Baby Long Hairs!!

[All4Cavies]

I adopted two baby long-haired guinea pigs. I was wondering if there is anything special I need to know about their care.

Is fleece bedding better for long-hairs than aspen? If so, how do I secure the fleece in the bottom of the cage? Would velcro work?

Thank you for your help!

 

[ChadWPB]

Long haired? Like this?

That's our Amee. She's also featured on Cavy Cages's Toys and Play page. See if you could find my piggie.

Long-haired guinea pigs require occasional baths and more frequent butt baths and trims. Poop and pee get caught on the long hair easily.We'd brush Amee more, but she hates it and wheeks like you're killing her.

We use kiln-dried pine, but fleece or aspen is also fine. It's a matter of preference.

 

[Quiet Things]

ChadWPB, your Amee looks just like my Mouse! Mouse being a guinea pig not a mouse.

I use straw for bedding. But not too many people seem to do that. Anything wood seems to irritate my guinea pigs eyes and they get a little wheezy sounding. But maybe that is just because they are so used to straw. They don't eat their bedding, well mine don't unless they get bored then they chew on a peice of straw. It's also really good for the garden when you clean out the cage. Just dig the bedding into a garden bed and your plants will thrive.

I own mostly long hairs, and in betweeners, they don't have long hair like Amee does but their fur isn't short either. As ChadWPB said, occaisional baths, regular trims and grooming are essential to keep them comfortable.

 

[Slap Maxwell]

Velcro, I think, would work wonderfully. But you probably want to have 2-3 changes of fleece to change every 2-3 days. I think fleece would be better for you, because most bedding gets caught in their hair. Make sure you have a litter pan with either carefresh, kiln-dried pine, or aspen.

Congrats on the new pigs!

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Straw really isn't a good bedding choice because it's kinda hard and stemmy and can easily cause eye injuries. The best alternatives to kd pine and aspen is carefresh/ generic carefresh or fleece.

I use fleece and I have a long hair pig. I groom her daily or every other day, trim her butt hair every couple of weeks and give her a bath as needed. So far since I have had her (just over 2 1/2 months) she has only had to have 1 bath.

 

[All4Cavies]

Chad, I'm not sure, I got them from someone who didn't want them anymore and felt they couldn't take care of them. I guess you could say adopted or took them in.

Anyway they're really tiny, the person that gave them to me said they were long hairs. I suppose they were right, their hair is MUCH longer than my one year old abbys and they're only babies still.

We named them Princess and Molly. I will post pictures.

Together
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Molly
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Princess
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Don't mind the dryer in the background.. we snapped quick pictures and wanted somewhere level for them to sit. Although, the "no heat fluff" on the dryer kind of looks cute w/ the piggies!

 

[Poohbear]

They look like a mix of abbys,peruvians, and texels.

 

[Quiet Things]

They are incredibly adorable.

 

[ChadWPB]

I was showing you what to expect. Amee was 8 months old when that picture was taken. With proper care, you'll look forward to lots of beautiful hair.

We have a Princess, too. She's and Abby/Peruvian mix and just got spayed on Tuesday.

 

[All4Cavies]

Awh, Chad your piggies are sooooo cute!!! I really hope our princess and molly get beautiful long coats like your Amee!!! Thank you so much !!

 

[dagwellismypigy]

I think its funny that behind the pigs in the picture it says "no heat fluff" when your pigs are just tiny balls of fluff!

 

[All4Cavies]

Yeah, my boyfriend and I never even noticed that til we uploaded the pictures and I was like.. OHHH GOODNESS..lol... we kind of made a joke w/ out trying. They're so sweet though, we just love them to pieces.

 

[AngelsCavies]

it made me look at it again and boy did I laugh. That was good and poor piggie. They are adorable babies.

 

[All4Cavies]

Thank you! They're just the sweetest little girls!!

 

[Teria]

Well done with the adoption! They must be very happy now. And I agree, they look very cute!

 

[Quiet Things]

Congrats on the new piggies, who, might I just say, are absolutely fantasticly adorable. I bet the will grow up to be amzing with that fur!

 

[All4Cavies]

Awh thank you everyone.... I'll tell them you all think they're cute. They deserve to be spoiled..hehe.

We're pretty sure we're going to go with fleece as bedding and we read you can put puppy pads underneath of the fleece if the fleece is secured well.... we were wondering if baking soda is harmful to piggies because a lot of puppy pads we've seen have it in. Any suggestions?

 

[ChadWPB]

Baking soda has a strong astringent effect and will dry up mucous membranes and cause dehydration. Guinea pigs' sense of smell is 100 times that of a human, too.

Do not use baking soda.

 

[All4Cavies]

Okiedoke, we were thinking it might not be good, but just wanted to check on here. I had seen a thread about puppy pads before and nothing was mentioned about baking soda as far as I can remember. I just know that most of the pads that our local walmart has come w/ baking soda, I managed to find one pack that doesnt have it in, but the pads are really small. Looks like I'll have to do some shopping around! ..Thank you though!

 

[twilla97]

I know it sounds odd but they make pads for kids and adults that wet the bed that look just like the puppy pads only a lot bigger that you might want to check into. Any walmart should carry them in the same section as they do the depends or maybe even the diaper sections.