Why is the guinea pig…?

Many features of the behavior of guinea pigs that seem unusual to us and go beyond our ideas of normality are quite physiological and natural for guinea pigs.

Below are some of the most common breeder questions that begin with, “Why is a guinea pig…?”

Generally speaking, a squeak is not quite the right definition for the sounds characteristic of guinea pigs. Well, they don’t squeak! Rather, they do it like this: “wik-wik”.

This, as it is often called the “squeak” of guinea pigs, is usually associated with a feeling of hunger. If there is a specific time that you usually feed your guinea pig, then that is when the “week-week” is usually heard the most.

Also, if your guinea pig sees you approaching her with food, be sure to hear an impatient “squeak”. Sometimes you can even notice how the pig’s ears begin to move in unison with this “week-weeping”. In other cases, a guinea pig can be observed popcorning with the same sound accompaniment.

The guinea pig “squeaks” solely to attract the attention of the owner. This, one might say, is an acquired, artificial sound, aimed only at attracting the attention of us, people. How can we know? Specialists involved in the study of guinea pigs have come to the conclusion that such sounds are not typical for guinea pigs living in the wild. Probably because there they never had people who feed them pellets by the hour and bring juicy treats.

Thus, such a “squeak” is typical only for domesticated guinea pigs and means either “Hey, master, I’m here!”, Or: “It’s time to eat!” .

You can read more about sounds in the article “Sounds of guinea pigs”

Some breeders are very surprised and even puzzled when a guinea pig suddenly, for no reason, jumps in place (sometimes even with a turn in the air), and jumps quite high and unexpectedly.

First question: what is it?

Some begin to suspect a nervous breakdown or spasm in their guinea pig, someone thinks that she was frightened, and the most impressionable even suggest rabies 🙂 I confess, at first I was also puzzled by such an unusual behavior of our young female. But exactly until I found out about popcorning.

The term “popcorning” came to us from the West and, I must say, it quite accurately reflects the peculiarity of swine jumps – by analogy with corn grains, which suddenly jump high when heated.

I hasten to reassure you, popcorning is a behavior quite characteristic of guinea pigs. And quite funny and funny, I must say! Some guinea pigs can jump into the air straight with their whole body, and some can alternately buck their front and hind legs. Often at the same time, pigs make a characteristic sound.

Popcorning is a common occurrence for young gilts. Adult guinea pigs also popcorn, although usually not as often, and they don’t jump as high as younger ones.

“Why is my pig jumping? What is the reason for such behavior? – you ask.

Popcorning is a behavior characteristic of guinea pigs, when the animal expresses its joy and good mood by jumping.

When a guinea pig jumps, this is the first sign that he is very happy and excited. This behavior can be seen when you give your guinea pigs fresh hay or a tasty treat, or even just walk up to the cage and start talking to the guinea pig.

Breeders often want to show the effect of popcorn to friends or film this funny spectacle, but, unfortunately, getting the pig to “popcorn” on command will not work. Pig does it by mood, so to speak. The best way to encourage them to jump is to do things that make them happy, like feeding them well, spending time with them, playing and talking. And then the pig will delight you with its happy jumps!

The high-pitched, high-pitched sound a guinea pig makes, often referred to as a whistle, is most often a signal of alarm, fear, or pain.

If you hear this sound, it would be a good idea to check if the guinea pigs are all right, to make sure that nothing threatens the pigs and none of them got hurt.

It sounds something like this:

But it can be much louder and more piercing.

You can read more about sounds in the article “Sounds of guinea pigs”

Guinea pigs are fairly strong animals that rarely get sick. But sometimes you suddenly notice that the guinea pig has begun to scratch.

Generally speaking, scratching and brushing coats are natural and regular hygiene procedures that are quite common for guinea pigs. These animals are extremely clean by nature, the purity of the body and the absence of smell is the key to their survival in the wild, a guarantee that the predator will not find them by smell. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish the usual “washing” from persistent scratching.

