There are many factors that can influence the Health and Happiness of your guinea pig - some are genetic, some are husbandry related. Have a ponder over these two different scenarios. I hope some of it is useful in recognising where different threats of illness or injury are hiding and what a difference the correct care has over the life of your guinea pig.

To make things easier I will talk about a fictional pig called Percy. Before Percy is born we want to make sure he has the best possible chance of being born healthy so we need to look at his parents. It is very important when breeding a pig that the parents are chosen very carefully, often of course, pigs are born & bred unplanned, out of accident or ignorance, which can be detrimental to both baby pig & mother pig. In Percy's case healthy parents have been chosen who have no hereditory health problems - eg they are not from a line of pigs who have suffered from malocclusion [mis-aligned teeth] etc. They also are nice steady friendly characters who are more likely to produce a nice natured Percy :o) Percy's parents are well nourished and cared for, they are a good age and weight [Diseases of Domestic Guinea Pigs - V.C.G. Richardson suggests at least 3-5 months for the males and 4-5 months {but before 10months} for the females with a good healthy weight of about 500-550gm] and Percy's mum is looked after well when pregnant - fed lots of Vitamin C rich vegetables and obtaining plenty of exercise. Percy is born a happy healthy bouncing boar with no known family history of hereditory health problems. Because he is born to knowledgeable and experienced piggy owners [who read up on breeding before taking the decision to breed so they knew how to act if problems arose] he has the best start in life and is given the best nourishment, a great environment to live and is handled regularly and gently. He is a confident, strong pig who is friendly and looking for a loving home.

The above passage is not to encourage and promote breeding of guinea pigs - rather to illustrate that we don't live in the sort of world where every pig receives the best chance in life. A huge number are born unplanned and with any number of hereditory health problems. Some pigs die before or even during or shortly after they are born. Even with the best love and care you give your pig - if he has a hereditory tendency towards malocclusion for example there is nothing you can do to prevent it - he is just that way - and part of the commitment you made when you gave him a home is to determine what is wrong with him, and obtain the appropriate treatment and maintain this to ensure he is living a healthy life and not suffering unnecessarily.

Percy's next step will be his adventure to find a new home, ideally of course he would not have been bred unless there was a knowledgeable home ready and waiting for him. Meanwhile you have set off on your search... you stumble into the petshop and see little Percy, oh what a little sweet pig ! You know he is the one for you. Of course we know that Percy went into the petshop healthy, with no hereditory problems but what has happened to him since then ? This could be Percy's first exposure to infectious diseases - there are a number that can affect guinea pigs, bacterial, fungal and viral etc perhaps looking around the pen in the shop you notice that several of Percy's new playmates are scratching or have sores or bald spots - Percy may unwillingly have picked up mites or ringworm or hold on a minute, several of them have stuffy or runny noses, and is that a runny poop you can see in the corner, next to the hunched up sad looking pig ? It is important to check over your potential new pig for signs of ill-health.

* Don't just walk away though, do your best for the pigs, they didn't want to be there and they certainly don't want to be ill. Formulate what you are going to say to the pet shop manager then approach him and explain calmly the situation in the pig-pen, advise him that he should take appropriate action and you will be back to ensure he does, and you may also notify the relevant authorities so that they can pay him a visit too *.

However, you decide you still want Percy - whilst in the pen picking him up you check the sexes of the other pigs to make sure the pet-shop has correctly sexed them, it is a common mistake for them to be sexed incorrectly - as you suspected there are females in with the males - who by now are most likely to be pregnant - these females may well suffer health problems, as well as their offspring, from being bred so young, and also possibly by their siblings, however I digress. So, the moral here is that Percy had the best start in life but then came across infectious diseases !

You have bought Percy home, you will be keeping a very close eye on him to make sure he does not develop any symptoms of the diseases he has been exposed to. [If he does, get him treated asap of course !] However ! If you already have other pigs at home - please make sure you quarantine Percy for 3 weeks - he may look ok [and we cross our fingers he is] - but don't forget the bugs he has been exposed to and may be bringing into your home with him to infect your existing piggies ! You are bringing Percy in and you are responsible for doing the best you can to protect your piggies - this should be adequate time for him to exhibit symptoms of anything he may have picked up and for you to get to know him and his habits and what is normal for Percy to aid you in future monitoring of his health ! If you are going to introduce him to other pigs do so carefully, this could have it's own problems and it's own health implications - think bitten ears and stress from being constantly harrassed by 'king' pig !

