Swimming Pool?? Yes I'm for real

[Candi Brown]

Iv got three questions? (boy I hope I don't sound stupid):crazy: but here I go. Iv heard Gunieau Pigs are good natural swimmers on Wikipedia, is this true?? If so has anyone ever built a pool for them?? And what are some pool ideas??

 

[bpatters]

Yes, they can swim, the same way cats can swim, but it doesn't mean that most of them like it.

Building a pool for them has the potential for lots of problems. How will you keep the water clean? Pools have to have disinfectants in them (think chlorine), the water has to circulate, the temperature has to be controlled, etc.

My suggestion is to put a large towel in the bottom of your bathtub, fill it to a depth of two inches at the deep end, and put some clean bricks or other objects in so that they'll have a place to get out of the water if they want to. Put the pigs in. If they love it, you can do it regularly. If they hate it (which I predict will happen), they'll get out of the water and sit on the bricks, and you can forget the pool idea.

 

[pinky]

You don't want them to get water in their eyes, nose or ears. There's also a danger of them aspirating water into their lungs if they inhale any it, which can lead to pneumonia. I don't really see any purpose of having a guinea pig go swimming. If they're soiled and need a bath, you can put them in a very shallow tub to bathe them, but I'd be very careful to rinse them off well and make sure you completely dry them with a blow dryer set on the lowest setting before putting them back in their cage. In addition, excessive bathing can lead to dry skin. Normally, they take pretty good care of keeping themselves clean.

 

[Candi Brown]

Yes, they can swim, the same way cats can swim, but it doesn't mean that most of them like it.

Building a pool for them has the potential for lots of problems. How will you keep the water clean? Pools have to have disinfectants in them (think chlorine), the water has to circulate, the temperature has to be controlled, etc.

My suggestion is to put a large towel in the bottom of your bathtub, fill it to a depth of two inches at the deep end, and put some clean bricks or other objects in so that they'll have a place to get out of the water if they want to. Put the pigs in. If they love it, you can do it regularly. If they hate it (which I predict will happen), they'll get out of the water and sit on the bricks, and you can forget the pool idea.

Thanks It is good info to try in tub. Probably should wait til summer to try if I do. Anyway I'm probly just getting to excited with new cage ideas and this is probably to bizarre and messy to do anyway. But thankyou