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How do I bath piggies?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tracyb1
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tracyb1

May seem a silly question, but I have never bathed my piggies but see on here that people do. What is best way to bath them & does anyone recommend a shampoo. I do spend time with my piggies & have noticed this last week that there coats have different texture- slightly greasy to feel. They have lost some of there winter coat & in themselves are happy & munching for England. I have 2 males that are approx 3 1/2 yrs old, I got them from rescue, not castrated but have never seen them show any aggression. Both bout the same size as well so no dominance issue. The tri-colour does occasionally try to mount the blk/white one but not all the time. The blk/white one occasionally has a bald spot on his back but there's no pattern to it & no bite marks & scratches marks. i do dust it with wound powder when it happens & within the week his fur is growing back & then ok for a few months. He's done this since I've had him.As I taking on more piggies i've spent a bit of time on here & amazed at all the different feeds, bedding,hutches & everything else.
I guess my piggies to be nearer 4 yrs old but it's been a learning curve & want my new piggies to have best of everything.
 
Hi :) The way I bathe mine is to prepare everything first! Take lid off shampoo, get a towel ready etc. Then fill the kitchen sink with warm, but not hot or cold water. Get the guinea and sit them on the draining board, then gently take a cupful of water and pour over the guinea avoiding eyes/ears. I find this less stressful for the piggies than submerging them in water.
I always use Gorgeous Guineas shampoo from www.gorgeousguineas.com put that on, rinse by pouring water over pig and repeat.
Also with boars you have to clean their grease glad before shampooing ::) by rubbing it with Swarfega. The grease gland is near where the tail of a piggie would be.
 
also, I wonder if the occasional bald patch might be caused by lice? Have a look in your boars coat, around the neck and around the lower back. If there are small wriggly things, you need Lice and Easy by Gorgeous guineas
 
I bath mine in the bath. I put the plug in then fill the sink up with warm water. I then use a jug to pour the water over piggy and this way they don't get stressed. I may try the kitchen sink though, I have a couple of escaping pigs so I don't think it would be suitable for them! :smitten:
 
I actually got in the bath with the piggie so i could hold them properly but found it much easier to bath them in the sink.

Mine hate bath time but i have 2 shelties who need regular hair cuts and bum bathing ::)
 
I bath Pumpkin (Peruvian) in Gorgeous Guineas - but oh doesn't he just know it afterwards - strutting his man skirts around everywhere.................. :smitten:

Little Stig is used to baths - he was bathed quite often when I first rescued him - so he should be ok.
:smitten:
Helen.
x
 
You know, I just decided the other day to give my guinea his first bath (he's only a few months old) so I went to the local pet store to see if they had any guinea pig bath liquid. She said they make it, but they were out of it and tried to sell me dog shampoo. She said it's the same thing. Apparantly, she was the manager and seemed to think she was an expert on guinea pigs. I told her I wasn't sure about this and she finally tried to sell me some kind of dry dog powder, saying once again, it was good for guinea pigs. It's a powder that cleans it's fur. Then she tells me it's a bad idea to give a guinea pig a bath. It could stress them and they could get sick. (After she tried to sell me the dog shampoo!) I just left. I really want to give him a bath! Has anyone ever heard of a guinea pig getting sick from stress, caused by a bath?
 
None of the ones I've had have and I get rescues in that pretty ill as it is :)
 
hello,
you may do things differently in the UK and USA but here in australia we don't bathe our piggies. even in the guinea pig books i have say it is bad to bathe guinea pigs. i aren't looking for a fight or arguement, it is just what i have read and be told by our vets. the vets and books say it isn't nescressary as piggies groom themselves and baths can cause stress. etc. this is what i have been told and read. so our piggies won't be getting a bath. even with messy bottoms, just use baby wipes. hope things go alright for you and your piggy. cuddle and hugs. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
I do not beleive in routine baths,but if one of my piggies has a mucky bottom I give a bottom wash.If the rear end is left with stale urine on it,there is a risk of infection.

