Guinea Pigs

A guide to a new Guinea Pig owner.

Grooming your Guinea Pig, bathing, nail clipping, teeth, ear care and weight. Just 5 simple steps to ensure your Guinea Pig is healthy and happy.

How do you keep nice, clean cages for your guinea pigs? With time, effort, hot water, white vinegar and a safe place to keep the guinea pig while the cages are being cleaned.

Female guinea pigs or sows should never be bred after they are six months old because of the risk of developing dystocia. After seven months, a guinea pig’s hip bones are not wide enough to deliver pups.

If a female guinea pig bleeds from her bottom, it does not mean she has her period. Bleeding is unusual, even if the guinea pig is in season. Call your vet at once.

Should you let your guinea pig roam about the home like a dog or a cat? Only under certain circumstances.

Guinea pigs can learn simple tricks like sitting up on its hind legs. Well, we may think it’s a simple trick, but it’s complex for your cavy. But it can be done with a young, healthy guinea pig.

Pet sitters offer care for a variety of animals, such as cats, dogs, fish, and hamsters, to the more exotic, such as snakes, lizards and geckos. But if you will be caring for a guinea pig for the first time, you should know what to expect.

Some causes of seizures in guinea pigs include inner ear disorders, parasites, poisonings and head injuries. But why was my guinea pig having seizures?

Is your guinea pig going bald? It needs to go to the vet because there are many causes for hair loss in guinea pigs.

If not showing the guinea pig, trim the long hair. Bathing may be necessary and pay attention to symptoms of fly strike.

Guinea pig cages need ventilation, solid flooring and should be as large as you can afford. The minimum size for one guinea pig is three feet by two feet.

Some animals, such as guinea pigs, partake in coprophagy either unhealthily or as part of their regular nutrition regimen. Should your guinea pig be eating his poop? If not, can you prevent guinea pigs from doing this?

Can you keep a pet rabbit and a guinea pig in the same house? What about the same cage? Find out whether this is a safe combination, and how you can ensure the safety of both animals.

Thinking of bring a guinea pig home? Make sure you know these seven important features of their health and care.

What do a cat bed, guinea pigs and longevity have in common?

Based on my experiences from owning a guinea pig, I would like to share four reasons guinea pigs make great pets and why you should consider bringing one into your family.

Always take a sick or oddly behaving guinea pig to a vet. But there are things you can do before and after a vet visit to nurse your guinea pig back to health.

Time to clean the guinea pig's cage for the first time. Cleaning the cage seems simple enough. While teaching my kids to clean the guinea pig cage, I realized there are important things to remember so that the guinea pig is safe at all times.

"Mommyyyyyyyy!! He's so cuuuute!!! Can I have him? Pleeeeease?!" The squeals of an excited child are hard to resist mid-moment. Helping your child adopt a guinea pig is about much more than making the purchase and gathering the necessary supplies.

Guinea pigs need fresh water, hay, pellets and fresh foods as treats. Guinea pigs, like people, need supplemental Vitamin C.

There are four main types of cavies or guinea pigs '" guinea pigs used for food, guinea pigs used in research, guinea pigs used in showing and guinea pigs kept as pets.

Upper respiratory infections in guinea pigs or URIs are mostly preventable. Any illness can hit a guinea pig very hard, because they are so small and can easily dehydrate.

Guinea pigs are cute, cuddly and very easy to maintain.

One of the most exotic foods I've had in the U.S.is cuy '" or guinea pig '" at an unassuming little coffee shop in Queens. Cuy is a celebratory dish in Ecuador and Peru, often prepared for special family gatherings, a tradition dating back to Incan times.

If you care for both a guinea pig and hamster, you may wonder if they would make good friends to each other. Hamsters and guinea pigs might seem similar in some aspects. But should you house guinea pigs and hamsters together in the same cage?

After spending the day rooting around in bedding, climbing in and out of a litter pan and nibbling on juicy vegetables, a guinea pig can get dirty. Plan to bathe your small animal once every few months.

The best beddings are aspen wood, hay, recycled paper and kiln-dried pine. But all bedding needs to be regularly changed to avoid illness and stinky odors.

Learn about normal guinea pig behaviors such as freezing in place, bolting for cover and the herd mentality. Knowing about these behaviors can prevent accidents and stress for both you and your cavy.

Do guinea pigs purr? Yes, they most certainly do emit a purring sound. But is it really a purr and what does it mean? Is your guinea pig happy, sad, angry, or otherwise when he makes this noise?

Guinea pigs or cavies feel more secure living in small herds. But guinea pigs will attack strange guinea pigs, even babies, unless introduced slowly to the current guinea pig herd.

Shetlands or Silkies are very much like Peruvian guinea pigs, only they do not have hair growing over their faces. They make great pets, if you are willing to keep their long fur trimmed.