How Often Should a Guinea Pig Be Taken to the Vet for Checkups?

Your guinea pig doesn’t need any vaccinations, so you might think they never need to go to the vet unless there’s something wrong. While it’s true that you should go to your Orlando guinea pig vet if you notice something wrong with your guinea pig, you should also take it for routine checkups just to make sure that your guinea pig stays in good health.

How Often Should a Guinea Pig Be Taken to the Vet for Checkups?

If you don’t see any issues with your guinea pig and there are no current or longstanding problems with its health, you only need to take it to the vet for standard checkups. This means once a year at minimum.

Make sure that you take it to a vet like us that’s familiar with guinea pigs to be sure that they’re receiving the proper care.

Regular Checkups

Take your guinea pig to the vet for a comprehensive check of its health. The point is to detect illness early to prevent serious issues down the line.

Your vet will also look for problems with pests because guinea pigs might not struggle with fleas and worms, but they do have problems with lice and mites. Your vet will be able to find them and can help your guinea pig if they have scabs or itchiness.

Check Your Pet

You should be handling your pet daily, and this means spending some special time with it and checking whether it has any issues that you haven’t noticed before.

Keep an eye out for possible skin problems, injuries, sudden weight gain or loss, dental problems, or any other issues that you didn’t see before. You should also ensure that it’s eating well and isn’t hunched over or walking strangely, all of which can indicate a problem.

If you notice any of these issues or that your guinea pig isn’t responding to you, this is when it’s time to go in for an emergency checkup.

Emergency Checkups

If you notice anything out of the norm with your guinea pig, whether it’s with its physical health or behavior, this is when you need to take it to the vet. Even if you only just took it for a regular checkup not too long ago, it’s best to get checked out.

Your vet will be able to determine what the problem is quickly, but be sure that you’ve been keeping track of the clinical signs. The more information you have on your guinea pig, the better your vet will be able to treat it.

Dental Care

This is also something that you should keep track of, and that your vet will look for during any regular checkup or emergency appointment. All guinea pigs have teeth that continually grow, so their teeth might actually become overgrown if they aren’t properly taken care of.

Talk to your vet about how to do this properly, and what you might be able to feed them to potentially help their teeth in the long run.

Desexing

This is the same thing as neutering or spaying your cat or dog, and is meant to improve their temperament, reduce the chances of diseases like ovarian cysts, and prevent future problems during labor as well. It is best done between 4-6 months of age.

Conclusion

You should definitely take your guinea pig to the vet regularly, at least once a year. If you notice any problems at any point, though, you need to get an appointment immediately. While regular checkups can help prevent any serious health concerns in the future, always talk to your vet if you notice anything concerning, and your guinea pig should stay in good health!