How to bathe a guinea pig

How to bathe a guinea pig tutorial, starring Butternut as your squeaky clean tour guide! Plus step by step written instructions:

0. Use a sink strainer so you don't clog your sink with fur.
1. Fill up a tray in the sink with warm water (a comfortable bath temperature).
2. Add a generous amount of Davis miconazole pet shampoo or dollar store anti dandruff shampoo.
3. Add a pig and scrub thoroughly by hand. Use a toothbrush for extra scrubbing if needed. Focus on the parts they can't reach very well themselves. Be careful to not get soap in their eyes or water in their nose.
4. Repeat with clean water for a rinse cycle.
5. Towel dry the pig.
6. Blow dry the pig on low until fluffy. Make sure the air is not too hot for your hand. They must be dry before going back in the cage or they will get cold.
7. Take your pig home and watch everyone check out their fresh clean scent!

Some people say guinea pigs should never be bathed because they are self cleaning. While they do groom themselves, Saskia from Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue (@LosAngelesGuineaPigRescue) still recommends a bath with anti fungal shampoo every 3 months to prevent skin issues, particularly ringworm (a fungal skin infection). Spaghett does have minor flare ups of ringworm occasionally so we believe this is beneficial for our pigs. We are very careful not to get water in their noses or soap in their eyes. And we blow dry them with a hair dryer so they don't get cold.

0:00 Prep
0:51 Wash
2:22 Rinse
4:00 Dry


WHAT’S PIGS?

We publish daily highlights of the adorable antics of our guinea pig herd. Subscribe to see what they do tomorrow!

In June 2019 we adopted five pigs from Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue. They are cute herbivorous small pets with funny social interactions. We film all their behaviors, from happy guinea pig noises to eating sounds, playing with their food to sleeping with their eyes open, and occasional fighting. So far they have been most popular for their loud wheeking and rumblestrutting, adorable spa day and bath time, fleece bedding cage makeover, funny naps, and their ridiculous guinea pig fights!

Our videos generally have no talking so they're great in any language, whether you search for guinea pigs as cobayos, conejillos de indias, cochons d'Inde, meerschweinchen, morče, marsvin, cavia, marsu, tengerimalac, marmot, porcellino d'India, cobaia, gine domuzu, chuột bạch, świnka morska, морская свинка, خوکچه هندی ,خنزير غينيا, 豚鼠, モルモット, 기니피그, or หนูตะเภา!

MEET THE PIG FAMILY

Spaghett is the boar of the herd. The rest of the pigs are females, but he’s a neutered male so they won’t be breeding. Sorry, no pregnant or baby guinea pigs! Spaghett has orange-brown ginger fur with a white crest on his head and cute red eyes. He goes on funny romps with entertaining popcorning and zoomies. He does a hilarious rumblestrutting dance for his beautiful ladies while purring. He enjoys petting, especially face massages and scratching around the ears.

Acorn is the youngest. She has white, black, and gold fur with a cute mousy face. She’s inquisitive, always wants food, and talks to herself while exploring. Little Acorn’s special talent is jumping on houses for rooftop adventures.

Butternut appears confused or deep in thought. She has white and gold fur. Her hobbies include sleeping and yawning while flopped over with her feet sprawled out. She continues wheeking, squeaking, and squealing at us after we have already given her food.

Pumpkin has black fur except for white toes. She looks like a cow, a non-guinea pig, and a rabbit. She has noisy standoffs with feisty Acorn.

Zucchin is oldest and grumpiest. She has white and gray fur. At first Zucchin fought with Spaghett. There were teeth chattering, nose raising, and hair puffing battles. Now they get along, but Zucchin is still a grouch. But she looks like a cute rat!

THEIR HOME

The pigs live in a custom 4 by 6 foot cage made by merging 3 Midwest Guinea Habitat cages. Now we have a triple size MidWest cage!

The bedding is IKEA TOFTBO bath mats. We’ve tried disposable paper bedding and fleece blankets with towels underneath. But this is the best guinea pig bedding we have found so far! We spot clean at least twice a day. And every day we wash 1 of 3 carpet rugs in a portable washing machine in the bathtub. It’s easy and convenient compared to washing fleece by hand in the sink!

The pigs prefer free stuff to actual guinea pig toys. A DIY guinea pig house made from a cardboard box is a favorite hidey.

THEIR DIET

Their favorite hay is Oxbow timothy hay. We get 50 pound boxes from Chewy. They also enjoy hay from Small Pet Select, KMS Hayloft, and Standlee. They gobble up Sherwood Pet Health guinea pig pellets.

They eat nearly any vegetable. The only reject was zucchini.