If you notice that one of the pigs begins to scratch suspiciously often or show other signs of anxiety, if you find sores or sores on the body, then this is an alarming sign. Fungal infections are the most likely cause of itchy skin in guinea pigs, but there may be other more serious causes. In this case, for an accurate diagnosis, you need to contact your veterinarian. Most often, a doctor can make a diagnosis based on the results of a visual examination, but sometimes there are cases when, in order to determine the cause of itching, it is necessary to make a scraping from the skin and coat of a guinea pig. Unfortunately, not all veterinary clinics deal with guinea pigs in our country, so scraping can be problematic.

Fungal infections of the skin

Bacterial infections can cause itching and inflammation, while dry skin or allergies can cause excessive scratching and scratching. External fungal infections are among the most common causes of guinea pig itching. These infections usually start on the face and spread to other areas of the body. Such infections are usually accompanied by active hair loss and the appearance of ulcers and scratching on the skin. Treatment is prescribed depending on which microorganism is the causative agent of the infection. Usually, after a few injections, the mumps returns to normal and quickly recovers.

External parasites

Itchy skin in guinea pigs is often the result of external parasites such as fleas, mites and lice. These parasites are very small and can cause significant itching, scratching, hair loss, and other symptoms. If you suspect that your guinea pig has any of these parasites, contact your veterinarian immediately. Rapid treatment with modern drugs will help eliminate infection and prevent complications.

Allergies or dry skin

Dryness and hypersensitivity of the skin is a problem that many purebred guinea pigs suffer from. One of the causes of dry skin is frequent bathing of the guinea pig, especially with the wrong shampoo.

Let’s start with the fact that guinea pigs are rodents by nature, their teeth grow all their lives and they constantly need to gnaw something to wear them down. Usually it is food or hay, but sometimes branches of fruit trees go with a bang. Pigs happily gnaw on their bark.

If, despite the presence of a sufficient amount of food in the cage and the presence of twigs, the guinea pig methodically continues to gnaw the bars of the cage, then in 99% of cases this is a cry from the heart. The pig is simply bored to sit in a cage. Especially if the cage is tight. Especially if the pig is alone, without a relative. Buying a new friend or a new, bigger home for your guinea pig will solve this problem once and for all! I am telling you this from my own experience.

So, let’s look at all the possible reasons why a guinea pig gnaws on a cage:

• the most common reason is that the pig is bored and cramped, she wants to get out of the cage
• if there are other guinea pigs in the room, then by gnawing the bars of the cage, your pig may show interest in relatives (for example, when the male smells the female)
• another option is that the pig is simply hungry and does not want to wait any longer for the usual feeding time.

Read more in the article “Guinea pig gnaws at the cage”

Usually this is a signal of fear. Running and hiding is a natural reaction of any guinea pig to a harsh sound, a new person, a change of scenery, and other stressful situations.

When a pig is frightened of something, she usually runs, as fast as she can, to the nearest dark corner, trying to find some secret place or burrow. This is a behavior characteristic of burrowing animals, in which flight is a defensive reaction. If the animal cannot find shelter, it flees as soon as possible and as far as possible. In the event that all escape routes are cut off, it stops, standing with its back to the wall, and freezes in immobility.

So, a guinea pig hides when it is frightened. Hiding to feel safe.

The guinea pig needs very little sleep, and despite being considered a diurnal animal, it is also active during much of the night. They sleep only four to six hours a day.

Some owners get worried when they notice a guinea pig eating its own litter.

Yes, guinea pigs have this strange habit, which, although it may seem shocking, should not bother you.

This phenomenon, which is also characteristic of hares, rabbits, rats, dogs and other animals, is called “coprophagia”.

To the questions “Why?” and why?” experts answer that this is necessary for the proper functioning of the digestive system of pigs. Guinea pigs have a simple stomach, unlike ruminants (which have divided stomachs) such as cows, goats, and sheep. In the stomach of pigs, food is digested, but the nutrients are not fully absorbed and partially digested, but not absorbed, they leave the body along with feces.

In the simple guinea pig digestive system, ingested food moves faster than in the ruminant system. But the absorption of nutrients is carried out to a lesser extent, so the use of feces allows you to restore nutrients that were not used during the first passage through the digestive system.

So this is a completely normal phenomenon, characteristic of many rodents and due to the special structure of the digestive system.