A guinea pig should sleep on aspen shavings, paper bedding, fleece bedding, hammocks, or cuddle cups. These are non-toxic, provide comfort, and soak up urine well. Do not use pine or cedar shavings or bedding with added scents.
Because we love our guinea pigs, we strive to make their home as cozy, comfortable, and healthy as possible.
There is a lot to consider when choosing the right bedding for your guinea pig: the health and comfort of the pig, in addition to the cost and ease of cleaning, are all things that come to mind when making this decision.
Let’s go over some important details to give your guinea pig the best sleep.
Options Available for Guinea Pig Bedding
On the market today, there are more choices for guinea pig bedding than ever before. Each of these options comes with pros and cons and should be analyzed to see what meets the needs of you and your guinea pig.
Aspen Shavings
As a cost-efficient and easy-to-find product, aspen shavings have always been a highly popular choice for cage bedding. This option will absorb the guinea pig’s urine, provide a comfortable ground, and is environmentally friendly and easy to clean.
When looking through the shaving options at your local pet store, make sure you opt for aspen shavings, as this is the safest option. We will go into more details about other wood shavings later in the article.
Mixing the aspen shavings with another type of soft bedding will provide the benefits of wood shavings and a cozy place for your pig to burrow.
Paper Bedding
A great do-it-yourself option is to use shredded paper as bedding. This choice is environmentally friendly and easy to accomplish without going to the pet store.
Paper bedding can be made of regular paper, paper towels, or other similar paper products. An important note is to not use any paper with ink on it, as ink is toxic to guinea pigs.
The best paper bedding for your guinea pig is likely a mixture of whatever you have on hand. Providing pigs with a mix of paper and paper towels will allow for a comfortable experience while also absorbing the guinea pigs’ urine. You can also recycle toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls for this project.
Fleece Bedding
Popular for its visual appearance, fleece has recently hit the guinea pig market in droves. Fleece is a wonderful option for bedding, as it allows for a soft surface that doesn’t soak in moisture, allowing your guinea pig to be comfortable and avoid sitting in their own urine.
A huge appeal that goes along with the product is the unique designs available for customers to choose from, allowing character to be added to your guinea pig habitat.
When utilizing fleece for bedding, include a towel or other such absorbent material underneath. Because fleece does not soak in moisture, urine and water need somewhere else to go.
With a towel laid on the ground of the cage and fleece laid on top, you can easily clean the bedding by washing the material and then reusing it.
Hammocks and Cuddle Cups
When considering bedding for your guinea pig, it is worthwhile to think creatively about options to add to traditional bedding. Hammocks and cuddle cups are fantastic additions to other bedding options, as they provide a small area designed specifically for resting.
These products can provide a safe haven and peaceful refuge for your guinea pig, allowing them to snuggle in and get comfortable away from the area they urinate or eat in. They are also easily cleaned or even washed if needed.
An option: Double hammocks can provide two spaces for your guinea pig to choose from and allow them to be up high or covered down below for whichever mood they might be in.
Bedding To Avoid
Pine and Cedar Shavings
The sawdust that comes along with pine and cedarwood shavings can harm your guinea pig’s respiratory health. In addition, pine and cedar splinter and can harm your guinea pig’s feet or other sensitive areas. It is best to avoid these types of shavings altogether.
Bedding with Added Scent
Like scented products for humans, the attempt with this bedding is to cover up the unpleasant smells that often come along with housing a guinea pig.
Bedding containing added odor have many chemicals that you and your guinea pig should not breathe in. These chemicals can cause immediate allergic reactions or even lifelong respiratory illnesses and other internal issues.
As tempting as it may be to use scented bedding, try to avoid these products to give your guinea pig the healthiest life possible.
Cat Litter
While litter works well for indoor cats, it is not the preferred bedding for guinea pigs. Unfortunately, guinea pigs may attempt to eat the litter or play around with it in their mouths. This is a severe choking hazard. Additionally, many cat litters are scented, which can be dangerous to your pig’s health.
The Benefits of a Good Bed
As humans, we know the need for good sleep. For guinea pigs, this isn’t much different.
Guinea pigs naturally want to burrow and cuddle deep in material to hide or get a good night’s sleep. These are natural instincts that have stuck around for generations and are needed for the optimal life of a guinea pig.
Using bedding that will allow for hiding and burrowing will aid in your guinea pig’s overall happiness and comfort.
Of course, the health of your pig also depends on appropriate bedding. Following the suggestions in this article and any advice your veterinarian might give you is important in deciding on the correct bedding for your guinea pig.
This decision can aid in the health of your pig and its longevity. Choosing bedding that will not harm your guinea pig and will also provide a wonderful day-to-day life for them is worthwhile. It will pay off monumentally in the long run for you and your family pet.