Of course, the best things you can do for Percy now are to ensure he is housed appropriately and is fed the correct diet - refer to pages: Piggy Care / Housing and Piggy Care / Feeding for further info. These will ensure he is in healthy surroundings, clean, dry and has all his nutritional needs cared for and plenty of fresh vegetables for Vitamin C. a good dry mix & plenty of fresh hay ! Caring for Percy in this way should prevent him suffering from husbandry related ailments such as Scurvy / Constipation / Upset stomach / Malnutrition / Sore skin and irritated nasal passages from dirty bedding & ammonia fumes, let alone the build up of fungal spores or bacteria in the soiled pen.

Ensure you have appropriate housing, feeding, bedding etc !

Percy has now settled happily in, fortunately he didn't pick anything nasty up at the petshop and he has a great pen, smashing healthy food and is growing into a very handsome boy. He is confident and sure of himself when you handle him - he was a little unsure about the whole handling thing when he first arrived after seeing a few sights at the petshop - most noticably from people [some children, some adults] who didn't know how to handle pigs correctly - some were dropped and some were squeezed and prodded - resulting in broken bones and bonked noses [with accompanying broken teeth] all highly preventable with adequate supervision and learning how to handle pigs correctly. As guinea pigs are naturally prey animals, which means they have a 'flee from predators' mentality, you have to be patient and gentle and caring to earn their trust.

Percy is now ready for adventures outside of the pen - but before you let him out make sure the area you let him out in is pig proof ! Cover or hide electric cables, make sure the houseplants won't poisen him, make sure he can't climb up onto something, only to promptly fall off and hurt himself. Don't leave carrier bags or plastic where he can reach them [and eat them], don't have piles of things on low shelves than he can [and will] pull off and then become squashed under - believe me, if there is something in the room that will cause him harm he will find it, and you will never forgive yourself.

Make sure all exercise areas are piggy safe - no escape routes / no dangers !

Same goes for trips out in the garden - don't let him come a cropper - make sure there is nothing sharp in the lawn - you don't want nasty cuts that may get infected and turn into abscesses, you don't want his eyes poked, you don't want him bitten by the dog from next door ! Make sure he has a nice safe, sturdy run that he can't escape from and supervise him at all times.

But it can also be a good thing, the trick is knowing how to get the balance right and knowing when to seek *expert* help !

You will of course be carrying out regular health checks on Percy so you can spot any signs of ill-health as quickly as possible - I can't stress enough the importance of seeking a proper diagnosis and receiving the correct treatment - you can do as much research as you can - for example reading the health checks I carry out in the link above and also searching around other sites on the internet, reading books and talking with friends - this is all great for information gathering [useful to inform the vet about as well], getting used to how Percy normally is and recognising when he is not right, but no-one can tell you for sure what is wrong with your pig unless they examine him themselves, otherwise it is pure speculation - we can say what it could be, what it sounds like to us etc but we can't see it - your description of Percy's strangulated honking noise may be what someone else calls a 'happy wheek'.

• Your pig may not be able to chew his food properly and you may have read it could be his teeth so you get them trimmed [by a friend of a friend who 'knows' about these things] but they trim the front ones, instead of the back ones but then when you *do* go to the vet when Percy still isn't better it turns out there was nothing wrong with his teeth he has an abscess or a fungal infection in his mouth and that's why he wasn't eating
• Perhaps he is sneezing so your friend whose pig had a respiratory infection gives you her antibiotics, that she has left, to use, as Percy *must have the same thing as her piggy as he was sneezing too and Percy does sound a bit'chesty' - did you listen to his lungs with a stethoscope, is there fluid on his lungs ? *. Turns out Percy is sneezing because you switched him to some bedding that gets right up his nose and makes him sneeze, and has now received some antibiotics that he didn't need that has mucked his tummy right up. So, anyway to get to my point !

