My guinea pig won't stop scratching. Could its bedding be the problem?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Small Animal | Unknown - Small Animal | Male
Can bedding make a guinea pig itch?
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on March 2nd, 2018
Hello, and thank you for your question. It is possible for bedding to cause itchiness if the pet is allergic to the material, or if the bag of litter carried parasites such as mites. I would suggest using a paper-based bedding such as Care Fresh: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/carefresh-natural-pet-bedding It may also be a good idea to swap out the bag of bedding altogether for a new one, and thoroughly disinfect the cage with soap and water in case of parasites. Of course, the itchiness could also be unrelated to the bedding, so if the itchiness does not improve after making these changes, I would recommend visiting your veterinarian for a further workup. They may perform a skin scraping and provide medication if they suspect a bacterial infection. I hope this helps, and that Robert feels better soon!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on December 10th, 2017
It could be the bedding. What are you using? I suggest you take everything out of their cage and throw away anything that is not plastic. Wash/soak everything else with a dilute bleach solution (1:10 dilution). Then I suggest you use CareFresh bedding. It could be an allergy to something in the cage or it could be that there are mites/fleas/mites that keep re-infecting them. https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/carefresh-custom-guinea-pig-and-rabbit-natural-bedding I would also suggest you wash them with this medicated shampoo. You can use this every 3-4 days. There are some good YouTube videos on proper bathing of guinea pigs that you can look up. https://www.1800petmeds.com/Universal+Medicated+Shampoo-prod248144.html?Ntt=universal+medicated Hope this helps. Best wishes.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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