Just need some guinea pig advice.

[moosepistachiooreo]

Hi! Ive had guinea pigs for a while, just wanted to ask on here and know of there's anything I should be looking at often to check for any illnesses or anything. Just any signs of anything basically. Also just what they do and dont like would be cool too! Want to treat them as best as I can

 

[Piggies&buns]

Your biggest friend in terms of monitoring health are the weekly weight and heft checks.
Any loss or gain of weight of 50g or more means switching to daily weight checks, stepping in with syringe feeding (if weight is being lost) and a vet trip.
Other routine/daily checks are checking the back end is clean and clear, checking eyes are bright and clear daily (immediate vet trip for any cloudy eye); nose is clear and dry.
Checks for less often things - hair trimming around the back end if necessary; nail clipping roughly every six weeks.

Weight - Monitoring and Management

What they do and do like depends very much on the piggy and more comes down to you knowing your piggy.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Ive had guinea pigs for a while, just wanted to ask on here and know of there's anything I should be looking at often to check for any illnesses or anything. Just any signs of anything basically. Also just what they do and dont like would be cool too! Want to treat them as best as I can

Hi

Please have a look at these very practical guides here. They deal with the recommended weekly body check and weigh-in (including how to check for the BMI to see whether your piggies are actually a good weight for their individual size so you can put any weight changes into the proper perspective), with spotting early signs of illness, how quickly to see a vet and what to do in an emergency.

Weekly health monitoring:
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Guinea pig body quirks - What is normal and what not?
Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths

Spotting early signs of illness:
Early Signs Of Illness
How Soon Should My Guinea Pig See A Vet? - A Quick Guide

Vet visits:
Tips For Vet Visits
A guide to vets fees, insurance and payment support.

Emergencies:
Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

For Enrichment and Diet advice you may find these links here helpful:
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs
Potentially Dangerous Cage Accessories And Toys

All these links are part of our much more extensive information resource, which you may find helpful and interesting. You may want to bookmark the links as much as the link to our emergency care guide and the syringe feeding guide so you have that always easily at hand when you are in a panic. Our emergency guide is a one-stop collection of what you may need.
Getting Started - Essential Information for New Owners (this is the shorter version for practical daily use)
Comprehensive Owners' Practical and Supportive Information Collection (this is the access to the full information available on this forum)

The guides format allows us to extend and update at need and as we have - rare - spare time. You may want to browse, read and re-read at need in our collections. There is lots of stuff in there you have likely never thought about, including more species information.