Swimming Guinea Pigs

[Chibimar]

I saw this thing on youtube. Guinea Pigs swimming. It was on a little play pool but it made me wonder, was it safe?

You know how dogs can develop ear infection because of pools and swimming? Can piggies have that too? Is it a good exercise?

thanks

[AmysAnimals]

In my opinion, its really not safe to put any small animal in water since they can drown themselves in even a little bowl. Also, it can strip all the oils out of the hair. From my understanding, guinea pigs really only swim in order to stay alive, its not really something they would do for "fun". Also, Im sure the people on BoobTube just threw them into any temperature of water which can be really dangerous to any animal. All around, forcing a guinea pig to swim is not only a health risk (getting ear infections, catching a cold from improper water temperature, shock etc) but also a pretty dumb idea. I dont know about you but I certainly wouldnt want to be shoved into a pool of water and hope I can stay afloat. As far as excerise, I think it would cause more stress than anything else.

[Fittzi_and_kids777]

I saw one video where they just plopped the helpless little cold, wet piggie into this big pool, and there were the piggie's owner's family yelling and screaming for the piggie to make a lap.

[piggieluver101]

That cant be safe!

[guineapiggoddess]

Fittzi, I've seen that video. So sad what youboobers post.

[Bennalaya]

Those videos of people making their guinea pigs swim is nothing short of animal abuse, in my opinion. Guinea pigs can swim for survival purposes, but they do not like it. Just like a cat will paddle to keep from drowning, but hate being in the water.

For starters, the water in a swimming pool would be too cold for their delicate little bodies. Then there is the issue of the water getting in their ears or aspirating water through their nose or mouth.

The best exercise for guinea pigs - floor time.

[Pennsylvania Pigger]

Bennalaya beat me to it--they swim so as not to drown, but you'll notice they're always looking for dry land. This is not something they enjoy, and it would be cruel to subject them to the stress and risk unnecessarily.

[jadedbutterflie]

Good rule of thumb=if you wouldn't want to have it done to you, or you wouldn't subject a child to that kind of treatment, do not do it to an animal of any kind. Swimming requires a lot of strength in the trunk muscles. Guinea pigs have stiff spines, and forcing them to engage in an activity that puts stress on the back and trunk is not safe.

[Fittzi_and_kids777]

I have a youtube account but only for my anime MS Paint art tutorials. I'll occaisionally be talking bout the pigs, or maybe they'll make a somewhat cameo appearance in a video, but nothing abusive or wrong.