Long-haired Guinea Pig Grooming?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Cavy Lover

Cavy Lover

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Mar 18, 2014
Messages
1,051
Reaction score
794
Points
605
Location
Ireland
Hello,

If you saw my other thread in guinea pig chat you know that I am getting a long-haired guinea pig some time next week. I want to be prepared for her arrival and one of the most important things in a long-haired pig is grooming. I would love some tips on grooming please if anyone has any. I have been looking through books and they don't say much on the matter. If you don't mind I have a few questions:
I know that she should be brushed everyday but with a baby brush or is there a certain type of brush you should use?
Is it once a week they should be bathed?
How much should their hair be trimmed?
Is it best to keep the hair short so it doesn't get caught in poo or food?
I can't think of any more questions but any more advice will be appreciated.
Thanks
 
Hey, what kind of breed/ long hair are we talking about here? This would determine what kind of brush I'd recommend. I've had several different type of long hairds, lunkarya, coronet, merino, texel. And they all required a different approach. Although I haven't found that i needed to groom any of them every day. I would recommend starting out doing this daily though, that way your pig will get used to it and after a while you'll find a routine that suits you both, maybe just a couple of times a week. I currently have one long hair at the mo, a merino and he detests being brushed so I just go over his coat lightly with a soft brush and trim any knots out. He's fine with being trimmed!
I haven't found brushing is as essential as trimming the hair, I like to keep mine trimmed up for hygiene reasons really.
 
With regards to bathing, I do mine maybe once a year. However there are a lot of piggies out there who can be bit grubby as they like to sit in their pee etc so this just depends on the individual pig. If you haven't got any already I recommend gorgeous guineas shampoos
 
I am not entirely sure about the breed of guinea pig but I think that she will be a sort of messy abysinnian with more long haired that it what her dad was like anyway.
 
The best kind of brush for the long-haired breeds is a slicker brush, the type used on dogs. You can get them from Pets@ Home. They make them for small animals too. This is best for removing tangles.A softer brush is okay for the surface of the coat. Guinea pigs should only be bathed every 3 months, if that. They are naturally clean animals and should not need bathing very often. Unless you are going to show your piggie, we recommend trimming the hair around the bum to help it stay clean. When it is long, it can get wet and matted and these are very painful to comb out. When my Sheltie gets sticky mats on her bum, I cut them out and trim back the rest.
 
I love long haired piggies!

A slicker brush is great for getting knots out and keeping hair tidy. It also helps get odd bits of hay and bedding out of their hair. I've had to use a shedding comb occasionally on a couple of my boys with thick coats to remove loose hair and thin them out a bit over summer but a good trim does this too.

Keeping hair round the bum end short is definitely a good idea and avoids the worst tangles and messy bits, particularly for boys.

Bathing to often makes a piggy's skin dry and strips their coat of natural oils so I only bath a couple of times a year at most and only if my boys are really messy. Long haired breeds can need washed a bit more often but you can do a 'bum bath' to just do the back end which tends to be the most dirty without doing the whole piggy. That way you can keep clean easier and look after skin. Gorgeous Guineas do some great shampoos and conditioners in their online shops and can give personalised recommendations for difficult cases.

For trimming you can trim when and how much you like. I used to do Arran's quite short in summer (and my friend he stays with now does the same) as he suffered with the heat otherwise. otherwise trimming bum hair shorter so it isn't on the ground is a good idea and the rest will look after itself!

Good luck, they are gorgeous piggies despite the extra work :)
 
MerryPip said:
I love long haired piggies!

A slicker brush is great for getting knots out and keeping hair tidy. It also helps get odd bits of hay and bedding out of their hair. I've had to use a shedding comb occasionally on a couple of my boys with thick coats to remove loose hair and thin them out a bit over summer but a good trim does this too.

Keeping hair round the bum end short is definitely a good idea and avoids the worst tangles and messy bits, particularly for boys.

Bathing to often makes a piggy's skin dry and strips their coat of natural oils so I only bath a couple of times a year at most and only if my boys are really messy. Long haired breeds can need washed a bit more often but you can do a 'bum bath' to just do the back end which tends to be the most dirty without doing the whole piggy. That way you can keep clean easier and look after skin. Gorgeous Guineas do some great shampoos and conditioners in their online shops and can give personalised recommendations for difficult cases.

For trimming you can trim when and how much you like. I used to do Arran's quite short in summer (and my friend he stays with now does the same) as he suffered with the heat otherwise. otherwise trimming bum hair shorter so it isn't on the ground is a good idea and the rest will look after itself!

Good luck, they are gorgeous piggies despite the extra work :)
Click to expand...
Thanks. Can you recommend which shampoo from Gorgeous Guineas to use as I won't have a clue? Would I have to get a slicker brush designed for guinea pigs or could I use one for a dog. The ones that are designed for dogs are much cheaper then the ones designed for guinea pigs in Ireland for example the dogs ones are €10 and the ones for guinea pigs are €25. You get what I mean.
Thanks
 
You just need a brush that's small enough really,....

Gorgeous guineas do loads of options but if you don't know what to get then I would suggest getting in touch with them and they can advise. They are really helpful like that. I've used 'Just for Boars' before but not much else :)
 
Hiya! With my long haired guinea pig called Cookie, I try to give her a brush with one of the comb brushes daily to help get any out. However, around her bum is a very good area for her to get lots of knots! If that happens, I gently cut them out with scissors, I prefer that then trying to comb it out and hurting her.

I generally bath her whenever she's smelly! I find cause the fur around her back end generally gets wet whenever she pees, she can start to smell after a while! I just bath her in the kitchen sink, just be very careful to not let the water be too hot! I then towel dry her; she hates the hairdryer.If you do bath your piggy, please don't let them go back outside until they're fully dry!

Good luck with your new piggie!
 
I have a guinea pig who has long, curly and coarse fur which is awkward to brush and easily gets tangled, especially around her bum. If you get a pig/ have got a pig with the same sort of hair I recommend brushing a little everyday. A soft bristle brush works best. Also keeping the fur at the back short is the best option to help prevent mats, however make sure all the cut hair has been brushed out and removed to stop the guinea pig from digesting too much fur when cleaning itself which could cause hairballs (but this is very rare). Hope this helps with your new guinea pig :)
 
I hope you don't mind me nudging in to this post, but I'm wondering about this myself. I se a slicker brush for my piggies. It's gentle and it detangles my Swiss nicely, but my Swiss and my Teddie shed hairs like it's some kind of competition. I was wondering about getting s de-shedding type of comb/brush, like the 'Furminator'. Is this too hash for a piggy? Would it pull? I'd like to groom them, not torture them so I was wondering if anyone has a de-shedding device that they can recommend. Thank you :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top