Bathing Bathing a FILTHY guinea pig?

[Rybo5000]

So I won't go into detail here (might make a post on the Kitchen) but long story short: found some abandoned piggies in the Australian bush.

I've decided to keep them, one thing they were in dire need of was a bath.

I bathed them the same way I've bathed my other guinea pigs in the past.

But even after that, they are still gross (days of living in the mud).

I want to clean them without traumatizing them too much, any suggestions/tips?

 

[Soecara]

That depends entirely on what you mean by the same way you've bathed your other guinea pigs.

I've used the Aristopet small animal shampoo in the past and I've been happy with the results. I do believe I've also use the Vetafarm fluffy bath small animal shampoo too.

When I do mine I bath them in a pool of shallow warm water in the bathtub or a fairly large sized container inside the shower if you don't have a bathtub (using a sink can be dangerous if they decide to try and jump out of the water, which some guinea pigs are apt to do). Then I use a small container to pour water over their back, I then soap them up, get a good lather all over.

If their feet are really dirty too I may even take them out of the water and onto the floor to get a good amount of soap on the feet. I then rinse off the shampoo, drain the water, refill and rinse a second time. You can use a face washer cloth to gently wipe off their face and ears during the first rinse but don't pour water over their faces or too close to their ears.

Then I dry them down with a towel, and I cuddle them for a bit wrapped in a towel and give them a treat and wait for them to be mostly dry before returning them to the cage. If there is more than one to bath I may skip the cuddle phase but in that case I make sure to dry them down extra well.

 

[Rybo5000]

Thank you for the tips.

With my last guinea pigs, they never really got very dirty so it was often just a tiny bit of animal shampoo, a quick rinse and then done.

I think now I'm going to have to scrub scrub and do a second rinse as you say, I was a bit worried about scaring them after what they've been through but it's a necessity so I'll have to do it!