Peruvian Guinea Pig

Peruvian guinea pigs need plenty of grooming

As a longhair breed, the Peruvian guinea pig depends on you for its grooming. Dirt can easily get caught in its silky coat. In addition, very irritating matted lumps often form.

If the fur is too sticky, you can often only get rid of the affected areas of hair by cutting them out. To prevent this from happening in the first place, around twice a month you should trim your guinea pig’s fur that is growing to floor length.

In order to rid the fur of dirt and little matted clumps, you’re best off using a fine-tooth comb or a soft brush. Place them at the centre parting and gently brush the fur from top to bottom.

If your guinea pig is still very young, you should first get it used to grooming. For this purpose, you can offer it food so that it gradually learns that it can trust you. As well, this helps your Peruvian guinea pig to associate grooming with something positive.

What do Peruvian guinea pigs eat?

Guinea pigs are generally herbivores, i.e. solely plant-eaters. In their natural habitat, they ear herbs, grass and vegetables. You can therefore offer your Peruvian guinea pig greens like carrots, lettuce, tomatoes or cucumbers. These little guinea pigs also like chicory and celery.

Savory or watercress are suitable herbs, whilst marjoram, ribwort and the like are also welcome. However, you should feed your guinea pig dandelion on a less regular basis, because like parsley, it contains a lot of calcium.

Contrary to many conventional guinea pig foods, cereal grains like oats, rye or wheat aren’t part of the natural diet of Peruvian guinea pigs.

Further tips for a healthy diet

Since the wrong diet can lead to some complaints (e.g. malpositioned teeth, digestion problems, lack of vitamin C), you should take into account the following tips:

• Hay should form the basis of every portion. Hence, always provide sufficient fresh hay in the cage.
• The branches of fruit trees contain important nutrients.
• Also provide fresh food around twice a day (greens, wet food).
• Your guinea pig should always have access to fresh drinking water.

You should always start a change in diet slowly so that your guinea pig’s digestive system can get used to new food. It’s better to provide smaller portions more frequently than fewer large portions.

Caution: There are some foods that are not suitable for guinea pigs, including radish, peas and potatoes!

Typical complaints of Peruvian guinea pigs

Peruvian guinea pigs have a life expectancy of around four to six years. However, many guinea pigs suffer over the course of their life from dental problems or gastrointestinal complaints, which can severely affect their quality of life.

Danger of malpositioned teeth

The teeth of Peruvian guinea pigs grown uninterruptedly throughout their entire life. Every week, around one to two millimetres are added to the front and back teeth. They are constantly dependent on plenty of raw fibre to wear down their teeth enough so that they don’t grow too long.

However, as many foods for guinea pigs are low in raw fibre and rich in energy at the same time, many guinea pigs suffer from their teeth growing long. This gradually leads to malpositioning and injuries to the oral mucosa.

These painful wounds are often a reason why affected animals no longer want to eat or appear ill. It’s not uncommon for vets to have to treat the resulting purulent jaw abscesses under anaesthetic.

Special digestion

Furthermore, guinea pigs have a very special digestive system. Their stomach only pushes food into the small intestine when new food forces out the older food pulp.

Here too there can be difficulties if guinea pigs eat too little food rich in raw fibre, as the food pulp then remains stuck in the stomach, so bacteria that are vital for digestion also lack the required energy source. To avoid this happening, you should always ensure a supply of raw fibre!

Where can you buy Peruvian guinea pigs?

You can usually find Peruvian guinea pigs in any well-stocked pet store. If you wish to buy one over the Internet, you should definitely check the housing and origin of the guinea pigs on offer.

You can of course buy this breed from breeders too. However, there are also Peruvian guinea pigs from hobby breeds. The price varies between 15 and 60 pounds, depending on colour, breeding line and the like.