Wipes

[T&A]

Hi, my guinea pigs tend to get very messy, pooey paws, wee on bellies, dirty bum area and grease glands and they both hate baths. I’m prepared to bath x1/2 a year at most but that’s not often enough for them (or for me to feel happy with handling them when being so dirty).

Bathing them stresses them so much, they squirm and I’ve almost had a guinea pig jump of the counter (which could’ve resulted in a fall of over 1m) and guinea pigs running out into impossible to reach areas (I’ve had to yank them out of a fair few uncomfortable places…).
Does anyone use wipes on their fur/paws/privates to keep them clean and if so, what ones do you use?
Thanks

 

[Piggies&buns]

I don’t use wipes - I would just use a damp cloth if needed but I know there are some who use water wipes.

I’d be looking at why they keep getting poop and urine everywhere though.

 

[T&A]

I have them on fleece and spot clean 2-4 times a day however they still step on their poo which almost disintegrates it!
As for the wee, it’s less common for them to get messy from that. They occasionally wee on eachother though (i can only assume due to male dominance )

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

When Winifred had arthritis and then a UTI, and was getting wet and dirty underneath, I used CLX wipes to clean her feet and privates. They are quite expensive though.

 

[Lady Kelly]

You could use reusable wipes with just water. Muslinz wipes are a great size and really grippy, I could imagine they would be some of the better ones for grubby piggies. Then you can just pop them through the washing machine either with piggie bedding if you use reusable or with towels in your normal wash

 

[Princess Dustmop]

What do you mean that their poo almost disintegrates? Do they make firm poo pellets, gooey ones, or crumbly ones? I mean, very fresh poos will certainly squash, since they're malleable, but that usually just results in a reshaped pellet in my experience ... either on my foot (ick) or a chunk between piggy toes that will be scraped onto the floor when climbing the bars of their cage. Or are they soaking their poos in urine to make them extra soft?

Not much that can be done about the spraying in terms of prevention ... I don't have any advice on that, since I have been fortunate enough not to really deal with that particular behavior.

As for squiggling away to hard to reach places, my best recommendation is a playpen of some sort. As someone who has had to retrieve a guinea pig from under a bed ... twice ... I recommend a play pen that surrounds completely in a way that they can't shove it or another object to get around and out of it ... They love to run into hidey spots and under furniture.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Also worth mentioning that the more you clean the cage the more they are likely to scent mark just in case that's an issue for you.

 

[T&A]

They form full, normal poos but then i go to the cage and they’re completely disintegrated. I don’t know why because I’ve seen their fresh pop and it is fully formed but then it’s all disintegrated. It makes it very hard to spot clean as the ‘poo dust’ gets stuck in the fleece.

 

[T&A]

For reference (hope you don’t mind!) these are the poos before they disintegrate. The dust around them is from the disintegrated poos i was sweeping up previously.

 

[piggl]

It’s not disintegrated, per say.

When a poop has been sat for a while it will go hard, so when squished will make a powdery mess, but thankfully they are also more difficult to smush at this point.
When they are first dropped and then smushed it would likely mishape the poop instead of becoming “poo dust”, so if this is happening to freshly dropped poops I would encourage you to look into your piggies water intake.

There is no harm in this unless they are coming out like such (very dry and “dusty”), meaning your piggie could be dehydrated.

 

[T&A]

Ah ok, as they come out fully formed and I’m focussed on their water intake after having bladder stones I’ll just spot clean as much as possible

 

[Princess Dustmop]

If you're concerned about bladder stones, it is even more important that your piggies be drinking enough to flush the bladder. If you're concerned about calcium in the water, use filtered or bottled water.