My guinea pig story

[dj_paige]

We first got guinea pigs as pets for our young children. The children have grown up and moved out, but I still have guinea pigs as pets.

For most of those years, there was a breeder who lived nearby. She provided me with young animals, as well as medical advice and other advice on keeping the animals, plus she would trim their nails and bathe them for a small fee. Now, she has moved away, and I am on my own. Even though I have animals for all these years, all of a sudden I have to do these things myself, and its not very easy!

Right now, I have two males (Jed and Jeremy) and two females (Snowflake and Lady Gaga). The two boys occupy a C&C cage, while Snowflake has her own C&C cage. I just adopted Lady Gaga, and she is in a traditional cage during the quarantine period, but I hope to move her into the cage with Snowflake soon.

The C&C cages have been quite a story. I bought two, put them together, and found out that leaving the cages on the floor was terrible for my back and knees. Fortunately, a friend built two "tables" (really just plywood and 2x4s) so the cages could sit higher up, and my back and knees liked that a lot better. I bought two level cages, but the piggies never seemed to use the ramps, and so eventually I just removed the upper deck. I tried fleece in the cages (I read a lot of on-line material, tried to follow the instructions carefully) and the smell was too much. After about 3 months of using the fleece and trying every trick I could find, I decided to go back to wood shavings as bedding. And I'm much happier, can't tell if the guinea pigs are happier.

Anyway, I need some advice, if you have read this far. My new adopted guinea pig, Lady Gaga, is the most skittish animal I have ever owned. Now of course I understand how terrifying this must be for her, but nevertheless, I have never had an animal yelp and wheek like this when I pick her up. Do you have any tips of calming her down when holding her?

[cottoncandy946]

I am by far no guinea pig expert so someone else on this forum may give you more advice but when I first adopted my guinea pig Oreo she was skittish and shy like your piggie. I'd mostly just say she needs a little more time to get used to you and trust you. Expcially since she's adopted and you don't know what kind of home she came from or how often they handled her. I'd start by just petting her INSIDE her cage and not pushing her past her limits. Wait until she comes out of her house and allows you to pet her because IMO it just frightens them more when you remove hideys and such to get to them, or when you trap them to pet them which you probably know. Good luck I hope this helps.

[Bibleo]

I love the name Lady GaGa. She's the best female artist EVER. I also love guinea pigs. I own seven of them and clip their nails and teeth myself. If you need to trim their nails, slightly put them on their back and cut their nails to their blood line. If you're having trouble seeing their blood line, just move their paws a little bit towards a light and that might be easier. If you need to trim their teeth (what I'm about to say may seem a bit... weird) You can also use nail clippers. I know that sounds a little bad for them, but a lot of people do this. What you've got to do to trim their teeth is wrap your piggy up in a towel (make sure you wrap their whole body, but not their head) And open your guinea pig's mouth gently. Pull down their jaw a little bit and cut their teeth until you feel it's short enough to eat with. If you need to bathe them, just buy some guinea pig shampoo or baby shampoo because baby shampoo is OK to use on guinea pigs. Make sure when you bathe them you lather their stomaches too. Also, make sure the water you are using is warm. If you bathe them during the winter time and it's too cold for them to bathe because of the weather, you may dry them off with a hair dryer (recommended you keep it on LOW) Just be careful not to get the heat in their eyes. I also heard they have a powder you can clean them with if you're too scared to clean them with shampoo and water. I hope this helped! You can always send me some messages if you need some advice too.

[Bibleo]

Oh, sorry... I guess I don't really have information on how to make your guinea pig less paranoid and skittish, but I hope the previous post I made helped a bit with trimming their nails and teeth and bathing them.

[Xeygwyn]

Welcome to the forum! Give your new piggy some time to come around - I have had one of my boys for quite some time and he is still skittish. Some are naturally more afraid then others. Keep giving lap time and floor time with her and she will get used to you.

@Bibleo , powders are unhealthy for piggies, as they would likely digest anything you put on their skin, and irritating to sensitive respiratory systems. Also, there is no need to trim their teeth as long as they have unlimited hay and no health issues with them. Bathing can be a once every so many months kind of thing if it is necessary, though I would stick with the guinea pig shampoo as baby shampoo is quite drying to their skin.

