Basic guinea pig care you need to know
Guinea pigs are beautiful, intelligent, and curious pets. These small little creatures can make the perfect addition to any family. And just like every other pet, they have their own care needs and special considerations.
If you’re thinking about adding a guinea pig to your family or already have, here’s everything you need to know about guinea pig care.
Guinea Pigs are social animals that thrive in groups - make sure you adopt them in pairs at a minimum.
Checklist: Guinea pig care essentials
Guinea pig care covers a variety of topics, each equally important to your guinea pig’s health and wellbeing, including:
- Guinea pig food and water needs for a balanced diet
- Choosing the right cage and home for your guinea pig
- Exercise and enrichment for your guinea pig
- Guinea pig grooming requirements
- Guinea pig healthcare and illness
Caring for guinea pigs
Life Expectancy: Up to ten years
Diet: Herbivore
Personality: Sociable, inquisitive, and friendly
Your guinea pig’s core traits are central to living a happy and healthy life. With the right diet, enrichment, and shelter, your guinea pig will have everything they need.
Guinea pig food and water needs
Every animal has a unique diet and water requirements; let’s cover the basics of hydration and food for your guinea pig. How is their diet broken down? How much water do they drink? What can’t a guinea pig eat? Find out below.
Guinea pig food and diet requirements
Guinea pigs are herbivores. Provide your guinea pig with regular fresh grass or hay, leafy greens, and vegetables daily to meet their nutritional requirements. Also, offer a small number of pellets (1/4 cup) and some form of vitamin C daily. Fibre is another key dietary inclusion to assist with gastrointestinal health.
Guinea pigs (unlike most animals) can’t store vitamin C so it must be part of their daily diet or given as a supplement.
Your guinea pig’s diet
- Fresh hay and grass: Hay should make up 70% of your guinea pig’s diet. *Do not feed your guinea pig Lucerne (alfalfa) or Clover Hay, as these are too rich in calcium and protein.
- Pellets: Fibre rich pellets can be included as a small portion of your guinea pig’s diet.
- Daily fresh vegetables: Brussel sprouts, broccoli, carrots, cucumber, capsicum, dandelion, greens, and parsley.
- Snacks: Brussel sprouts, broccoli, carrots, cucumber, capsicum, dandelion, greens, and parsley.
- Vitamin C: Guinea pigs require 10-50 mg of vitamin C per day, depending on their condition. Some leafy green vegetables and fruits contain vitamin C, but you can also purchase tablets to help with vitamin C requirements. For more information on vitamin C requirements, speak to your local Petstock VET.
*Without vitamin C in their daily diet, guinea pigs are susceptible to Scurvy (vitamin C deficiency), leading to multiple illnesses – one of which is heart failure, a common cause of death in guinea pigs.
Don’t add anything extra to your guinea pig’s water supply unless it’s a health-related additive directed by an expert or vet.
What your guinea pig shouldn’t eat
To give the best care to your guinea pig, you should also know what your guinea pig shouldn’t eat.
- Seeds with kernels
- Nuts
- Peas
- Dried beans
- Corn
- Onion grass
- Sugar
- Human food
- Iceberg lettuce
- Animal by-product
- Mineral blocks
- Human food
- Lawn clippings
How much does a guinea pig need to eat every day?
Provide your guinea pig with a variety of food types every day and leave them to forage and graze at their discretion. It’s more important you provide your guinea pig the correct range of food to ensure all the proper nutrients for optimum health. It’s also important to note, introducing a variety of foods at an early age is better for your guinea pig longer-term, as they can be less willing to try foods later in life.
Guinea pig hydration
Guinea pigs need 90-100mls of pure water each day. Give your guinea pig the option of multiple water sources and replace the water every day to keep it fresh. Replacing the water will also help to prevent any algae growth. Hanging water bottles are the best and most common water container for a guinea pig.
Don’t add anything extra to your guinea pig’s water supply unless it’s a health-related additive directed by an expert or vet.
Shop guinea pig food today.
Guinea pig housing: small animal cages, houses, and conditions
A key aspect of guinea pig care is choosing suitable housing. The right home will ensure your guinea pig is comfortable, safe, and enriched. Your options for housing include both indoor and outdoor Hutches and cages.
Bigger is often better when it comes to choosing the right house. The guinea pig's hutch should be a minimum of 70sq cm per guinea pig and include an activities area. You want to provide your guinea pig enough room to exercise, roam and interact with different elements within their environment. Size is even more important when you have more than one guinea pig – which is very common, as guinea pigs thrive when living with friends.
To ensure your guinea pig is living in the best conditions, make sure the cage or hutch has good ventilation and is away from direct sunlight or heat sources during warmer months; guinea pigs are susceptible to heat stress. For guinea pigs, the best living temperature is between 17 to 24 Celsius. We recommend bringing your guinea pig indoors during extreme weather conditions to ensure their safety.
If your hutch has a wire floor, ensure it is well covered with hay, to avoid your guinea pig catching and breaking a leg. Bedding material should be soft straw or hay, also provide material for your guinea pig to burrow under in the activities section.
