Guinea pig stinking question?

Question

ok well, me and ym b ro are going to maybe get a guinea pig. the thing is, my mom hates the smell. is there anyway to reduce the smell besides cleaning their cage EVERY day? like, is there a toilet type thing for them that indicares where they should go to the bathroom? please help, my mom wont let me get a guinea if it smells like that!

Answer 1

you can train your guinea pig to be potty trained to go in one corner (where a litter pan is) which you would be able to scoop out and you clean the cage once a week. and it doesn't smell if you put the right bedding but its better to potty train them. Guinea pigs, just like other house pets as cats and dogs, prefer not to wet the area where they eat and especially where they sleep. They will instead go out of their sleeping corners to do their little business.

Always remember when you try to litter-box train your guinea pig, that the guinea pig is praise and it’s shy by nature. Never push your guinea pig to use the litter box because this will only frighten it.

Most guinea pig owners use wooden/or paper pellets for their guinea pig’s litter box. You may use usual bedding as you use in whole cage.

Start the litter-box training process in a very small area in the guinea pig’s cage. Place a small litter box (I use a medium size plastic dog dish) in a corner of your guinea pig’s cage. Try to place the box in corner of the cage that your guinea pig preferred to use as a bathroom. Put some fecal pellets inside the box to help your guinea pigs get the idea. You may also put a pinch of hay to a corner of the box to encourage your guinea pig to use it.

When you see your guinea pig do its business in the litter box, give its favorite treat as a reward. Don’t be frustrated if you see that your guinea pig sits in the box, eats the hay you’ve placed in it, and do nothing that you expected from it, because guinea pigs often eats and defecates in the same time. Eating the hay will stimulate your guinea pig’s digestive system and finally may cause it to use the litter-box as a bathroom. If your guinea pig prefers to sleep in its litter box rather that use it as a toilet, you may want to provide it with a more attractive bed than one it has (see “Our Craft Pages” for more ideas). Also try using a different bedding material.

Once your guinea pig seems to be using the litter box in his cage and has done so for more time, you can try giving your cavy a little more space. Try to put its litter box on the floor when it is time for floor exercise. If your guinea pig starts making mistakes on the floor, then it may have been too soon to place it in a bigger area. Place the litter box back into your guinea pig’s cage and start all over.

You may also try to buy a second litter box. Keep one of them inside your guinea pig’s cage, and the second anywhere on the floor. With 2 litter boxes your guinea pig is more likely to get the right idea :-)

Clean your guinea pig’s litter box once or twice a week, using water and vinegar solution and dry thoroughly before filling it with bedding."

Answer 2

my guinea pig only goes in corners. use the pellet bedding that u have to wet. then it smells good. and clean them once a week. Also bath them once every two months. Resarch the bathing but heres general care and illness.

http://www.howtodothings.com/pets-and-an...

http://www.howtodothings.com/pets-and-an...

Answer 3

eat them

Answer 4

Okay, kiddo, here we go again!  Do Not Get A Male if you do not want a bad odor!  Bottom line...Males Stink!  Also, you can put cedar shavings in the bottom of their cage that will absorb the urine and reduce the odor.  Better get two females and forget about raising babies, make Mom happy and less work for you and your brother!  Hope this helps.

Answer 5

well some guinea pigs have preferences on where they release their waste. my old one seemed to go only in corners, where as my new one goes everywhere. some studies say that they like to excrete in dark corners, so try putting a shoebox in its cage. that may work.

Answer 6

I used to have a guinea pig and the smell isn't that bad. It probably stinks like that because when you walk into a pet store there's a ton in there and pet stores never take really good care of cleaning their cages anyway. But if it does smell when you clean out the cage spray the bottom with clorox really well and make sure it's all gone before putting those wood chips back into the cage. From experience though the smell isn't that bad it will get bad maybe after a weeks time.

Answer 7

This shouldn't be a problem.

Guinea pigs themselves don't smell, and their cage only smells if it isn't cleaned out often enough.

If it could really be a problem though, get females - as males urine can smell a bit more as they scent mark.

To stop the cage smelling there are 2 main points to consider:

1) A proper, large enough cage.

Guinea pigs produce a huge amount of urine and faeces for their small size! If you put two piggies into a small cage it will get filthy very quickly and you will be cleaning it out all the time. (Small cages are also bad for pigs anyway).

In a large enough cage you should only need to clean out once a week or so. (I do mine once a week and it never smells at all).

Also - make sure the bottom of the cage is plastic (not a wooden hutch). Wood absrobs urine so is impossible to clean or disinfect - so it harbours nasty smells and bacteria.

I would recommend a c+c cage - they are a great size, easy to clean etc.

2) Decent bedding:

Do NOT use pine or cedar shavings. These may smell nice to people, but they contain high levels of phenols which cause respiratory and liver disease.

Do not try to use newspaper on its own either. It is not absorbant enough and gets gross really quickly - so it smells bad and the pigs end up spending all day sitting in their own pee and poops!

Aspen, carefresh and megazorb are good types of bedding. Make sure your bedding is deep enough.

When you clean them out wipe the base of the cage with some water with a little vinegar diluted in it. This helps to stop any smells lingering.