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Should I bathe my guinea pig before starting litter box training?

Zhi Heng

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Hi I have had both my guinea pigs for 2.5years, and they had not been litter box trained. They currently live in a 1.5m x 1m enclosure with fleece blanket as their bedding. I have decided to start litter box training to save some work and so that the piggies enclosures will be cleaner and more hygienic. Chubby, my younger guinea pig mainly only in his house, so he is potty trained (in a sense) , but i do not want him to be lying in his pee and all day (he sleep in his house which I feel should have been the cleanest place ideally since he spend most time there but currently it is the dirtiest corner of the cage cuz it's where he ) :(

i understand that in order to potty train guinea pigs effectively, the cage should have a thorough clean to get rid of their scent and place soiled hay in their litter box so that they identify it as the toilet area. However do I need to bathe them too?, to get rid of the scent on their body (they hadn't been bathed in almost a year) cuz I'm wondering if their scent on their body can be rubbed onto non-toilet areas where they lie on and confuse them on their toilet area.
 
Piggies shouldn’t be bathed unless necessary. It doesn’t sound like he’s dirty so I wouldn’t. You should also be aware that they will generally poo and pee everywhere, including where they eat and sleep. They can’t be litter trained so be prepared for it to not work.

Being boars they will scent mark when you clean out their cage. It’s normal. Do you poo pick daily?
 
:agr:
By all means try training, but the chances of it working are not great.
And as siikibam has said, boars will scent mark everywhere so you won’t be able to get rid of their smell anywhere in the cage - they will simply mark all over again once you clean the cage. Over cleaning cages of boars can make the scent marking worse as they try go make the space their own and mark their territories.
Perhaps try using pee pads in the area they sleep so that you can remove the pee pad daily and put in a fresh one.
 
Piggies shouldn’t be bathed unless necessary. It doesn’t sound like he’s dirty so I wouldn’t. You should also be aware that they will generally poo and pee everywhere, including where they eat and sleep. They can’t be litter trained so be prepared for it to not work.

Being boars they will scent mark when you clean out their cage. It’s normal. Do you poo pick daily?
Yup I clear out their poo twice a day, especially cuz chubby poo mainly at his house n i dont want him to be sleeping on his poo:( so I move his house everyday, so they the place he is sleeping in won't be so dirty (like all the poo concentrated there for many days)
 
So is it okay if I don't bathe my guinea pig at all throughout their life? I bathe my guinea pigs about once in 9mths (cuz i know i read here that they shouldn't be bathe more than once in 6mths, however their previous owners bathe them every week... ) usually just for hygiene purpose though they tend to sit in their pee during floor time so their fur gets wet in pee again (I usually just wipe their fur dry after floor time)
 
They definitely don’t need bathing every week. As I said you should only bath if they’re dirty. If they’re wet from sitting in their wee then you have to consider whether the bedding is working properly. Fleece should wick the urine away from the surface.
 
They definitely don’t need bathing every week. As I said you should only bath if they’re dirty. If they’re wet from sitting in their wee then you have to consider whether the bedding is working properly. Fleece should wick the urine away from the surface.
I said during floor time they like to sit in their pee so the fur gets wet. Floor time isn't fleece bedding, its the floor...
 
You need to put down something absorbent for floor time so they’re not sitting in it.
 
I said during floor time they like to sit in their pee so the fur gets wet. Floor time isn't fleece bedding, its the floor...

You still need to put something absorbent down. What are your floors made from - carpet, wooden etc? If they are running around on wood floors with nothing absorbent underneath them and peeing then their fur will drag through the pee.
 
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