired piggies who hate being brushed and cut is make sure the fur stays short! Makes life sooooo much easier... I have had 3 long haired piggies in total (i still have one of them now) and 2 of the 3 absolutely hated being brushed and bathed and cut etc. I find bathing in shallow water literally just an inch or 2 and letting the piggies sit leaning with her front paws on my arm as they feel that much more secure being just half in the water and quickly wash her back end etc. Also if you bath them in a washing up bowl or a sink...and somtimes bathing them together will calm them. When it comes to drying i let Honor (my current long haired gir run under a towel and let her "back end" stick out from under the towel and use the hairdryer on the cool setting and about 30-40cm away from side to side dry the hair..but always tease through her hair with my fingers and make sure your hand moves with the hair that is being dried so you can judge temp etc.
Then its cutting time, now sometimes i find it easier cutting the hair in the bath...sometimes again like drying i sit Honor on my lap...let her run under a towel and quickly cut her hair. She makes a big fuss sometimes and squeaks like crazy... but sometimes i find letting her sit snuggled with a friend calms her down (she cant at the moment as she is alone until she is bonded with a new piggie)... but as they have a cage mate i would suggest sit them together...let them snuggle under a towel and cut the fur that way with just their "back ends" sticking out...i start with the back end and I then work up and do the side hair and lastly the top of her hair. I also find patience is the key. Stop if it gets to much....let them relax...and calm down and come back to it when a bit calmer..somtimes the next day. I also sometimes suggest food if you have a piggies who loves food...i sometimes lay out her fave foods, Parsley, Basil, Cucumber etc and let her munch on food and cut the fur while she is eating and distracted. I also do this when i brush her and yes she still makes a noise...but she seems less stressed these ways...this works for me anyway. I hope you get something from this and find something that helps.

 

[jenniferanneharris]

i also forgot to add you shouldn't bath them too often as it removes the natural oil from their skin and can make their skin sore and dry... i would say every 6-weeks is often enough for a long haired piggies. I would just cut the mats out in between baths and keep the hair short and regular brushing and hair cutting really will help.
Also make sure you are not washing near their faces...piggies don't need it and hate being wet anyway so just bath the back end really and keep the hair short. Sorry i forgot to say that before.
This is a good website that sells gentle guineapig shampoo for all diffrent piggies skin and fur problems...i recommend gorgeous guineas for conditioning shampoo
http://www.gorgeousguineas.co.uk/p/product/0608216975-Posh'n'Go+Conditioning+Shampoo:+100ml/ this shampoo is great for long haired piggies and helps keep their hair clean and once cut...knott free for a while.

 

[Rodentopia]

Also you can undercut long haired piggies so the undercoat is short and matt free and its hidden by the longer top coat. I use this method on my longer haired piggies who hate being brushed. Bathing should only be once every few months with the exception of bottom washes if they get wee stains, again keeping the coat shorter helps