Caring for Senior Guinea Pigs
As our guinea pigs age, they require a little extra care to keep them happy and healthy. Once they reach four years of age, they may start facing age-related changes like a slower metabolism, arthritis or even a decline in cognitive function.
The good news? With the right nutrition tailored to their needs, we can support them through their golden years. By providing targeted nutritional care, we can help them stay active, comfortable and content, giving them the best chance to thrive well into their senior years.
About Senior Guinea Pigs – The Senior Life Stage
Senior guinea pigs may begin to need some support regarding key aspects of their health and environment.
- Gut Health and Immunity: As seniors, their metabolism begins to slow and their gastrointestinal system can have issues supporting the immune system. Providing pre and postbiotics can help protect the gut and improve the immune system to keep senior guinea pigs protected from pathogens and illness.
- Brain Function: Ageing guinea pigs’ brains may become confused and forgetful and have trouble processing information and sending signals throughout the body. We can support good brain function nutritionally by using omega-3s DHA and EPA.
- Mobility and Joint Health: Senior guinea pigs can suffer from arthritis and stiffness. They can be unwilling to exercise or move around much; however, encouraging them to move is important to keep them healthy and prevent obesity.
- Environment: It is vital to the longevity of our older guinea pigs that their environments be changed to meet their changing needs. They should be protected from extreme temperatures and be able to easily reach their food and water bowls.
Housing
There are plenty of things we can change or add to our guinea pig’s home environment to support them during their senior years. It can be as simple as:
- Providing soft areas for them to lie on that support their joints.
- Use gentle gradient ramps or shallow steps to help them get around easily.
- Ensure your guinea pig’s food and water are placed in easily accessible spots. Senior guinea pigs can sometimes forget where their bowl is or may feel too tired to reach it, so a little extra convenience can make a big difference. For those who roam larger areas, consider adding extra water bowls so they always have one nearby.
Enrichment
While they aren’t as active as they once were, it’s still important to keep our senior guinea pig’s brains active. Here are a few things we can do to provide enrichment:
- Use healthy treats like Vetafarm’s Herbivore Harvest DeliStix. These can be placed in their hutch or area as a fun snack, or for even more enrichment, place them in a box with some scrunched-up paper and let them search for them. This keeps their minds active and encourages them to stay active without tiring them out completely. You can also reuse DeliStix hangers or paper towel rolls and stuff them with hay and treats!
- Snuffle mats are also a fun way to get your guinea pig moving and staying engaged. Hide some of their favourite treats and watch them have a blast finding them.
Just remember to give treats in moderation.
Too many treats can lead to obesity!
Nutrition For Senior Guinea Pigs
Vetafarm’s Cavy Origins Senior is a premium, scientifically balanced diet specially formulated for guinea pigs aged four years and older. These senior pellets are naturally flavoured and irresistibly tasty, perfectly complementing their daily hay intake.
Feeding your senior guinea pig a balanced diet is important for their health and well-being. Vetafarm’s nutrition experts have developed a diet that includes essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients to support them as they age. Guinea Pigs should be fed 75% Hay, 20% Pellets, 5% Treats.
Cavy Origins Senior pellets contain:
- Glucosamine: for joint health and mobility. Glucosamine is a key ingredient in our senior diet as it can help promote joint mobility and may help repair damaged cartilage. This is important as keeping our senior guinea pig’s active is a great way to prevent obesity and other health problems.
- Pre and postbiotics: (100,000,000 c/kg of food) help promote gut health and wellbeing. We include nine strains as greater postbiotic diversity is more beneficial to gastrointestinal health.
- Stabilised vitamin C: to ensure our guinea pigs are getting the correct amount of vitamin C down to the last pellet. Guinea pigs can’t generate their own vitamin C, so they must consume it in their food and via supplements to prevent diseases like scurvy.
- Omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA: to keep our pets’ minds sharp. DHA and EPA can help assist brain function, retinal (eye) health, and immune function.
- Higher fibre: for digestive health. As guinea pigs age their metabolism begins to slow down, so it takes longer for them to absorb nutrients from their food. Providing high amounts of fibre in our pellets ensures that our senior guinea pigs can efficiently digest and absorb the nutrients they need to thrive.
Common Health Issues
Vet checkups
Guinea pigs are relatively low maintenance and don’t generally need vaccinations. Most vet visits for our older guinea pigs are caused by malnutrition and cases of scurvy, overgrown teeth or urinary issues.
Obesity
As guinea pigs age, their metabolism changes. Keeping your senior guinea pig active and providing the correct food is vital in preventing obesity and realted health problems.
Arthritis and Inflammation
As guinea pigs age, they may experience mobility challenges, such as arthritis. Supporting their joint health is essential to keeping them comfortable and active. That’s where Cavy Origins Senior comes in, packed with glucosamine and omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) to help manage joint issues and keep your senior piggies moving with ease.
Teeth
Senior guinea pigs’ teeth grow at a rate of 2-3mm per week, so it’s important to make sure they are chewing and grinding down their teeth with long-strand hay to avoid the need for a vet trip!
Cognitive Function
Sadly, our ageing guinea pigs may begin to decline in cognitive function. By providing Cavy Origins Senior pellets we can support their brain health with the help of added omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA.
Worming and Insect Control
Worming is not generally required for guinea pigs unless it is suspected that they have been infected. For insects and mites, regular prevention, such as our Origins Insect and Mite Spray, should be used to help control insects on guinea pigs and their environment.