Guinea Pigs - Rodents with Attitude

The medical advice on this page is mostly from my personal experience. Other problems I have not encountered have been included as I felt they were important. I would like to mention that there are photographs of wounds included on this page for your reference.

Superficial bites (surface wounds)
Most bites are superficial (surface skin damage) and do not require a visit to see the vet. To treat a superficial bite wound, gently clean the area with distilled water until clean using cotton pads or cotton buds. Apply some Kamillosan cream to the wound every day until healed and put your pet on clean bedding.

Moderate bites
Some bites are a bit deeper and bloodier and will need a visit to see the vet. When Yumi had a bite to her mouth, my vet decided it was not deep enough to require stitches. He applied some skin glue to the wound to help it to close, give her a painkiller injection and a course of antibiotics to take home. Yumi made a full recovery and we never found out who bit her! Keep your pet on clean bedding during the healing process.

Deep wounds
Bites that are very deep should be put in the capable hands of your vet. I had a chat with my own vet and asked him what sort of process your guinea pig may go through. The wound may need stitches right away, or your vet may choose to leave the wound open for a few days while antibiotics are given to kill any bacteria first before applying stitches. Your vet will do what they feel is best. Keep your pet on clean bedding during the healing process and keep them away from companions until healed.

Corneal abrasion
A corneal abrasion is a scratch on the surface of the eyeball. The cornea is the transparent coating of the eyeball that allows light to be transmitted into the eye, and a corneal abrasion is a scratch in that coating.

You may notice this injury by the bluish cloud over a localised part of the eye, redness of the white of the eye, and/or excessive blinking.

This type of injury is usually very easy to treat and clears up within a week. Flush the eyeball using a blunt ended plastic 1ml syringe and some distilled water to clean the wound, and then apply a couple of drops of Optrex daily until healed. If you are unsure then a trip to see your vet is recommended and you may be given a course of eyedrops.

Fatty Eye
Also known as "Pea Eye", this is a swelling of the tissue underneath the eye (the "conjunctival sac"). It is not clear as to the cause of this problem. Fatty Eye is a permanent condition, although in most cases this condition does not cause the guinea pig any discomfort and guinea pigs can live a normal and happy life with Fatty Eye. If the swelling obstructs vision or serious deformation of the optical area occurs then your vet should be consulted.

Objects stuck in the eye
The most common foreign object that can get stuck in the eye of a guinea pig is a hay seed. Sharp at one end and commonly found in the bundles of hay you give to your pet, guinea pigs can easily get these stuck in their eyes while grazing.
Hay seeds will become stuck between the lower eyelid or the upper eyelid and the eyeball and cause a corneal abrasion where the eyeball will turn cloudy and/or become bloodshot. The upper eyelid or lower eyelid will usually become red and swollen and the eye may weep.

Removing a hay seed from the eye can be difficult. If the seed is not embedded deep in the upper or lower eyelid or the eyeball you may attempt to remove it with a pair of blunt ended tweezers. If you have never attempted this before or if you think it looks like it needs professional attention, you should seek assistance from your vet.

The removal of the foreign object should be done carefully and quickly to minimise the discomfort to your pet and they may squeal when the object is removed. It is not uncommon for a guinea pig to close their eye for a period of time after the removal.

Flush the eyeball using a blunt ended plastic 1ml syringe and some distilled water to clean the wound, and then apply a couple of drops of Optrex daily until healed.

Bleeding nails
Nails trimmed too low will bleed and cause the guinea pig to squeak and feel pain. You can stop the bleeding by holding a tissue to the end of the nail until the blood flow stops. An extra cuddle or a vegetable treat will also be appreciated by your furry friend!

Corkscrew nails
Corkscrew nails are nails that have overgrown and started spiralling up and around like the end of a corkscrew. When the guinea pig puts weight on the nail, the weight encourages the nail to become pushed outwards and into a spiral. This is why guinea pigs must always have their nails trimmed on a regular basis.

