Do you know how to clean a guinea pig’s cage? Owning guinea pigs is a lot more than just cuddles, licks and playtime! Whilst guinea pigs are particularly hardy in many respects, their survival depends upon their environment. In addition to your guinea pig’s health check, a clean cage is vital to give them a happy and healthy life!
Find Out More:
- How To Clean A Guinea Pigs Cage
- Guinea Pig Cleaning Essentials
- Why Clean A Guinea Pigs Cage
- How Often Should You Clean A Guinea Pigs Cage
- Do Guinea Pigs Smell Bad?
How To Clean A Guinea Pigs Cage
A full cage clean basically means that you remove everything in your cage, clean or replace it and then put it all back inside the cage. Whether your guinea pig lives in a hutch outside or indoors in a cage, they still require their living space to be cleaned. It’s exactly the same process too!
- Remove your piggies from their cage. You can place them in a guinea pig carrier, a run or even a playpen. Most guinea pigs hate being in the cage or hutch when it is getting cleaned!
- Remove everything from their cage. Toys, hiding places, hay and any cage liners.
- Check each item that has been removed. If it needs washing then use a pet safe disinfectant. If it’s old, chewed beyond repair or dirty then it’s best to throw it away and replace it.
- Wipe down the inside of the cage using a pet safe disinfectant. Ensure you get right into the corners of the cage. If there is loose pellets and hay on the floor, brush it up using a dust pan and brush.
- Once the cage is dry, start putting the cleaned and dried items back in.
- Replace old hay with new, and rinse out the food bowl and water bottle.
- Place your piggie back inside their clean home and offer them some treats
Guinea Pig Cleaning Essentials
Simply click below for all your guinea pig cleaning essentials!
Why Clean A Guinea Pigs Cage
One of the main illnesses that result in death for guinea pigs is a respiratory disease. Respiratory diseases occur due to bacteria coming into contact with your piggie and making them unwell.
Not only is respiratory disease unpleasant for your guinea pig and costly for you, but it also results in a short life span for your piggie.
There are certain factors that increase the likely hood of your guinea pig contracting a respiratory disease. These factors include stress, pregnancy and already being poorly or unwell. The bacteria is highly contagious so it’s imperative to keep your unwell guinea pig away from their cage mates until they are fully recovered.
Guinea pigs suffering from respiratory disease require antibiotics and the attention of a vet so ensure you get your guinea pig booked in for an appointment as soon as you can.
Not all respiratory diseases are caused by dirty cages but cleaning a cage is such a small task and yet makes such a huge positive impact on your guinea pig’s life! Ensure you are familiar with the common signs that your guinea pig is unwell:
- Runny eyes or nose
- Skin conditions such as rashes, lumps, bumps or swellings
- Limping
- Unusual bleeding
- Diarrhoea
- Drinking much more or less than normal
- Big weight loss or weight gain over a short time
- Not eating
- Overgrown teeth
- Lack of energy/sleeping more than usual
- Signs of pain, like not wanting to be touched
- A change in their usual behaviour, as this could be because they’re feeling poorly.
If your piggie is showing any of the above signs then please take them to a vat immediately.
How Often Should You Clean A Guinea Pigs Cage
This is a question we get asked a lot! It actually doesn’t take that long to give your guinea pig’s cage a full clean if you also spot cleaning daily!
Spot Cleaning
Spot cleaning a guinea pig’s cage refers to spending just 5 mins each day picking out poop, cleaning up messes and topping up hay. It not only makes the cage look nice and easier to perform your full once a week clean, but it’s also a great way to litter train your guinea pig!
This means they will start to poop in the same place which makes spot cleaning even quicker! We spend about 1 min max spot cleaning daily as our piggies use litter trays that we just empty out.
Full Cage Clean
If you are spot cleaning daily then the full cage clean only takes about 10 mins max. The longest part of it for us is drying the items before putting them back into the cage!
Do Guinea Pigs Smell Bad?
Guinea pigs do not naturally smell. They are really clean animals so if anything is smelly, it will be the cage. Having a cleaning routine is essential to avoid cage odours.
Guinea pig’s urine mixed with hay gets smelly fast. Keep hay fresh to stop it from smelling. Also, be aware that guinea pigs will not eat soiled hay so if you aren’t changing your guinea pigs hay daily then you are essentially starving your guinea pig of hay (learn about guinea pig nutrition here)
If your guinea pigs are litter trained (learn how-to here) then it is much easier to spot clean the cage daily than if they aren’t.
A Little Clean Goes A Long Way
As you can see knowing how to Clean a guinea pig’s cage takes hardly any time at all and yet can potentially save your guinea pig’s life! As always feel free to ask any questions below.