[HannibalLecter]

I love the name Lady GaGa. She's the best female artist EVER. I also love guinea pigs. I own seven of them and clip their nails and teeth myself. If you need to trim their nails, slightly put them on their back and cut their nails to their blood line. If you're having trouble seeing their blood line, just move their paws a little bit towards a light and that might be easier. If you need to trim their teeth (what I'm about to say may seem a bit... weird) You can also use nail clippers. I know that sounds a little bad for them, but a lot of people do this. What you've got to do to trim their teeth is wrap your piggy up in a towel (make sure you wrap their whole body, but not their head) And open your guinea pig's mouth gently. Pull down their jaw a little bit and cut their teeth until you feel it's short enough to eat with. If you need to bathe them, just buy some guinea pig shampoo or baby shampoo because baby shampoo is OK to use on guinea pigs. Make sure when you bathe them you lather their stomaches too. Also, make sure the water you are using is warm. If you bathe them during the winter time and it's too cold for them to bathe because of the weather, you may dry them off with a hair dryer (recommended you keep it on LOW) Just be careful not to get the heat in their eyes. I also heard they have a powder you can clean them with if you're too scared to clean them with shampoo and water. I hope this helped! You can always send me some messages if you need some advice too.

You should NOT trim their teeth yourself. They need specialist dental care to trim their teeth if they have medical issues. This also requires pain medication in many cases. If you trim incorrectly, it will cause extreme pain, and potentially irreversible damage causing them to not be able to eat. A healthy guinea pig fed unlimited grass hay do NOT need their teeth trimmed. Unlimited grass hay is the largest and most important part of their diet next to water, it keeps their incisors & molars trimmed & digestive system moving.

And no, baby shampoo is not recommended at all.
Baby shampoo is one of the more alkaline products, meaning a high ph level. The natural skin/scalp mantle has a naturally low ph, and if this is disturbed, it significantly increases the risk of skin irritation, dandruff & skin conditions. (A well dilluted apple cider vinegar rinse restores the ph however.) This means that baby shampoo due to the ph, is extremely harsh.

You also want to avoid harsh foaming surfactants like SLS, SLES & ALS, commonly used in most commercial human shampoos unfortunately. You also want to avoid silicones, perfume, parabens & paraffin. Depending on the pig you might also want a natural conditioning agent. Safest bet is Gorgeous guineas shampoo.

I strongly urge you to not give medical advice in the future until you have such knowledge. As this could be extremely dangerous.

[jacqueline]

@dj_paige - as for your skittish guinea pig - i have had my boy Kramer now for almost a month and of all the pigs i have (7) he stills scream like a little girl when i try to pick him up. no amount of hand holding or lap time seems to have changed this. my other pigs are fine, but kramer just screams and scrams. . .some pigs are like that i think. if you're patient you can continue to work with him, slowly, gently, and calmly and he may come around,

@Bibleo - welcome to the forum. i think it's wonderful that you wrote a response to dj_paige. and hope you're not upset that i, too, would like to add some small clarifications to your post. everyone here is concerned with the best and most proper care of guinea pigs. let me just add that guinea pigs have fragile little backs, and putting them on their backs to cut their nails may not be the best thing for them. you can try holding them upright, with their back against your stomach to cut their nails. also, i have 2 pigs who have a whole host of problems, including dental difficulties, so for them their teeth must be trimmed. i have a vet specialist i take them to. if you cut their teeth with scissors you risk vertically cracking them which can lead to infections (localized, or one that could spread throughout their system) and/or loss of tooth. when my boys need their teeth trimmed (they only have top teeth, no bottoms) i use a dremel grinding tool to grind them down. sometimes i also use a special atttachment like a mini rotary saw to cut them. all of this per the vet's instructions

please be very careful about any suggestions you make. it's best if whatever suggestions you make either come from a cavy-savy vet, or you add the phrase - "this is what i do" rather than saying "this is what you should do" or "this is how it's done".

again, i'm so glad you posted a response, and i hope you take no offense at the suggested clarifications!

[monkeynthechimp]

Try scootching her into a cuddle sack so she feels safe and pick her up in that! My boys hate being picked up but when I put the sack down they run into it and love going for walks with me!
Also on a side note: about the baby shampoo... The no more tears kinds sometimes have anesthetic in them... Hence the no more tears! I wouldn't even use them on my baby let alone my fur baby!!!!!!!! My opinion only of course!

[Blizzard]

Less than 24 hours after I got Theo, he was letting me pick him up with no problems. He wriggled a little the first time, but that was all. Try distracting him with food. (WE held celery leaves in front of him, and it worked.)

