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🩺 Your free vet-prep sheet

Your Guinea Pig Vet-Prep Sheet

Exotic-mammal vets are rare, and it is easy to freeze in a crisis. This is the one page to have ready — how to find a vet, what to bring, what to tell them, and the questions to ask. Print it and keep it with your care notes. This helps you prepare for a vet — it is not treatment.

Black & white saves ink and prints cleanly on any printer.

Not sure it’s a vet trip yet? Run the “normal, or should I worry?” check first — many worries turn out to be a husbandry fix.

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Guinea Pig — Vet-Prep Sheet

🔍 Find an exotic-mammal vet — before you need one

  • Search the AEMV find-a-vet directory (the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians), or, in the UK, the RCVS Find-a-Vet tool — or search “exotic / small-mammal vet near me”.
  • Call ahead and ask the key question: “Do you see small / exotic mammals?” Not every vet does. Ask the exam fee while you’re on the phone, so the cost is one less panic in a crisis.
  • Find and save one now, while things are calm — not in the middle of an emergency.

📇 Fill this in now — before the crisis

Two minutes now saves ten in a panic. Print it and keep it with your care notes.

My vet
My guinea pig
What I’m seeing

🚨 Is this an emergency now?

See a vet promptly if you notice any of these:

  • Not eating, drooling (“slobbers”), or dropping weight — often dental disease, and a guinea pig that stops eating needs a vet quickly
  • Any difficulty breathing, sneezing, or nasal/eye discharge — respiratory infection and pneumonia are a leading cause of death and can progress fast; see a vet immediately
  • Diarrhoea, small or no droppings, bloating, a hunched posture, rough fur or staining around the rear — gut upset, which can decline rapidly
  • Watering, crusting or redness of the eyes (conjunctivitis)
  • Head tilt, circling, loss of balance or ear discharge (ear infection)
  • Hair loss with low appetite and energy in a female over one year (possible ovarian cysts)
  • Any new lump, especially in a guinea pig over 5 years old

When in doubt, a vet call is never wrong — most issues are reversible if caught early.

🚗 On the way / while you wait

✅ Do

  • Keep it warm — small mammals chill and dehydrate fast, and cold makes almost everything worse.
  • Bring it in its own bedding/carrier with some familiar food.
  • For rabbits and guinea pigs, keep offering their normal hay, greens and water — a gut that stops is an emergency.
  • Bring a fresh dropping or urine sample if you can.
  • Keep it calm and quiet.

⛔ Don’t

  • Don’t give any human or OTC medicines — some common antibiotics are fatal to rabbits and guinea pigs.
  • Don’t withhold food from a rabbit or guinea pig.
  • Don’t let it get cold.
  • Don’t handle it more than necessary.

🎒 What to bring

  • A fresh dropping or urine sample, if you can collect one.
  • Photos and a short video of the behaviour or symptom — it may not show it in the clinic.
  • A note of your setup and exactly what — and how often — you feed.
  • A note of eating, drinking and toileting over the last day.
  • The animal in a secure, warm carrier.

🗣️ What to tell the vet

A general vet may not know this species. Come ready to explain its correct care:

Enclosure
As much floor space as you can give, on a solid floor (never a grid or wire floor — it hurts their feet) with a good depth of litter. Guinea pigs run rather than climb, so floor area matters far more than height, though they need room to stand fully upright and youngsters need about 30 cm of headroom for their happy “popcorn” hops. Include a large exercise area plus secure shelters and hides — they feel exposed in open space — with as many hiding places as pigs, plus one.
Companionship
Guinea pigs are herd animals and must never be kept alone — in some countries it is even illegal to keep a solitary one. Good groupings include a neutered male with one or more females, two females, or brothers raised together (unrelated males can work but take patience). Any male kept with females must be neutered. Give every pig its own escape/hiding spots and enough food, water and shelter for all, so lower-ranking pigs aren’t bullied. If one must temporarily live alone, it needs daily human company as a stopgap.
Temperature
Room temperatures of 17–20°C are ideal. Guinea pigs cope badly with temperature swings: above 26°C they risk heatstroke, and below 15°C they get chilled and should be moved indoors. Keep them out of direct sun, away from radiators, and free of draughts.
Substrate
A solid floor with a generous, deep layer of dry, dust-free, absorbent wood shavings topped with plenty of hay to tunnel and hide in; wood wool also makes good hiding material. Never use a grid floor. Provide enough bedding throughout to keep them warm, and spot-clean often — guinea pigs like their toilet area kept separate.
Enrichment
They’re active grazers that need room and reasons to move: give free access to an exercise area with pipes, tunnels and shelters to run, stand up, stretch out and forage. Provide safe things to gnaw — their teeth and claws grow continuously and wear down through use — and scatter or hide food to encourage natural foraging. Hides and quiet refuges keep a nervous pig calm.
Diet
Good-quality hay and/or grass makes up the majority of the diet and must be available at all times — it keeps the gut moving and wears down their continuously-growing teeth. Add a fresh daily portion of grass-based guinea-pig pellets and a daily variety of vitamin-C-rich fresh vegetables and herbs. Vitamin C is the make-or-break nutrient: guinea pigs can’t make or store their own, so it must come from the diet every day — and because vitamin C degrades in air, give a fresh portion of pellets and greens each day rather than topping up the bowl. Provide constant fresh water (check twice daily). Don’t overfeed pellets: too many (and too little hay) cause diarrhoea, bloating and gut disease.
Supplements
The critical one is vitamin C, and it should come from the daily diet (fresh grass-based pellets plus vitamin-C-rich vegetables). Don’t rely on vitamin drops in the water bottle — vitamin C breaks down quickly in water and can put pigs off drinking. If you’re unsure your pig is getting enough, ask a vet about a proper supplement rather than guessing.

⚕️ Small mammals are prey animals and hide illness until it is advanced, so any change in eating, droppings, drinking or behaviour is urgent — in rabbits and guinea pigs, not eating or passing no droppings for 12–24 hours can be a life-threatening emergency (gut stasis). They also chill and dehydrate quickly, so keep it warm. Tell the vet about your diet and any remedies you’ve used, and ask for exotic-mammal-safe medicines and doses — several antibiotics that are routine in other pets are dangerous to rabbits and guinea pigs.

⚕️ Guinea pigs cannot make their own vitamin C and need it in the diet — a deficiency (scurvy) is a common, treatable cause of illness, so mention their vitamin-C source. They are also very sensitive to several antibiotics, so ask for guinea-pig-safe medicines.

Then note which of the warning signs (above) you are seeing, when they started, and whether they are getting worse.

❓ Questions to ask

  • Do you routinely see small / exotic mammals? If not, can you refer me to a vet who does?
  • What are the likely causes — and could my setup or diet be contributing?
  • What is the treatment plan, the likely cost, and what should I watch for at home?
  • How do I prevent this from happening again?