Guinea Pigs: Family Friendly Pets

September 15, 2014

Guinea Pigs: Family Friendly Pets

Guinea pigs are a highly underrated family pet. They have big personalities packed into their little bodies. For a small house pet, they are extremely clean with low odor. They also have few health issues and are very low maintenance.

Personality

Guinea pigs are adorable, gentle little fur animals with individual personalities. Guineas do not just sit in a box and eat all day! They are a lot of fun and can learn to do tricks just like a dog.

Guineas have a unique squeak language which they have evolved to communicate with other pigs and now with their humans. Often guineas wheek and purr when they get excited because they know it’s dinner time or play time. Guineas have learned to come when they are called. They will sit up and beg sometimes for treats or do circles!

Being highly social animals, guineas need attention and handling. For their best quality of life, keep at least two guineas. A pig left alone with become bored and lonely.

Guinea pigs are very gentle and will almost never bite except in rare cases by accident or if they are in pain. They become very tame when socialized from an early age. This is one reason why they are so great with children. Always supervise your kids with a guinea pig, though and teach them proper handling and playing techniques.

Health

Guineas are generally healthy and have great temperaments. The most common problems are lack of vitamin C and skin disorders. You can easily keep your guineas healthy by feeding and grooming correctly.

Grooming

Brushing your guinea and clipping their toenails is the extent of maintenance for your guinea. If they have shorthair, once or twice a week brushing is enough. Long hairs may require daily brushing especially for mats. You can trim the hair to keep it out of their eyes. Brushing helps to eliminate skin disorders and any mites or lice that may be on your guinea.

Clipping your guineas toe nails may be the most difficult part of grooming. Once a part of the regular routine, it will take only a few minutes. Clip with cat clippers about once a month. This keeps your guinea’s feet from getting sore and swollen.

Guinea pigs rarely if ever need to be bathed. They do not really take to baths and unless their hair becomes very soiled from urine or food, you may not ever have to bathe your pig.

Food

Guinea pigs are able to survive on commercial food pellets that you can buy at any pet store. But, most owners supplement the diet with fresh veggies and the guineas go crazy for them! Guineas need Vitamin C, like humans, so you may want to use a tablet supplement that you sprinkle into their food. Without Vitamin C, guineas can lose hair and get scurvy. Do not feed sweets, fruits, or starches to a guinea as this will upset their stomachs.

Environment

By far the largest need and greatest initial investment for your guineas is their cage. Pet store cages are almost entirely too small. Please do not keep your guineas cramped in these. Pet owners recommend having at least a 6 ft. squared cage for a single guinea and 9-10 feet for a couple. These little guys need room to move. They do jump and run, but with sides of at least 18 inches, you will most likely not need a cage roof.

You can go online to buy larger guinea pig cages or build one yourself. Rabbit hutches may work. Just do not use a metal cage floor or your guineas’ feet will suffer. You should put chew toys in your cage so that the guineas’ teeth get ground down regularly or else they will become too long and cause a hazard.

Guineas need time out of their cage to run around the house or yard. Make sure they are supervised as they love to taste everything. Wires, plants, and toxins especially need to be put away. This can be the best time of the day for your guinea and you as a new guinea pig parent.

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