Your guinea pig’s health record: simple checks, every week

Identity

Name, date of birth or arrival, sex as confirmed by a vet, castration if done, colour and coat type, and a recent photo.

Weight

A weigh-in every week, as the RSPCA recommends: it’s your best early warning.

Teeth and nails

The weekly check, the dates of nail trims, and every dental treatment done by your vet.

Vet visits

Appointments, diagnoses, tests and operations, including castration or spaying.

Treatments

Medicines given, for how long, and above all any they reacted badly to: some antibiotics are dangerous for guinea pigs.

Diet

Their hay, their pellets, the vegetables they’ll eat, and the date the bag of pellets was opened.

Contacts

Your vet, the nearest out-of-hours vet able to treat guinea pigs, and their insurer if they’re insured.

According to the MSD Veterinary Manual, guinea pigs don’t need vaccinations; the Royal Veterinary College adds that they don’t need yearly worming either. However, both the MSD manual and the RSPCA recommend a vet check-up at least once a year: problems are easier to treat when they’re caught early.

Choose a vet experienced with guinea pigs, often described as an exotics vet, and also note an out-of-hours vet who sees guinea pigs: in an emergency, there’s no time to search.

• Weight, recorded for each guinea pig.
• Incisors: not too long, broken or loose.
• Nails and foot pads.
• Coat and skin: bald patches, scabs, itching.
• Eyes, nose and ears: no discharge.
• A clean bottom, checked twice a day in warm weather.

According to the RSPCA, a quick daily look is still needed: check that they’re eating, drinking and producing a normal amount of droppings.

Ask the breeder, rescue centre or previous owner for their date of birth, usual diet and any past treatment. Blue Cross advises having the guinea pig examined and their sex checked by a vet before taking them home: it’s also the moment to start their record.

Keep to the same diet at first: guinea pigs don’t cope well with changes to their routine.

GOV.UK’s rules for taking a pet abroad cover dogs, cats and ferrets. For a guinea pig, it’s the rules of the country you’re going to that apply: check them with your vet and that country’s authorities before you go.

To come back into Great Britain from an EU country, you must sign a declaration that your pet is not for sale or transfer of ownership, is healthy and fit to travel, and was born and bred in captivity. From outside the EU, rodents need a rabies import licence from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and 4 months in quarantine on arrival, according to GOV.UK.

With several guinea pigs and several people at home, it’s easy to forget who has been weighed, when the nails were last trimmed, or which antibiotic made one of them ill. A shared digital record lets you find it in seconds and show it to your vet.

MyArk keeps each guinea pig’s health record on the iPhone of everyone you invite: weigh-ins, care, treatments and vet visits, with no time limit on the history, even without a subscription.

• One record per guinea pig, with their past treatments
• Upcoming reminders, sent to everyone in the household
• The weight chart and your vet’s contact details
• With MyArk Complete, a PDF export for your vet or pet sitter