Bathing My Guinea Pig Smells...

winny · Jul 16, 2015

I adopted a 2 and a half year old teddy bear guinea pig two weeks ago, and he's been adjusting great!! However, I can't help but notice he's had a bad smell to him since I got him...

honestly the the best way I can describe it is almost like an "old" smell? It smells like urine kind of mixed with smoke, which definitely brings up the question of how well he was taken care of before I got him! I don't believe it's medical related, and it's more of his dense hair just absorbed the scent of his environment. I tried bathing him with scented shampoo, and that didn't help. It doesn't seem to be bothering him, but I'd like to be able to hold him and be near him without having to smell him!!

I've just been using generic guinea pig shampoo, so if anyone else has any better recommendations I would really appreciate it! He will be going to the vet next week and I will definitely be bringing it up.

winny · Jul 16, 2015

Okay, great! I haven't been too happy with the kind I have (one of mine decided to pee on my other one and couldn't even remove the smell of that spot) so I'll definitely give it a shot.

GiuneaPigLover · Jul 16, 2015

Have you tried cleaning his anal sac. It could be really smelly if not cleaned properly. Here is a vid on how to get it done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4pfSByesVI

Morning_shadow · Aug 4, 2015

GiuneaPigLover said:
Have you tried cleaning his anal sac. It could be really smelly if not cleaned properly. Here is a vid on how to get it done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4pfSByesVI

You should NOT be cleaning their sac like that.. that piggie looks distressed. I do it lightly by pulling a little but just the outside. No need to do it that deep as inside can get damaged by someone who doesn't know how to do it.

People can hurt them this way. This is not necessary.

Morning_shadow · Aug 4, 2015

winny said:
I adopted a 2 and a half year old teddy bear guinea pig two weeks ago, and he's been adjusting great!! However, I can't help but notice he's had a bad smell to him since I got him...

honestly the the best way I can describe it is almost like an "old" smell? It smells like urine kind of mixed with smoke, which definitely brings up the question of how well he was taken care of before I got him! I don't believe it's medical related, and it's more of his dense hair just absorbed the scent of his environment. I tried bathing him with scented shampoo, and that didn't help. It doesn't seem to be bothering him, but I'd like to be able to hold him and be near him without having to smell him!!

I've just been using generic guinea pig shampoo, so if anyone else has any better recommendations I would really appreciate it! He will be going to the vet next week and I will definitely be bringing it up.

Just give him a bath with guinea pig shampoo and rinse well. I try to do this monthly together with nail trimming and ear cleaning.

winny · Aug 4, 2015

I've given him two baths since I've posted this, and not much seems to be helping. I think he's just a stinky boy. I switched over to fleece, so hopefully that'll keep his stink under control!!

Morning_shadow · Aug 4, 2015

winny said:
I've given him two baths since I've posted this, and not much seems to be helping. I think he's just a stinky boy. I switched over to fleece, so hopefully that'll keep his stink under control!!

I don't think a piggie can smell that bad.. maybe the one who needs a bath is you or your room needs a cleaning. :crazy:

winny · Aug 4, 2015

Not quite. The other pig housed with him smells perfectly fine (honestly he kind of smells good, lol)

winny · Aug 4, 2015

spy9doc said:
You might want to refrain from giving advice to everyone until you have more experience.

There is nothing wrong with the video that was posted. In fact, it is quite good. And, it is absolutely possible for even a neutered boar to smell bad, especially if he has a touch of diarrhea with smelly poop, and if he poops and pees in the cozy where he spends most of his time.

Its odd though, because it doesn't smell like any sort of waste. Kind of like smoke and old perfume, weirdly enough!! He has gotten less smelly since I've adopted him and the fleece is getting changed twice a week and the poops have been vacuumed up twice daily, as well as changing the absorbent layers even more often. He's a teddy that's super fluffy though, so maybe he's just great at absorbing smelly odors?

ALSO, it's almost entirely condensed around his back area. His belly/rear end doesn't smell.

Morning_shadow · Aug 4, 2015

spy9doc said:
You might want to refrain from giving advice to everyone until you have more experience.

There is nothing wrong with the video that was posted. In fact, it is quite good. And, it is absolutely possible for even a neutered boar to smell bad, especially if he has a touch of diarrhea with smelly poop, and if he poops and pees in the cozy where he spends most of his time.

I understand that it is good to clean older boars when they are having impaction problems.. but many times down there is just dirty with grass/hay.. it just needs normal cleaning for that. (With just water).
If it is impaction of poo.. then this needs special cleaning which is mentioned how to in guinea lynx.. it looks dangerous to me to be doing this with a qtip/twirling it like that... I would recommend that this be done with the direction of a vet.

But for winny and the smelly piggie.. a young boar wouldn't be having impaction problems unless he didnt move much. So not sure where the smell could be coming from.. if he's healthy.. then it's all good.

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Bathing My Guinea Pig Smells...

winny

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