I'm probably not very helpful, but I thought I'd put something in anyway. xD

[spy9doc]

about the baby shampoo... The no more tears kinds sometimes have anesthetic in them... Hence the no more tears! I wouldn't even use them on my baby let alone my fur baby!!!!!!!!

Baby shampoo does NOT have an anesthetic in it if bought in the US. That is pure myth and rumor that has been spread across the Internet. And, the fact that hairdressers often repeat it is no help.

The product simply could not have any anesthetic in it if sold OTC (over-the-counter).

[HannibalLecter]

Baby shampoo does NOT have an anesthetic in it if bought in the US. That is pure myth and rumor that has been spread across the Internet. And, the fact that hairdressers often repeat it is no help.

The product simply could not have any anesthetic in it if sold OTC (over-the-counter).

Correct.
The reason baby & "No tears" kids shampoo supposedly more gentle on the eyes is the higher ph level. (Though I never noticed any difference as a child.)

[dj_paige]

Thanks for all the advice so far. I think I'm going to let Lady Gaga go without me picking her up for a little longer. I did notice she was popcorning this morning, which is a good sign.

I have bathed my animals successfully, actually using baby shampoo. I was terrified, but the event seems to have been successful. I haven't tried trimming the nails myself, I found a person at the pet store who has done it for me.

Another question: someone in another thread (that was unfortunately "locked" so I couldn't reply there) mentioned the "shoebox trick" to help pick up guinea pigs who are trying the run away. Can someone describe the trick to me? I tried to trick Lady Gaga by saying "Look, a shoebox" even though there was no shoebox, but that didn't trick her.

[ThePigAlchemist]

I tried to trick Lady Gaga by saying "Look, a shoebox" even though there was no shoebox, but that didn't trick her.

I think the shoebox trick refers to cutting one side off a shoebox, and then shooing the guinea pig into it. After that, you pick up the shoebox to pick up the pig. That way picking them up is a little less traumatic.

With your skittish pig, you may not be able to pet her in the cage. Mine will sit in my lap quite well and be pet, but if I tried that in the cage, they'd just run away. A good option to gain her trust at first might be to feed her at the cage door. I trained my pigs to stand still to be pet if I have food for them, and you could try that once she's come out of her shell. But for the time being, food does wonders. Also, even though it's traumatic, take her out every once in a while and hold her on your lap for a while. She'll get used to you, though she may always be more skittish than others. One of my pigs is a total attention hog, while the other will run away whenever I approach the cage. My skittish pig tolerates being picked up and being held on laps, but he never relaxes as much as my attention hog does. Every pig is different.

[bpatters]

@Bibleo , guinea pigs' teeth almost never need to be trimmed unless there's something wrong with the molars, and planing those requires a vet. Front teeth that are too long or are growing in a slanted direction are almost always a sign of problems with the molars, and trimming the front teeth is just treating the symptom rather than the cause.

Using any kind of clippers on the teeth risks splitting the tooth lengthwise, and then you really do have problems.

Broken teeth can be gently filed with a glass file (NOT a metal one) until any sharp edges have been smoothed, and then should be let alone.

The only time owners should trim their pigs' teeth is if the pigs are lethal whites. They have many dental problems, requiring a lot of attention, but their teeth are softer than normal guinea pigs, which makes it less risky to trim them. Many cavy vets will teach owners to trim the front teeth of lethal whites, because otherwise it's so expensive to manage their tooth problems

[Bibleo]

I'm sorry to everyone that found some problems in my recommendations, but how come I see a lot of people do this kind of stuff? To all of you, I have done all of the stuff I've recommended and nothing has happened bad to my guinea pig that has harmed them in any kind of way. I think it was very rude for you guys to immediately tell me I'm wrong. However, I do appreciate the advice. I give my pigs plenty of grass and chew toys, but their teeth grow back fast. I see MANY people use baby shampoo and tell me that it's fine to use baby shampoo. I've used baby shampoo on my pig and found nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, I've been using baby shampoo for awhile. After all these replies though, I guess I should start using guinea pig shampoo because I only want the best for my guiinea pig. I hope you aren't mad at me because of the advice I've given you, dj_paige.

[CavyGeneral1291]

allow gaga to roam free on your lap
as said above and let him eat out of your hands while being handled (careful not to get bit though) as she just needs time to get used to 'that thing we call a hand'. always bathe them with guinea pig shampoo or baby shampoo if pig shampoo is out of your budget. however it isnt as beneficial as pig shampoo. teeth triiming is needed unless they have dental health problems.