Guinea pigs SWIMMING?

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Claire1973

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I am a bit concerned that there are a number of people who think it is natural to place a guinea pig in thier childrens paddling pool so it can SWIM?! A customer of ours told my husband that they have always done this and that the piggies love it?! Now I have read something on Facebook about someone doing this...! Please tell me this is a myth and that piggies DON'T LIE swimming.... or am I wrong? There are also lots of youtube vids of swimming guineapigs. Now I am concerned that people are going to try this after reading or hearing it?! It cant be right surely? :{:{
 
I have seen videos on you tube and find it really distressing. I don't know for sure but I don't think they do enjoy it and just seem to be looking for somewhere to get out :(
 
yes you are right.

there probably not swimming but trying to get out! poor piggies :(
 
I've seen these videos too and they are worrying. Considering how I've yet to meet a piggie ( or hear about one ) that likes having a bath I don't see how they'd enjoy swimming one bit.
I got my son the Usborne book of guinea pigs and in it there's an illustration of a guinea pig having a bath.....smiling...clearly the illustrator has never had a piggie!
 
I've seen these videos too and they are worrying. Considering how I've yet to meet a piggie ( or hear about one ) that likes having a bath I don't see how they'd enjoy swimming one bit.

My girls had their first bath the other day and to my surprise they didn't try to escape and one actually was really relaxed, so I take that as her not minding the bath, or maybe, just maybe enjoying it? lol and I know of a few who are partial to a bath.

But that aside, I've not seen any of the videos, not sure I want to, but it's distressing me that people are putting them in children's paddling pools!
 
oh no - a childrens book? how awful... :( It's shocking how many people seem to do this... however there seems to be no reference to it on the good guinea pig advice sites.. Guinea Lynx for example - so children might be tempted to put thier pets into the paddling pool! :( I wish there were some clear guidance on this...that we could post a link to for people that do it to see. it seems to be an urban myth.. maybe the odd crazy piggie in a hot country has decided to paddle in a cool shallow pool... but to me it sounds as cruel as the ridiculous harnesses and excersise balls people buy...:(
 
our pew rocky likes to have a lil swim when we r giving him a bath :-) out of choice of course
 
I found my post from a few months back on the same topic, so I'ma quote that:

I've had a few guinea pigs that LOVE swimming. Years ago, we had a ditch at the bottom of the garden that was watery. Not the best place to swim, I know, but we had one girl that if she escaped from her run would go right down there, hop in, and swim for a bit until she was fed up and she'd come back. Obviously the first time we saw her do that I was worried sick, the second I missed her escape attempt and after that I just gave her a large tub of water (one of those shallow tubs, about 10 cm tall) with a ramp and just enough water to swim in. She loved it. She'd swim round until she was tired, hop out and bask in the sun for a bit (never the shady part, weird pig) and back she went again!

I don't really have any pigs that hate baths as such, and in summer if it is particularly hot, I'll put them in water to cool down and leave them out in the run to dry off naturally. Doing that I have had a few that like to paddle for a bit first, then hop out and in the run they go. That said, the vast majority of my pigs are new this year, so I don't know what they're like. They'll just get water to cool down I think, paddle rather than swim!

It's down to the individual pig. Piggies can swim and whilst piggies today are domesticated, they still have natural instincts, of which swimming is one. Some like it, some don't. If you have a pig that enjoys bathtime and paddles, I see no harm in supervised 'swimming lessons' in a shallow paddling pool or something. That said, you really do need to know each individual pig to see whether they actually like it or they're doing it because they feel they have to.

I've had over 30 guinea pigs and I can only name two or three that were swimmers. The girl above and two of my chunky boys. I have had a few paddlers who like to sit in and splash around in water and some that hate it. Individual pigs are all different in what they like and don't like. Never ever put a pig in deep water if you don't know what they're like and how they are with bath time. Many piggies will panic in a bath and it's only a small minority that enjoy a swim.

EDIT: A swimming pool like some of the YT vids are totally unsuitable and dangerous. If anything a slightly deeper than normal bath, with supervision is the only way it should ever be done. Those videos are horrendous; regardless of whether or not the pig in question likes swimming.
 
Our baby Suilven likes a swim when he gets a bath and he doesn't apnic like our older pigs have when he's in the water. We always bathe him in shallow water but occasionally when he gets toward a deeper buit he will swim off rather than turn back onto the shallow bit.

He seems to quite enjoy it but to be fair he is the only pig I know who likes the water! I wouldn't let my other boy do it as he hates it.
 
I found my post from a few months back on the same topic, so I'ma quote that:



I've had over 30 guinea pigs and I can only name two or three that were swimmers. The girl above and two of my chunky boys. I have had a few paddlers who like to sit in and splash around in water and some that hate it. Individual pigs are all different in what they like and don't like. Never ever put a pig in deep water if you don't know what they're like and how they are with bath time. Many piggies will panic in a bath and it's only a small minority that enjoy a swim

EDIT: A swimming pool like some of the YT vids are totally unsuitable and dangerous. If anything a slightly deeper than normal bath, with supervision is the only way it should ever be done. Those videos are horrendous; regardless of whether or not the pig in question likes swimming.

Wow! Just goes to show you learn something new everyday! I would never have thought this was possible. That piggie sounds like a real character! :-)
 
oh no - a childrens book? how awful... :( It's shocking how many people seem to do this... however there seems to be no reference to it on the good guinea pig advice sites.. Guinea Lynx for example - so children might be tempted to put thier pets into the paddling pool! :( I wish there were some clear guidance on this...that we could post a link to for people that do it to see. it seems to be an urban myth.. maybe the odd crazy piggie in a hot country has decided to paddle in a cool shallow pool... but to me it sounds as cruel as the ridiculous harnesses and excersise balls people buy...:(

Claire, the children's book was illustrating a piggie being bathed ( NOT swimming )! Don't panic - I was just commenting on how unlikely it was that the piggie would be smiling lol! Clearly that's not as unusual as I thought tho' as people have since posted about piggies who actually enjoy baths! :)
 
Bilbo LOVES to be bathed. He happily bobs along in the water with his mouth open drinking the water! I would never put him into a paddleing pool though! I think he is an exception though none of my other pigies like a bath.

As for those videos they are vile. They do not like to swim!
 
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