Once in a while I receive an email with the question how often a guinea pig gets sick. There is no rule for this. Just like people, there are guinea pigs which never become sick, and others catch everything one can think of.

Up front I want to get rid of two prejudices regarding sick guinea pigs. Once in a while I have to listen to things like: it does not make any sense to go to a vet with a sick cavy. In my experience, this thinking is caused by to reasons:

• Guinea pigs are not worth that you go to the vet.
• Guinea pigs cannot be healed anyway.

Both is pure nonsense. Guinea pigs deserve, like any other living being - including humans, that proper care will be taken as soon as one decides to keep them. This includes visits to the vet. It should not make any difference what type of pet it is. If one cannot comply with this, well, one should really think about the fact to keep guinea pigs, or any other animal for that matter. Guinea pigs can be healed! But time is a crucial factor.

How do you figure out that your beloved pet is sick... Guinea pigs are low in the food chain. For that very reason they try very hard to hide that something is wrong. Knowing that, it becomes apparent that you need to know your pig(s) very well. Only when you know how they behave under normal conditions, you will notice the difference.

A healthy guinea pis has smooth hair (that's of course relative and depends on the type of pig), clear eyes, is alert, eats a lot, and has firm, bean shaped droppings. Should this change then you might have an indicator that your pig is not feeling well. The animal should be watched closely, and a visit to the vet should be considered. The sooner treatment can be started, the better your friends chances are. Symptoms of sickness are described on the following page: Symptoms.