Dirty Pig Dilemma Please Help

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Keiko The Pig

Keiko The Pig

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I have two Abyssinian Guinea pigs one is 3-4 months the other was born March 29th so he's almost 2 months. The younger one is white with long hair for an aby and his bottom half underside and hind legs are very dirty! I'm worried about upsetting the bond if I bathe him as the elder pig doesn't need a bath due to his shorter hair. Any suggestions? I'll try to post a pic of the younger ones dirty hair as maybe I just need to trim it because he has really short legs so it probably gets dragged through his piggy wee and poo? I also don't want to stress them but I know he can't like being all dirty down there. I tried to leave this for as long as I could but it's spreading and I've seen him groom but he just can't seem to get the hair down below to get clean! Should I bathe both of them? And should I just do the underside? belly hind leg area as that's the parts that are dirty, both pigs have very clean coats otherwise. Any advice is really appreciated as I've never had pigs before!
 
Also it's not a matter of cage cleaning because I spot clean obsessively and do a full fleece change out every 2-4 days depending how dirty it seems!
 
It would be helpful to trim the hairs on the bottom as this prevents excessive soiling of the hair. I have Peruvian pigs and they need their bums trimming every month or two as otherwise it gets soaked with pee and also poo can get matted in. This will also increase the chances of fly strike as flies may lay eggs there and the maggots will end up eating them alive.

Scissors is how I used to do it but you need 2 people really and you have to be very careful not to snip their nipples off or cut their legs! I have since gotten a cheap Andis PM-1 trimmer which is a godsend as I can trim so easily now and I have no fear of cuts..though you still need to be careful round nipples! After, I shampoo them with Vet Sect Repel Shampoo and have had zero issues with them breaking their bond- although I did wait until they were about 6mths before doing the grooming as it didn't grow too long until then.

BTW are you OCD as 2-4 days fleece change seems a lot of work! lol I do it once a week only and have had no issues.
 
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Thanks for your help, I'll definitely give him a trim (with help, most likely I will hold him still and one of my family members will do the trimming as none are comfortable to hold him firmly without harming him) but at this point he probably needs a bath either way! Do you think I should bathe them both with the same shampoo so they smell the same? And do you think focusing on just giving their bellies and butt areas a clean would suffice? I know a bath is stressful either way but maybe if they aren't completely soaked it would be better especially since they're young
 
And lol it's more like every 4 days! The only times I do two days is when they find a way to spill their water bottle! I've also has bad luck with extremely leaky bottles that would empty themselves within the hour :/ so until I got new ones that was the reason for 2 day changes to make sure they weren't on wet fleece!
 
Since most of mine were Peruvian I had to give them a full cut and wash (literally they grow everywhere!). I would just use the shower head as it was easier but they would get scared if you just sprayed it on them, so doing it on their bottom half rather than on face and holding them under the belly helped. To do the face you can just wipe your hand with water and it's not a problem but I don't think you need to wash anywhere other than the back since it sounds like only the hair on their behinds gets long. They just don't like water very much so even in a tub with a little water they may not like it!

I never gave my short haired ones a bath ever as they didn't need it.

Leaking water bottles were the bane of my life! It helps to buy more expensive ones but even then some still leak. I'd say that they all leak to some extent especially after they have just been used but the worst are the ones that leak constantly - generally the single ball bearing ones. Ferplast Sippy is ok and I've found it's one that leaks minimal. My trick is to hang them so that the spout is just inside the little tray and line it with newspaper a puppy pad and some bedding (easibed currently). I've not had the correx pooling water nor the fleece getting soaked since!

This is only my personal experience but there should be others more experienced with guinea pig behaviour/care that can give you more solid information.

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thanks you've been a great help, ill be off to pick up some small pet shampoo soon and just give their behinds a soak and wash. I figure i should do both just because theres been some hassling from the little one who may want to be dom pig when he's older so keeping them smelling the same seems to be the safest idea
 
I don't think it matters about age who is the dom or not..sometimes smaller and younger pigs can me dominant over bigger ones but you just have to let them sort out their pecking order as that's their natural behaviour and you can't do much about it. As long as they are bonded I don't think a wash once in a while will make them unbond. I never had any issues with any of mine and I had 6 in 3 cages and at least 1 pig per cage got a cut and blowdry every so often.
 
PiggyOinkOink said:
I don't think it matters about age who is the dom or not..sometimes smaller and younger pigs can me dominant over bigger ones but you just have to let them sort out their pecking order as that's their natural behaviour and you can't do much about it. As long as they are bonded I don't think a wash once in a while will make them unbond. I never had any issues with any of mine and I had 6 in 3 cages and at least 1 pig per cage got a cut and blowdry every so often.
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I'm worried because they've only been living together since early April and there's been some scuffs lately where the little one might be going for Dom pig and I think my other pig is okay with it it's kind of touch and go. They jab noses and chin but don't chatter at all. The older one will mount and rumble and the younger one seems to initiate the nose jabbing and occasionally nibble on the ear so I'm really not sure what is going on in their little hierarchy right now
 
@PiggyOinkOink here is a photo of Milo. It's bad lighting but I think he might have some Peruvian in him based on the way his hair swoops down near his feet. You can't see the dirt well but trust me it's there as well as on his long belly fur! How frequently would you recommend I trim/bathe him? He's so short he's constantly dragging himself through their toilet corners image.webp
 
Aww he looks like a little dog!

I would recommend every month at least as that's how long I notice on my long haired ones it gets time to cut and it's easier then rather than leave it another month when it's overflowing.

I always just trim the belly fur to near zero with the trimmer as well as around the bum area. Other areas I will leave longer like attachment 3 (not sure exactly how much that is in length). In the end, it depends on how compliant and calm your piggy is and how quickly you need to trim in order to let them go (if they are wiggling all over the place!)
 
Yea he sortve does there! I'm giving him a trim and belly/butt bath tomorrow with the help of my partner. I plan to trim his belly fur, butt fur, and he has super long back leg fur as well. I only have scissors to use so I won't be cutting it very close to the skin and will have to see how fast it grows back/gets dirty again. He's in his big growth phase as he's almost 2 months old so I'm hoping he gets a bit taller so he can maybe not need trimmings/baths that often. He's very compliant about being held and I'm hoping that holds true for tomorrow. He doesn't run me around like my other pig and stops squirming the instant his feet leave the ground
 
PiggyOinkOink said:
How did the cut and blow dry get on?
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It was pretty difficult my partner got sick so I braved it alone. My brown aby let me scrub the shampoo in really well and then tried to escape the rinsing but was pretty well behaved. Milo wouldn't let me scrub him at all so I did the best I could and ended up giving him pretty nice short hair cut. Luckily Milo was complacent about being held in a sortve 'standing' position against my body so I could reach his belly fur. I rubbed them both down with towels as they ran like crazy from the blow drier and sat them under a heat lamp instead to dry off which they LOVED. Cuddled right up and took a nap after grooming and shaking their fur out. Milo is all white again and hopefully if I keep up on the trimming baths will be few and far between! Though the shampoo definitely helped with Keiko's testosterone stink lol. They're as friendly as ever towards each other so all in all it was successful. I gave them a small piece of carrot each as a treat while they were dosing off under the heat lamp.
 
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