Bathing Your Guinea Pig
Reasons to Bath your Guinea Pig
Guinea pigs are very clean animals and unless you don't regularly clean out their cage, then most of the time they keep that lovely familiar guinea pig aroma. However, bathing your guinea pig will help towards keeping their hair and skin healthy. Remember that bathing a guinea pig too often can dry out their skin and lead to their skin becoming irritated.
Preparation
Have everything you will need in easy reach before bath time commences. Here is a list of items that you will need.
3 to 4 towels
Washing up bowl
Flannel Small plastic jug
Small animal shampoo Soft hairbrush
Plastic box container (optional)
Fill the plastic bowl with warm water, roughly two inches deep, check the temperature with your elbow to make sure its not too hot or too cold. Then fill the kitchen sink with warm water for rinsing. Remember to have everything within easy reach, never leave a guinea pig unattended in the bath water. When applying water, use a small plastic container that has a spout on the end.
They could keep their protective hands near your guinea pig while you are busy. For example: changing the bath water. Failing that, a good idea is to line a plastic container with a towel. Never leave a guinea pig unattended on any high surfaces.
Safety
Remember guinea pigs can react very quickly, so please be ready. If your worried about them making a bid for freedom or you haven't given your piggy a bath before, so you won't know what to expect, place the bowl on the floor or in an empty bath tub. If they do happen to escape from your hands they won't have far to fall.
Bathing a guinea pig
Before you place your guinea pig in the bath water, have a towel spread out for when you shampoo your guinea pig, all towels should be left in easy reach. After preparing everything, place your guinea pig in the bowl and wet the hair, avoiding eyes, mouth and nose. Never pour water down a guinea pigs ears. Take your guinea pig out of the water and place them on a towel. Add a little shampoo on their back and massage in well. When or if you are using a parasitic shampoo, always read the instructions first. Remember to shampoo under the belly and around the bottom area. Leave the shampoo on for roughly 3 minutes. Wrap piggy up in a dry towel so they can't lick the shampoo and this will also help to keep them warm.
Now is the time to ask your helper to either hold your guinea pig or have their protective hands near, so piggy doesn't fall, while you empty the water out that your piggy has previously used. As mentioned above, you can place your piggy wrapped up in a towel and place piggy in the plastic container on the floor, which will leave your hands free for a minute. Rinse your guinea pigs hair, making sure you have all the shampoo out.
Drying Routine
When all the shampoo has been rinsed away, place your guinea pig on another dry towel. You might find that you will need two towels to dry piggy. The first towel will become wet very quickly because of the excess water. Gently towel dry your guinea pig. You can use a hairdryer, but on the lowest setting. Cheak it against your arm first to give you an idea about the distance and the temperature. If its too hot for your skin, its too hot for your guinea pigs. Please be very careful when using a hairdryer.
Grooming
Once dry, brush your guinea pigs hair. Remember long haired guinea pigs will need their hair brushed everyday. Knots can quickly form and become matted. If left, it can be very painful for a guinea pig as mats can tug on the skin. You may need to trim around their bottom area as long haired guinea pigs can become messy. Be extremely careful when using scissors and make sure you avoid a boars delicate testicles. If you do find a small knot, its best to cut it out rather than try to brush/comb it out. Guinea pigs skin is very delicate so it would cause your guinea pig pain if you started tugging at it. But again, please be careful not to cut piggies skin. Sometimes it might be better if you take your guinea pig to the vets and a veterinary nurse may do it for you.
Some people also cut their guinea pigs nails after a bath. However, I feel bath time can be stressful enough for some piggies, so I usually cut them on another day. Here's a very good page about how to cut your guinea pigs nails.