Hello, I’m Pippin, and I’m a guinea pig. Today I’m going to tell you about Gorgeous Guineas and their products, and alternatives. And maybe a bit about Guinea Pig Welfare UK, who I mentioned yesterday.

We’re helping out our Mummy, Jemima Pett, who is doing the A2Z this year by putting together all the posts we’ve done here on George’s Guinea Pig World, to make a book on Guinea Pig Care from A to Z. You can see her posts here: jemimapett.com/blog/. We’re filling in the gaps this month.

Grooming and suchlike

I suppose it’s all about keeping us clean and healthy. Grooming is supposed to stimulate the skin to help keep it well, but on the whole we do that ourselves. We don’t usually need your help. A gentle brush occasionally with a suitable small soft-haired brush might go down well, but longhairs like Ronnie and Reggie are best finger-combed. They are more likely to get tangles than short-hairs like me. And fuzzy hairs like Locksley are best brushed up the wrong way, if at all.

No the act of stroking us is usually enough from a grooming point of view.

But there are occasions when a bath is needed. Especially if pigs have had skin problems or got themselves too dirty to clean properly. Mummy used to bath us more often, about once every six months, but now she only does us when really necessary, and it’s been years since I had a bath.

I do get my grease gland cleaned fairly often. All boars and some sows produce quite a lot of sticky stuff from their grease gland, which is roughly where a tail would be on another animal. We use it to mark where we’ve been, especially in new places or when new pigs are around. And it makes a sticky mark on our rear ends which is difficult for us to clean completely. Some pigs are worse than others. Fred and George didn’t need doing for about three years. I’m much the same, but I need it more often now. Dylan and Dougall never got done at all, except as part of a routine bath, and they didn’t have many of those. George wrote something about having his grease gland cleaned in this permanent page: At The Beauty Salon. He enjoyed it!

When the long-hairs, like Dylan and Dougall and Ronnie and Reggie need more than finger-combing, Mummy gets out the wideetoothed comb. She has two of these. One has ordinary teeth that are quite far apart, and the other is a type of comb for very tangled hair, with long spikes and wide teeth. She uses it very carefully to help separate tangled long hair. Auntie at the Rescue never uses a comb because she says it pulls the hairs on our skin and hurts. I think she’s right, and so does Mummy, which is why Mummy holds the hair if she has to work it with a comb so it doesn’t pull our skin.

Gorgeous Guineas Shampoos and creams

When we absolutely have to have a bath, Mummy uses Gorgeous Guineas shampoos because they are designed for us. They don’t have any nasty chemicals in them, they rinse out easily, and they make us clean and even nicer smelling that usual. There are also some special ones for skin trouble. Roscoe had to have the ‘Lice & Easy’ one when he picked up running mites and things, and Neville, Ronnie and Reggie needed the Neem shampoo for the static mites. Those are the main skin problems, mites and lice, but there are also fungal infections that some pigs get in neglected situations, and there is special fungal shampoo as well.

Dylan and Dougall used to have the ‘Easi-rinse sandalwood shampoo’ for long flyaway hair, and nearly everybody else has had ‘Just for Boars’ which is an all-round shampoo with a nice masculine smell, not a pretty flowery one that the sows might have. Apparently there was a competition to name the new shampoo for us boys, and Auntie Doris and Uncle Bob won with ‘Just for Boars’. Mummy always laughs when someone mentions a human shampoo called ‘Just for Men.’

There are also creams for skin conditions. Mummy uses their F&M (which stands for Foot and Mouth) for our red skin on our feet, and it can also be used for acid sores called chelitis on the mouth. It can go on top of scabs and still work, apparently. Sounds horrid to me. I don’t want scabs on my mouth.

There are other creams for different types of sores, and persistent mite and fungal problems. They send a care guide with them, so you know how to use them.

Of course, Mummy says you could use a more standard product for shampoo, as long as it was good quality, easy to rinse out thoroughly, unperfumed or using herbal essences, and kind to the skin. Baby shampoo is the safest option.

Other creams Mummy has used are for specific things like fungal infections, and most of them are only supposed to be for humans. Never tell a pharmacist that it’s for an animal. Say you’re collecting it for a friend, to avoid having to give details. And for very sore skin, she says Bepanthen works wonders. George had to have it when his abscesses made his skin all sore and painful.

Guinea Pig Welfare UK

I haven’t left much space for talking about this charity. But it started last year, by important guinea pig people, and aims to promote best care in guinea pigs. There are lots of interesting things on their website, and they send out regular newsletters by email. Mummy says all their guidance is based on proper research, even if she doesnt always do exactly what they say. They understand that people can only do their best, as long as it is their best, and their animal is not suffering from incorrect practice. Adaptations may always be necessary, as long as they are informed decisions. guineapigwelfareuk.co.uk

Mummy joined at the start, so she is a Founder Member. But she says she’s still learning lots from them.

And I talked about Guinea Pig Welfare yesterday, too.

Tomorrow it’s H!

love

Pippin xxx