If they are left untrimmed, corkscrew nails will cause the guinea pig difficulty and discomfort when walking. Allowing a guinea pig to develop corkscrew nails is considered neglect, and you should ensure that you keep nails trimmed to avoid this problem.

How do I know if it's heatstroke?
Heatstroke can lead to death if not treated quickly so this must be taken extremely seriously. Your guinea pig may be suffering from heatstroke if:

He has been continuously exposed to direct sunlight

He is limp and unable to move around

His breathing is laboured

His pulse is quick

He is drooling and has a damp chin

What should I do?
Guinea pigs suspected of suffering heatstroke should be brought inside immediately into a cool environment. The following treatments should be observed immediately:

Dab cool water on the ears
Dip the legs in cool water
Wrap the guinea pig in cool damp towels
Direct a fan on a slow setting toward your pet
Offer water to drink from your fingertip

As heatstroke must be treated extremely quickly at the onset, there may not be time to get your pet to your local veterinary surgery straight away. Once the above steps have been tried and the guinea pig appears to be recovering or stabilising, you must see your vet immediately as an emergency.

Cornflour
stops the bleeding if I cut a nail to low. It works by clotting the wound when the nail is dipped into it. You can buy cornflour in supermarkets.

Optrex
I use this for sore eyes, especially in hairless guinea pigs where ingrown eyelashes may rub against the eyeball. You can buy Optrex from pharmacies.

100% Pure Aloe Vera Gel
This is great to sooth sore skin and it makes a nice lubricant for hairless guinea pigs to keep their skin supple and healthy. You can buy it from pharmacies.

Kamillosan Cream
I use this for superficial skin wounds such as scrapes and sore patches. It's used for nursing human females to sooth sore nipples, but it heals wounds on guinea pig skin very quickly for some reason! You can buy it from pharmacies.

Oxbow Critical Care
I keep this to feed to convalescing guinea pigs or guinea pigs that are seriously ill. Please ask your vet about Oxbow Critical Care. You can buy it from SPH Supplies but I recommend consulting your vet when using this product.

Canesten Cream
This is an anti-fungal cream I use to reduce the overproduction of yeast in the back passages of my guinea pigs. Yeast overproduction can cause discomfort when passing droppings. I also use it to cure mild cases of mycosis on the skin. You can buy it from pharmacies.

Gorgeous Guineas Lice 'n' Easy Shampoo
This shampoo helps to keep lice at bay! It's natural and does the job without chemicals. See Gorgeous Guineas.

Cotton buds and pads
These are a must for cleaning up wounds. Only use plain buds and pads, not the ones that are soaked in something. You can buy them from pharmacies.

Plastic blunt ended syringes
I use 1ml syringes for administering most prescription medications given to me by my vet, and I also use them for flushing wounds with distilled water. I use my 10ml syringes for feeding the Oxbow Critical Care paste. You can buy syringes from SPH Supplies.

Avipro probiotic powder
This is dissolved in the water supply to reduce tummy ache in guinea pigs receiving antibiotics. Antibiotics upset the natural flora in the gut and the probiotic helps to settle any uneasiness this may cause your pet. You can buy these probiotics from SPH Supplies.

A male guinea pig is occasionally neutered for health reasons but most commonly, neutering happens when we want to make him unable to produce babies. This allows him to live happily with females without the risk of reproduction.

Does neutering stop them mating?
Neutering does not stop a male guinea pig mating with a female as usual. However, he will be unable to have any offspring.

Does neutering change nature or personality?
This is a common misunderstanding. Neutering a male guinea pig only makes him unable to reproduce and it doesn't change his nature or personality. If two males don't like each other then having them neutered won't make it any better.

Is neutering safe?
Neutering is generally a very safe and routine procedure, however as with all operations this does not guarantee a 100% survival rate. It just means that vets do this type of procedure a lot and it's one of the easier operations they can be asked to do.