Flystrike is a condition where flies lay eggs on a guinea pig, (often near their bottom) and when hatched, begin to eat the flesh the guinea pig.
Guinea pig exercise and activity needs
You should allow your guinea pig to explore, investigate and play within their environment. They are curious creatures that love interacting with other guinea pigs and the opportunity to roam free for a couple of hours a day. If you’re considering adding a second or third guinea pig to the family, do it! Guinea pigs thrive amongst friends.
Here are some tips to ensure your guinea pig receives the right level of exercise, activity, and stimulation:
- Change up their enclosure by moving it to a new location or swapping out elements within their hutch or enclosure.
- Get them a playmate! Guinea pigs are social creatures and do love to have a friend. Life is always better when you have someone to share in exploring the world.
- Create games, and purchase toys! Give them something to do by buying guinea pig toys and hiding their food in new places for the perfect foraging experience.
Guinea pig’s teeth grow continuously, so they need to chew to wear them down so the mouth closes properly. Always provide
Guinea pig grooming
Just like other pets, guinea pigs will need regular grooming. However, your guinea pig’s grooming routine will look different from your canine or feline family members.
Nail trimming
Guinea pigs require semi-regular nail trimming, with a frequency of about one to two months – depending on how quickly the nails grow and are worn down. Like dogs, if a guinea pig is active, their nails will be worn down faster than the nails of a more sedentary guinea pig.
To clip your guinea pig’s nails, use a small animal nail clipper.
When clipping your guinea pig's nails, be careful not to cut too far. Each nail has a blood vessel called a quick, which is pink or red. You should only trim just before the quick, otherwise, it will be painful and cause bleeding.
If your guinea pig has black nails, be extra careful when clipping. You can use a light like a torch, which will help identify the quick. If you can't see clear enough, revert to just a minimal trim at the tip of the nail.
When in doubt, always speak to your vet or even allow your vet to take care of the trimming.
Brushing
Guinea pigs shed their coat, so regular brushing of your guinea pig is key in their grooming routine. Short-haired guinea pigs should be brushed at least once a week, while longer-haired breeds will need a comb through every couple of days.
Why is it important to brush your guinea pig? It manages the shedding of hair and removes loose or dead skin, allowing you to check for any lumps or parasites.
To brush your guinea pig, purchase a brush that will easily comb through thin hair. You can choose from a few different small animal brush options.
Bathing
Do you need to bathe a guinea pig? Not unless they are particularly dirty or smelly. Guinea pigs should only have a couple of baths a year, as they are very clean creatures and overdoing bath time can cause a dry coat or skin.
If your guinea pig is very smelly and has become a frequent issue, it’s best to speak to your local vet to ensure they are not ill. A pungent smell can often be a sign of illness.
Guinea pig healthcare needs
A guinea pig’s health relies upon diet, enrichment, shelter, and grooming. However, even with all the care in the world, sometimes your guinea pig can fall ill or need extra help keeping their health in check.
- Provide a daily balanced diet of fresh vegetables and fruit, including vitamin C
- Allow your guinea pig to roam three to four hours a day
- Daily cleaning of your guinea pig’s shelter
- Brush fur every week or multiple times a week for long-haired breeds
- Bathe only when needed
- Trim your guinea pig’s nails every one to two months
Parasites and worming
Guinea pigs can be susceptible to parasites and worms during their lifetime, including mites and lice. To keep the nasty creatures at bay, make sure you do the following.
- Worm every three months with a small animal wormer
- Regularly check your guinea pig’s body (including ears) for any signs of parasites
Signs your guinea pig might be sick
To help detect if your guinea pig’s health has deteriorated, here are some of the signs your guinea pig could be unwell.
- Loss of appetite
- Curled up posture
- An unusually large belly
- Change of coat
- Lethargy or lack of interest in exercise or play
Some of the most common healthcare issues for guinea pigs include respiratory infections, diarrhea, scurvy, tumours, abscesses urinary problems and parasites.
Guinea pigs and heat stress
Guinea pigs don’t enjoy the heat. In fact, in the wild, guinea pigs will hide away in the coolest nooks possible, low in the ground. With no sweat glands, a guinea pig struggles to regulate their body temperature, so you must help keep your guinea pig keep cool during the summer months.
- Make sure your guinea pig has access to shade (you may need to move their hutch to a new location or bring it inside as the safest option)
- Provide them with lots of cool sources of water
- Add frozen treats to the enclosure and even ice bricks or a cooling mat to chill their environment
- Allow them to roam in a closed-off area on tiles
How do you know if your guinea pig has already become too hot and suffering heat stress? It can be fatal, so here are some of the signs of guinea pig heat stress or heat stroke:
- Discoloured gums
- Panting
- Convulsions
- Lethargy
- Drooling
Cool your guinea pig down with the following methods:
- Wet your guinea pig with damp towels (do not fully immerse your guinea pig in water as this can cause shock)
- Bring them inside onto tiles or the coolest area of your home
Now you have all the basics on guinea pig care, you can rest easy with the right information to help your littlest friend live their fullest life. They can be the best friend you ever had!