When you think something is wrong - you will learn from experience / gut feeling / and intensive guinea pig internet & book studying ! - get a proper diagnosis and treatment - and treat as advised by your vet - by all means mention things you have read or theories you may have, as it can all prove useful and may even prompt your vet to carry out other examinations for things he may not have thought of ! There are also things you will learn during your researching that will ease Percy's symptoms and work alongside his treatment. Just bear in mind that some things *do* need antibiotics and other vet treatments that are unavailable to the layperson. As well as doing good they can also do harm if used in the wrong circumstances at the wrong dosages in the wrong hands !

Well we're happy to report that Percy has made it through to old age, he had a good start in life, was looked after beautifully, didn't catch any infectious diseases at the petshops or visiting friends, didn't nibble through any live wires, didn't get dropped [he was very pleased especially about that one] had a few hairy moments - or rather - lack of hairy moments - but these were soon sorted out by some ivermectin injections at the vets - and he is now slowing down. Like us, when Percy becomes older he can develop health problems - you may notice lumps and bumps which may be tumours or simply fatty lumps, he may lose 'condition' as his appetite decreases and you will need to keep a special eye on his diet, he may develop a bit of an impaction problem etc. Make sure you keep him stimulated and allow him to exercise to ensure he doesn't grow a middle age spread and to keep his interest in life ! He may also become more susceptible to infectious diseases as his immune system weakens, so take extra special care of the old boy, lots of love and cuddles and care, and if he does end up suffering, make sure you do the best thing by him and know when to let go. He has been such a loyal and loving Percy Pig - Aw, I wish he was real and not made up now :o( Thanks Percy, you were a lovely piggy xxxx

Now contrast Percy's life with how it could so easily have been.

• His mother was made pregnant when very young by her brother, in the petshop.
• She was bought whilst pregnant and her new owners didn't realise until she gave birth, they just thought she was fat - they didn't think to check the sexes in the pens.
• She had been put straight into a pen with some other pigs at her new home who had a mite problem. She was very itchy and suffered bald patches and scabbing and when Percy was born he caught them too. His mother died shortly afterwards after she fell down the stairs after she escaped from the bedroom she was kept in. Meanwhile, Percy hadn't had his sex determined so was left in with the girls, he of course went on to impregnate the female pigs he was living with.
• Percy was underweight when he was born, not fed well, not cleaned out very often and not treated for mites until they had caused a very bad problem and he was virtually bald with open weeping wounds.
• His new family had enough, pigs weren't much fun when they scratched and didn't like being handled and didn't look very nice - plus they now had a load of babies to deal with ! They gave Percy up to a friend of theirs. The friend got Percy's mite problem cured after taking him to a vet who diagnosed mites and gave him the appropriate treatment. The friend fed him well and gave him a nice comfy bed and he soon looked a nice healthy pig. Things were finally looking up.
• After a while though, despite his good diet, he began losing weight and he went back to the vet. He was diagnosed with malocclusion - a problem he had inherited from his parents - his teeth were misaligned and needed regular trimming to enable him to eat properly. Oh dear, this was going to cost them money, they didn't realise vets were so expensive. In the meantime he needed supplementary feeding via syringe to help him gain some weight back.
• This friend just couldn't be bothered with the hassle of all this treatment or the expense so put an advert in the local paper asking for a new home [they didn't bother saying about the treatment he'd need as they figured it would be someone elses problem].
• A new owner came forward on a whim after seeing the advert - a free guinea pig, they sound fun, there had been that cute one in that film they'd seen - and took him home - they hadn't really thought about everything that was involved in caring for a guinea pig. They didn't really know about what to feed him or that he needed hay and proper guinea pig food, and didn't really bother cleaning him that much or handling him very often, except by their small child who prodded him and squeezed him occasionally and thought it hilarious to encourage their yappy to bark at him through the hutch wire. You can imagine how unhappy poor Percy was.
• Needless to say, when he began losing weight again they didn't notice for a while and even when they did they didn't bother taking him to the vet, they were a bit bored of him by now to be honest and didn't bother going down to his hutch to see him much, he didn't like being handled so what was the point of him, he didn't do much ?
• A combination of all these things resulted in Percy dying, alone, aged 1, thin and sad, at the bottom of the garden, lying in a dirty wee and poo sodden hutch.
• And no-one even noticed for a couple of days, and when they did, they were glad they didn't have the hassle of 'looking after him' anymore.

Next >>

Regular Health Checks

Weigh Day

Syringe Feeding

Breeding your Cavy

Cavy Communication

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Page Last Updated: 22/03/06