Won’t it be nice if you never have to clean your guinea pig poo again? Think about that, your piggy using a litter box for its poo!
It is essential to keep your guinea pig habitat clean at all times and hence avoid to leave it littered and smelling.
Can you litter train a guinea pig?
You can do it! Believe it that you can litter train your guinea pig, and when it happens, it will be easy to maintain cleanliness in its cage.
Are you surprised and curious at the same time to know how that can happen?
Stay right here to find out about this unusual happening.
Guinea pig potty training is possible but, it is not as easy as you do with your cat or your dog. It is way hard to break its old habit and teach this new one of using a litter box. Therefore, it can take some time before it gets fully trained. Those are the times that your temper will be tried and therefore you will need to be rational and understanding while you keep on trying.
Your cat or your dog, if you have one or both have a way of communicating when they have a bathroom need. But, guinea pigs don’t have communication skills, and therefore you wouldn’t know when it is their time for litter.
Ground-Marking
However, just like human beings who feel comfortable to use their bathroom in their homes, guinea pigs have one spot in the cage they call ‘home’ too where they do their private business.
Thus, it means then that it is not hard to potty train as you had thought. However, it calls for patience on your part because, again, you don’t want your guinea pig to be scared by your desperate moves and probably with your loss of temper to make it happen.
Guinea pigs have a habit to ground-mark a special place for peeing and poo. It will always identify the area by the smell. If then it has a special place to do its business, it means then that you should be keen to mark the area as well. Identify it since it will be the spot you will place the litter box to start potty-training.
By this time you are ready with a litter box or ‘potty’ to use for potty training and also, you have identified the suitable place. Now, it is time to train your piggy how to use its litter box.
Step by Step Guide on How to Litter Train, a Guinea Pig
- Get a litter box which is of the right size to make your piggy comfortable when using it. See that it is not too high to get onto it. The shorter it is, the better it will be. But, again it should not be too low to litter the floor of its cage.
Still, it should not be too big for the pen. At least you should give your piggy enough room to run around.
- Check out on this best litter box that you might find suitable to use as your guinea pig litter box. Ware Manufacturing Plastic Scatterless Lock-N-Litter Small Pet Pan
is the litter you need for your piggy.
You can lock it on your cage to prevent it from spilling the litter in the cage.
- It has a wire tray and a plastic guide to keep your pet from getting soiled. It is an organized that will meet your guinea pig potty-training needs.
- Take the litter box that you intend to use. Stuff it with hay or the same bedding you use in the cage, at least something it is familiar with and knows better.
- This step here now is not the best, and you might not like it. You will need to wear gloves. Next, take a handful of some bedding your piggy has soiled a bit.
What you are looking for is the smell of its pee and poo to make the new territory that is the litter box.
- You might be using fleece bedding, such as Kaytee Super Sleeper Cuddle E-Cup Bed for Small Animals
. In that case then, and prior to preparing a litter box, you will have spread either some paper bedding, wood shavings or even hay precisely the spot it does its ‘business.’
- The reason for doing that is to get bedding you will want to use on the litter box.
- Take some of the bedding that has your piggy’s pee and poo. You don’t need much, but just a handful of it is enough. Place this ‘smelly’ litter on the box and top of the rest litter bedding stuffing.
GuineaDad Fleece Guinea Pig Fleece Cage Cage Liners are also a good choice for your pet. This is a product that will bring softness and comfort to the guinea pig and become an ideal bed.
Some of the best bedding that you can use in your piggy’s cage to transfer in the litter box is Carefresh Complete Pet Bedding
. At least you can use some the soiled beddings and place on the litter box for scent so that the pet can adapt to a new littering environment.
Or you can try the Small Pet Select Aspen Bedding, a colorless, odorless, and chemical-free bed. It also does not generate dust and has good absorbency.
Some guinea pigs are not easy to adapt to new changes. It might be hard for your piggy to adapt to the changes of using a potty for its bathroom activities as well. Don’t worry. It is quite normal.
It is therefore essential to encourage it and to reward it whenever it gets it right using the litter box until it forms a habit. But, remember not to shout at it when it gets it wrong since it can hate the whole idea or using a litter box.
For the first few days, do not remove the used litter so that your pet will always follow its scent to know where to go for its toilet use. The best thing you can do is to remove the soiled part and leave the other bit of bedding intact for about two weeks. By this time, probably it will have formed the habit of using the litter box as its “litter corner.”
Be patient with your piggy when potty training as it cannot learn to use the litter box immediately. Once in a while, it will forget using the litter box and mess somewhere else such as using the floor bedding instead.
Conclusion
Congratulations if you have made. If you haven’t continue until it gets it right.
Potty training your guinea pig is gradual. It is not a one-time successful procedure. But, it does not matter how many times your guinea pig will miss to use its litter box.
Those few times your guinea pig uses the litter box, are steps to a journey of successful guinea pig potty-training. You can pamper your piggy with toys and other rewards for saving you the expenses of changing beddings now and then.
Once you succeed with potty training, you can elevate your piggy to another different training. You will feed encouraged to try something else.
If this information has helped you, please share with us your tears and laughter of training your guinea pig to use a litter box on the section here below.