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Grooming advice please

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claire8234

claire8234

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone

I have two male guinea pigs that are ten weeks old (who I adore!). They are long haired (their mum is peruvian and dad alpaca). Their coats are starting to grow and thicken and they have very soft but curly hair. I have been brushing them every day with a small soft bristle brush, which they still aren't particularly keen on but tolerate well :).

I know that males have sweat glands above their tails and that this should be cleaned regularly but as they have thick long hair and are very wriggly still I haven't been able to look properly. Should I be cleaning this regularly, if so how and when?

The hair around their bottom is getting a little long now and I was wondering whether its ok to leave it as it is, providing it remains clean and matt free or if I should trim it?

As they are only babies I don't want to do too much too them that will stress them out but obviously want to keep them clean, happy and healthy :)

I remember as a child giving my guinea pigs a bath during the warm weather - is this something that is still recommended or is it not necessary? Obviously my boys are too young for a bath yet.

Sorry for the long post!

Claire x
 
Claire you're welcome to post :)
Grease glands can get mucky....... you can give a butt bath aka quick bathe at that end rolleyes
Not sure where you are but it's best to do it in warmer weather or if not you need to make sure they can be dried off ........ in a warm environment :)
I do a butt wash for my girls and did the same with our boys..... managed to just get their little butts wet then washed off and dried off...
With long haired piggies my one girl i trim her regularly to get rid of her butt hair ... :)
 
Thanks Glynis. We are in Leicestershire UK. They are outside in their hutch now and spend a a few hours each day (when its nice) on the grass so will probably get a bit muckier than an indoor piggie but I think its nice for them to be out in the fresh air :)

I shall invest in some guinea pig shampoo and then wait for my husbands cries of "What on earth are you doing?" when he comes into the bathroom :))

I take it just a regular bottom bath is enough to clean boys and I don't need to do anything else?
 
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2 of my girls have longer hair near their bottoms, I trim it regularly and also give little butt baths :)
 
I'm not looking forward to giving them their first hair cut - I doubt they'll like me very much. Perhaps some bribery with some parsley will be needed!
 
Yeah I think bribing them would be wise. I have one, Gloria who has serious issues with anyone or anything touching her legs.. strange piggie. But if I just have her on a towel on the floor with some munch then she doesn't seem to notice me trimming :) I've just bathed my lot with some yummy shampoos. Bought them from gorgeousguineas.com. Woth paying a bit extra cause they are really nice. Do special ones for boys and one I bought for long haired piggies. All the others smell of oranges now, yummy :)
 
Thank you. I will have to be extra nice to hubby so I can buy some nice shampoo :))

my boys are much better at letting me pick them up now but really don't like the brush going anyway near their underneath, tummy, back legs etc but I am being mean and doing it anyway, better that than matted fur I suppose!
 
claire8234 said:
Thank you. I will have to be extra nice to hubby so I can buy some nice shampoo :))

my boys are much better at letting me pick them up now but really don't like the brush going anyway near their underneath, tummy, back legs etc but I am being mean and doing it anyway, better that than matted fur I suppose!
Click to expand...

Yeah be nice and then give your boys a pamper. My long haired ones are the same, the squeak when it's not hurting or anything, but better than being matter yaa!
 
At least its not just my piggies that aren't keen on being brushed!

How regularly will they need to have a bath?

I've heard that a lot of people rub swarfega onto the sweat gland to clean it - surely this would be too harsh for guinea pig skin! Anyone else heard of doing this?
 
I think bathing too often isnt too good as it gets rid of the natural oils, I think!
I think you just know your own piggies, or will do :) , mine dont get bathed too often, but they do get bottom baths when they need to but if I keep their bums trimmed they are okay. Boys might be different. I'm not sure. And I don't use anything different on their gland thingy! Maybe I should? No problems so far anyway...
 
That sounds good to me :)

I agree and think that too many baths can't be good for them so will see how they go

x
 
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