Johnson's baby lotion for guinea pig grease gland?

[tabelmabel]

Hiya, I am new here and am a bit worried about my new guinea pigs' grease glands. We have just got 2 8 week old boar rex piggies. I have never kept boars before - we got them from a lady who shows and breeds rexes and gave me really detailed information about how to care for them properly.

She has said to use surgical spirit on the grease gland once a week. This is fine - and I am more than happy to go out and get surgical spirit but I just wondered if Johnson's baby lotion (pink bottle) would work as well as it is so good at cutting through grease?

I always have a bottle of Johnson's in the house anyway so if it was ok to try, then it would be ideal for me. I have seen Swafega suggested and I thought if that is gentle enough, then the Johnson's might be too.

What do you all think?

 

[xkatymayx]

Johnsons baby lotion, isn't that the stuff muscley models use to oil themselves up? I don't see how it would help get rid of grease. With my 2 boys I don't think it would help with cleaning the grease gland. Not even washing up liquid could get the grease off!

 

[gogoguineas]

I don't think it would be very effective to be honest, i doubt it would harm but swarfega works best. Also, I wouldn't use anything at all until at least 12 weeks, it mostly won't require dealing with until then. None of my boars have needed their grease gland cleaning much in the first 12 months of their lives and it's not advised to bathe a piggy under 12 weeks either unless for medical reasons so unless the grease gland is clogged then I wouldn't worry.

 

[SpinningNickel]

I don't know, if you mean the clear baby OIL, as opposed to the lotion, that's probably quite effective for a mild cleaning. I keep it in the house as a moisturiser, but I also use to to remove wax residue when I've done my eyebrows and such and it works a treat for that! inbreeding I never thought of try to use it on the piggie, but to be perfectly honest Machu doesn't seem to have a particularly messy grease gland and a little washing up liquid usually does his fine.

 

[Guinea pig slave]

Personally, I would never use anything on my piggies unless recommended by experienced members on here or a vet. Better to be safe than sorry :...
Good bath butts regularly with a mild piggy shampoo and trims usually does the trick for my long hairy boys - anything perfumed is a no go as their skin is very delicate.
A tiny spot of neat Fairy washing up liquid helps break any grease down, massage well into the hair and rinse thoroughly...keeps their nether regions squeaky clean :x

 

[Lil-Ninnibig]

I wouldnt put surgical spirit on my dittos grease gland it seems to harsh on there delicate skin. I was advised to use swarfega and it really works i used it yesterday, i rubbed a small amount to the greasy area left it for 10 mins theb bathed him and washed it away and hes perfect now

 

[iluvguineapigs4]

I heard somewhere that Johnson's baby lotion or shampoo takes the natural oils out of the pig so I've always avoided that even if the statement is false. Swarfega works best and it can be purchased in Halfords, anywhere like a warehouse I would guess. Some people mentioned washing up liquid. Depending on how strong the grease is, I find, with my Jimmy, that washing up liquid does absolutely nothing! When I used Swarfega, it just broke the grease down and did the job perfectly! I would definitely recommend Swarfega

 

[tabelmabel]

Thanks for all replies - no it's not the Johnson's oil I was thinking about - it was the lotion which is pink and comes in a pink bottle - absolutely marvellous for dissolving any grease on little humans (or as a make-up remover on big ones!)

I am also very glad of the advice about leaving alone til 12 weeks - that gives me a few weeks to get more piggy savvy!

Since I wrote my original quesion, I came across another site (guinea tastic I think it is that showed a picture of the baby lotion I was thinking of right on the section about grease gland cleaning - they advised the Johnson's or dishwashing liquid?!)


Anyway - I am going to take your advice and go for the swarfega since I have seen that mentioned on so many sites. thanks so much for all the replies

 

[gogoguineas]

if you ever get stuck without swarfega you can use regular washing up liquid, I did this a coupld of weeks ago for one of mine, i just rubbed a blob in, let him run about on the floor, distracted by veggies then washed him, helps to leave it on for about 15 mins but you dont need to leave swarfega that long you see, bout 10 mins tops, but as I mentioned earlier you probably won't need to worry about this for quite a while yet