Long haired piggy

[ljc7]

We have had two short haired before, and out of choice would have done again, but one of ours is distinctly long haired. She gets very matted around her bottom. We have trimmed her a few times, but I’m terrified of catching her skin. We trimmed lots of long fur today, she looks a mess now as I’m no hairdresser! I’ve seen someone mention shaving!? Surely she’d need to be under anaesthetic for that? Any other advice? Maybe bathing her bottom better but she seems to hate it all, and squeals loudly throughout

 

[Seven7]

My Finn is the same way so I cut his hair, but with joy because it becomes bonding time for us. I don't cut much of his hair just a little trim. I always make sure he is comfortable and his bottom is not matted and that is just about all I do.

I do bathe him but not too often because I read that I am not supposed to bathe him regularly, so maybe once every 3-4 months.

 

[flowerfairy]

I use curved scissors with rounded ends to trim my fluffy guinea pigs.

Whal small pet scissors. They are great. Never had any mishaps even with cross wriggling guinea pigs to trim!

 

[Eriathwen]

I shave my current longhaired girl, although she is hard of hearing if not completely deaf. I do have extremely quiet clippers for doing dogs faces, trimming with scissors can take upwards of half an hour depending on how co operative she's feeling which can be stressful, with the clippers is takes 5 minutes tops and doesnt bother her at all.
For most of my other longhairs that ive had scissors worked well, I kept the hair under the main bulk and around the back legs nice and short, I dont let it grow much more than a couple of cm, the main skirt of hair gets cut floor length. Although they were usually straight haired, my current one is curly so it's a bit all or nothing but I tend to keep the whole back end short and the sides long so she's more hygienic. I only ever bath when absolutely necessary, it's really easy to rub knots into the coat during baths and drying, so I usually wipe them down with an unscented wet wipe as and when needed, the ones I like best are waterwpies, they're a bit more expensive but they're pretty much 100% water with a little fruit extract, but any unscented, aloe and baking soda free baby wipe is fine. Bum baths are also an option where you just dip their bottoms into water, instead of wetting the whole pig, this is far less stressful way to bath.

 

[Patchwork Staccato]

If you go to www.gorgeousguineas.co.uk - they do all types of shampoo for long and short haired guinea pigs.
I have one guinea pig who has mediumish hair and I do find that it gets tangled easily, so I brought some anti-tangle shampoo and it does make a big differences.
Anyway, good luck!

 

[ljc7]

Thank you for your replies. She looks much better trimmed, and actually a very different colour. Outer fur was grey, but darker with a big band of ginger beneath. Will try water wipes first.