Guinea Pig Care Basics

Take all possible symptoms of a health problem very seriously. Piggies are prey animals and therefore naturally conceal illness until the problem is quite severe. For this reason, many piggy people recommend weighing your piggy weekly to be aware of weight fluctuations. You should definitely be familiar with your piggy’s routine and be on the lookout for any changes.

A healthy piggy has clear, bright eyes, and clean ears, nose and feet. Lumps, bumps, crusties, scabs, flakes, hair loss, and other questionable looking stuff are generally symptoms of a health problem. Don’t take a wait-and-see approach, get your piggy to a vet who is familiar with treating guinea pigs if you think something might be going on. Here are a few things you should do to help ensure your guinea pig’s health.

• Guinea Pigs are suceptable to scurvy, and they must get 20 – 50 mg of vitamin C from their food or vitamin pills daily.
• Guinea Pigs can devlop painful foot conditions if they live in a small area or on a hard surface or wire cage floor. Piggies should have plenty of room and a soft surface to live on.
• Guinea pigs are social animals and need social interaction. A lonely and bored piggy is likely to be an unhealthy piggy. Ideally, guinea pigs should interact regularly with other guinea pigs, but if that isn’t possible, you need to spend time with your piggy every day.
• And of course, read the Diet and Nutrition section of this article.

• Guinea pigs are herbivores. Do not give your piggy meats or dairy products.
• Guinea pigs do not make their own vitamin C and need to receive 20 to 50 mg daily.
• Choose a simple vitamin C tab like Oxbow’s Vitamin C.
• Don’t give your piggy sugary yogurt drops with vitamin C. (It’s like eating vitamin enriched candy).
• Vitamin C or other vitamin drops should not be added to the water. Water can degrade the vitamin, it is hard to regulate how much of the vitamin your piggy is getting, and some piggies may not like the taste and drink little or no water.
• GPs are designed to munch on grass all day long. To maintain digestive health, they should always be munching on high fiber, low protein, low carb, low fat food. (Hay, hay, and more hay).
• Feed an unlimited amount of timothy, orchard grass, or oat hay. Give richer alfalfa hay to young, growing piggies and as a treat to adults.
• Leave hay with your piggy for a day or two before tossing it. Your piggy will naturally eat the ‘yummiest’ bits first, but they need to eat the blander, higher-fiber stems too.
• Give your adult piggy about 1/4 cup of high quality hay pellets each day. Do not feed your GP a food mix with dried fruits, nuts, or seeds. Even if the overall mix is nutritionally balanced & complete (unlikely), they will naturally eat the high fat and carb bits of the mix first, and that is no good for their high-fiber designed digestive systems.
• Give your GP fresh veggies everyday. A cup or so of leafy greens and a few colorful colorful veggies should do the trick.
• Fruits and veggies like corn and carrots that are high in carbohydrates should be given as occasional treats only.
• GPs are natural foragers, so they are well suited for eating fresh grass and dandelion weeds that you might find in your yard, (if you don’t use any gardening chemicals that is).
• Be kind to your piggies tummy: Give small amounts of gas producing cruciferous veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, and collard greens.

• Guinea pig's teeth grow throughout their life and need to be worn down to maintain a healthy length. Unless their teeth grow in at an unusual angle, (malocclusion), the normal hay chewing and toy gnawing that piggies do will keep their teeth at a healthy length.
• Their little toenails are always growing too. Clipping a small amount off your piggy's nails once a week will keep them in nice shape.
• If your GP already has long nails, don’t try to cut off all the length at once – you’ll cut into the quick which is painful for your piggy, (not to mention a bloody mess). Just snip a bit off the end of the nail once or twice a week. The quick will recede farther back into the nail as you continue to shorten the length.
• Generally piggies keep themselves clean, but a gentle brushing on a regular basis will help keep their coat really nice.