Rodents don't have an easy relationship with anaesthetic and in the past when anaesthetic was by injection and heavier than it is now the risks to the guinea pig were much higher. However, these days most anaesthetic is given using gas which is much lighter and can be breathed out when the mask is removed, leading to a quicker and more pleasant recovery from the anaesthetic.

My vet explained to me that, he at least, prefers to have a nurse sit the guinea pig up during the operation to reduce the weight of the body on the lungs, thus making breathing easier for the guinea pig. He also prefers the use of gas over injection in rodents, which makes me a very happy customer!

Can I talk to my vet if I'm worried?
I'm a nervous owner, so when one of my male guinea pigs is going to be neutered I can get quite worried. My vet is aware of how worried I get when I have a neutering to be done, and he keeps this in mind when operating on my guinea pigs. If you are worried about neutering like I am, talk to your vet about it and explain your worries.

Flaky skin
This is a sign of either too much moisture (e.g. grease) or too little moisture (dry skin). Most commonly, guinea pigs of a pale colouring (usually Self Lilac or Self Beige) suffer from flaky skin.

A lot of boars often have skin that is slightly greasy anyway, especially around the rump area because of their active grease glands. To clear up greasy skin in a boar you will need to give him a bath on a regular basis using small animal shampoo or a product from the Gorgeous Guineas range. To ensure the skin on your boar does not become over-greasy again, regularly clean his grease gland when he has a bath.

Skin that is dry and persists to cause discomfort to the guinea pig may be a sign of mycosis and requires veterinary treatment.

Mycosis
Mycosis is a fungal infection of the skin and is characterised by dry flaky skin that causes intense itching and lots of scratching and squeaking.

Mild cases of mycosis can be treated with a dose of Canesten applied to the dry and itchy area once a day. Your vet may recommend a different dose of Canesten or even a different course of medication depending on the severity of the mycosis.

If the guinea pig has scratched the skin to a point where the wound is bloody, angry and gaping then veterinary advice must be saught.

Scratch wounds
Simple scratch wounds to the skin can be treated very easily with Kamillosan cream. Clean the wound with warm water and a cotton pad before applying the cream. Repeat daily until the wound is healed.

Broken teeth
Broken teeth should always be dealt with by your vet. When guinea pigs break their teeth it only causes pain if they break them at or into the gum line. The exposed tooth has no nerves, making it easier for the vet to tidy it up.

Broken teeth are often accompanied by cut lips. Do not treat the lips until the vet has seen to the teeth, or you may risk pressing the wobbly tooth and causing your pet to feel it up inside the gum.

Your vet will assess the damage by having a very good look, and they may also gently press on the teeth to establish where the break is. The vet will take your guinea pig away to burr the teeth down. When a small animal has teeth burred, a small mouth guard is inserted into the mouth to protect the cheeks and keep the tongue away from the burr. The burr is then used to gently sand down the teeth to the desired length. This process is not painful for your pet and anasthetic is not required.

The bottom incisors are always slightly longer than the top incisors, and so if your pet breaks the top set of teeth, the bottom set will need to be burred down to match. Guinea pigs grow their teeth back to length within days, so your vet has to ensure that the correct ratio is regained naturally when the teeth grow back by also burring the other set.

A guinea pig with incisors burred short will need to be hand fed for a few days until he can grip his food with his teeth again. Cut his vegetables into small manageable chunks and let him nibble the food until he has finished his meal.

Water bottles using the valve system will need to be temporarily replaced with a ball and spring bottle or a water bowl as your pet will have trouble chewing the pin to let water out of the spout.

One of the first signs of illness in guinea pigs is weight loss. When guinea pigs are going to be unwell the weight drops off quite rapidly so a weekly weigh-in will help you to keep an eye on the health of your pet.

You should invest in a set of digital weighing scales with a dish on the top you can comfortably sit your guinea pig in.

The average healthy weight of an adult guinea pig should be:

2lbs-2lbs 6oz (900g-1200g) for an adult male

1lb 5oz-2lbs (700g-900g) for an adult female