illness?

[midnightem]

guinea pigs Smell like a barnyard, any ideas how to take care of it? they are cleared twice a week, bith are males. kinda worried they have a infection and if smell doesnt go away i have to rehome them

 

[Siikibam]

When did you last change the bedding and completely clean out the hay area? Ruined that’s left is usually the thing that will start smelling most. And they also scent mark which can be quite...fragrant

Please don’t rehome just because they smell. What is your setup?

 

[LMPigs]

I guess the smell I most associate with barnyard would be cow manure, which hopefully your GPs don't smell like! Could also be wet hay or poop piling up although seems unlikely if they are being cleaned out twice a week.

What do you use to line the cage? Things like newspaper or towels can get quite stinky if they're soaked with urine.

Alternatively, if you are doing super thorough cage cleans twice a week I suppose it could be that its causing them to be overenthusiastic on the scent marking? You could try cleaning less (e.g. by doing daily spot cleans and a full clean once a week, rather than twice weekly, or by cleaning half their space at a time if that makes sense with your set up?).

I'm assuming you don't actually think your pigs have an infection - i.e. no other signs of illness - so its just the smell you are worrying about?