Cutting Nails And Bathing

[TaraS-D]

Hello!

I was just wondering how often should i cut my piggies nails and give them baths.
My two guinea pigs ,squeaky and stampy, live outside and usually its quite cold to give them baths. I dont want to end up not bathing them enough!

On the cutting nails subject how often should i cut them and how do i cut them? Do i get them done somewhere or do i buy some product?

Sorry for the large amount of questions, thanks for reading!

 

[sport_billy]

Hello

Nail clips are normally every 4-6 weeks... But check them every care clean out to see if they need doing sooner.

If you have never trimmed pig nails before I strongly advise getting a vet to show you how. Often vets offer this as a service a really good one at that as claw clipping is the worst part of pig owning but vital. Guinea pig nails have a blood supply in that you must not catch, you can see it often quite clear in light nails but dark claws are more tricky.

We trim as a team one holds other cuts, I give them food at the same time to try and distract the pig while Mrs SB does the deed...

A vet can show you how to clip and maybe invest in some clippers like this from Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/Clippers-Trimmers-Scissors-AoE-Performance/dp/B007EFIZZ6


As for baths, there is no need to bath a Guinea pig only medically. It stresses the pig out massively. Speaking from experience I would never do it unless I have to for skin conditions. If you have along haired piggy, just trim the bum hair short to avoid wee and poo matts.

Hope that helps a little

 

[anyar.dris]

I only give Bunny a bath (well more like a bum wash) whenever she has the occasional soft or almost runny poo and she just lay on it during the night. My piggy being all white doesn't help as well. So unfortunately, I do need to bath her on occasion.

Like @sport_billy when trimming nails, I have to hold the piggies while hubby do the cutting. We just distract them by giving a piece of grass to chew every nail we cut. Hubby needs to do it quick though coz they eat the grass like a second.