In the hot summer weather,I do sometimes bath my long haired pigs to freshen them up.

I have not had a piggy have a bad reaction to a bath.,although some pigs hate water and will try and jump out and soak you.Other piggies seem to relax in the warm water and enjoy it.
 
I thought the women that worked in the pet store was a little odd, but she did tell me that you shouldn't bathe a guinea pig. She said they sometimes get to stressed over it and they can get sick. She was also the one that tried to sell me dog shampoo so I thought she was a little odd. Maybe she was right about the bathing thing. She also told me to use wipes on my guinea. They make animal wipes. She said it's good enough. Guess I'll have to try them!
 
I've bathed three of mine over the past day or two and they're still alive to tell the tale. In fact they seem quite pleased with themselves!

Check the water is the right temp by running it on your wrist - not your fingers. This will let you know if it's too hot or too cold. They can be a bit wriggly so they will need to be held steady. Have lots of towels ready to wrap them in afterwards.I used a hair-dryer (not too hot) on mine to get them dry quicker.

The colour of the water was so dirty afterwards! But mine are Texels so their coat are long and curly and need attention. Not sure I would have done it if it was a smooth pig

Good luck!

Sophie
 
Choloe, over here the climate is, I think different, and guineas have not evolved enough to cope with it hence the reason for bathing here and not Aus :) I only do 6 wheekly and with shampoo that puts moisture back in and doesn't dry the skin :)

Pigs can 'do' OK over here without baths providing bedding is changed frequently and they are not exposed to humid conditions, but most of my rescues are kept on shavings and many get a double whammy because they're outside in our humid climate ::)

Skin problems are top of my list of ailments with rescue pigs and I take in pets for the most part- not pigs from large groups :)

Sophie: My Texel used to create when she was groomed- didn't mind the bath, just the grooming ::)
 
Glad it's not just mine! She screams blue murder. Bless her. It's amazing how loud they can vocalise.... but yes, she was ok with the bath bit.
 
Ah, I'll try that! I've been using a small slicker but it only does the top layer so you have to hold the rest up and start from the bottom. Literally!
 
our climate is very much hotter to yours here in australia. we were told not to bathe guinea pigs, told it can stress them, and that they can lose body temp easily. as for our bedding we change ours every day. each to their own, if you want to bathe your piggies go ahead. but ours have never been bathed and ours are fine. for messes we use baby wipes. we have been told by vets and read it in books not to bathe guinea pigs but again each to their own. hugs and cuddles to your piggies. :smitten: :smitten: :) :)
 
yeah, gorgeous guineas is yummy! :smitten:
what i do is, i fill 2 bowls with warm water, the first with only a tiny bit in, just covering the bottom, the second full. to start with, i just dip the piggie in the bowl with not much in, to wet their tummy and bum. then i hold them over the bowl and get someone else to pour a little water over the piggie from the full bowl, avoiding head, ears etc. i then rub with shampoo and clean etc., get someone else to pour water over from the full bowl, while i hold the piggie over the other until rinsed. and then wrap in a towel and have a cuddle intil they are very dry, they must not go out into a shed or outside until fully dry O0 i find this works the best for me, because if you just put the piggie in a bowl/sink, mine will try and jump out and get stressed up. they find it much more reassuring if i hold them, they just love to climb all over me and get me soaking! ::) but obviously, this way you would need someone else to help O0 hope that makes sense ;D
 
:) I think we all do it differently, I prefer to hold them with both hands under my tap in the shed that was put in at the right height etc especially for this ::) then put my strip of shampoo on, leave, and rinse by holding under said tap again (which also has a temperature adjuster :) ). Feet are done by filling the sinkk with some water and standing them in it :)
Have a parasitic rescue pair in that are going to be bathed and have a Melt today :) These were kept on shavings indoors ::)
 
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