Question - Toileting areas

[piggyGin]

Hi all, how are you doing?

I have a question regarding my piggies. So I used to use the paper/aspen bedding since i had my piggies and they always used to pee and poo there, never on their fleece bedding and in their hidey houses. Recently I got rid of all the paper/aspen beddings and started using a plastic platform like thing with holes in their litter area, beneath i have the disposable pee pads for elderly. I noticed since I have that in their kitchen area they stopped peeing there, they still do but mostly they pee in their cozy warm hidey house and their other house and they make it and blankets inside wet.. So i have to dry them each time and wash them. They do this every day since I changed the bedding in litter area. I tried to put some poops on the plastic and even put some of their pee for scent and they do pee there but mostly in their houses where they NEVER peed. Its now getting wet and its not good for them to be in wet spot especially since one of them has ringworm now and were treating him. Also they poop all around not in one spot like they used to. Its just everywhere and mostly in their house/pocket which is fluffy and warm but now its all filled with poo and pee. :/
My question is how do I stop them to pee specifically in their houses where they are NOT supposed to? I tried everything but I dont know what else to do. Any answer will be appreciated!
Thank u! <3

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all, how are you doing?

I have a question regarding my piggies. So I used to use the paper/aspen bedding since i had my piggies and they always used to pee and poo there, never on their fleece bedding and in their hidey houses. Recently I got rid of all the paper/aspen beddings and started using a plastic platform like thing with holes in their litter area, beneath i have the disposable pee pads for elderly. I noticed since I have that in their kitchen area they stopped peeing there, they still do but mostly they pee in their cozy warm hidey house and their other house and they make it and blankets inside wet.. So i have to dry them each time and wash them. They do this every day since I changed the bedding in litter area. I tried to put some poops on the plastic and even put some of their pee for scent and they do pee there but mostly in their houses where they NEVER peed. Its now getting wet and its not good for them to be in wet spot especially since one of them has ringworm now and were treating him. Also they poop all around not in one spot like they used to. Its just everywhere and mostly in their house/pocket which is fluffy and warm but now its all filled with poo and pee. :/
My question is how do I stop them to pee specifically in their houses where they are NOT supposed to? I tried everything but I dont know what else to do. Any answer will be appreciated!
Thank u! <3

Hi

At least three quarters of what a guinea pig needs to eat in a day is hay/grass fibre - this is what they have evolved on. In order to get as much out of the nutritious but tough fibre they eat the poos containing the digestible fibre for a second run through the gut; you get waste poos from both runs. Guinea pigs are pretty much digesting the whole time so they poo lots and rather everywhere. That is why you need to poo patrol the cage daily.

Guinea pigs have very much their toiletting areas; they like either a place where they can sit and eat at the same time, like a tray with soft hay or or something else soft and absorbent that is comfortable. They will NOT go and pee through holes in a plastic tray. They also do not have bladder control in their sleep.
So rather than bunker them into the only cosy area they have left, consider creating attractive toiletting spots (they also like a bit of a 'ceiling', even it if it is just on hankie pegged over a cage corner) that are easy to replace and to clean for you. You cannot toilet train piggies but you can make toiletting areas as long as the toilets fulfill a cavy concept of a what a lovely toilet looks like and not a human concept. Also look where in your cage piggies like to sit and pee most and place an easy to clean toiletting area there with a puppy pad underneath.

With any pets you will always be much more successful if you try to see and think from their perspective instead of trying to make them fit into your human picture. They are very much people in their own species and much cleverer, complex and fascinating when you step out of your own box and enter their world.